Palace Treasures

I grew up in Sunday School singing this song about "Only a boy named David, only a little sling..." I was going to insert a video here to illustrate and play the song for you, but all the ones I found were sickeningly sweet and I couldn't handle listening to them even one time through. So, I'll spare you the syrupy sweet Sunday school singing.

However, one thing I have to share is the fact that, songs aside, David is still one of my favorite Old Testament characters. Why? Maybe because I identify with him. He was raw, real, sometimes exuberant, often emotional, loved to write and sing and dance... except for the king and warrior and shepherd and giant-slaying and and having his girlfriend's husband killed part, he was basically me. (Okay, he wasn't me, but I do like writing and singing off-key and dancing nonetheless.)

Imagine my full-stop surprise when, in Turkey, having just left the harem and strolling through the palace museum when I'm confronted in a "no pictures, please" dark room with seeing his sword. Like, seriously. His sword. My musings from that day...

So, so many things I could say about today. But one that has to stand alone. I saw David’s sword.

As in Shepherd Boy David; as in “David and Goliath.” As in “better king than Saul” and “dude creepin on the neighbor lady, watching her take a rooftop bath,” poet, adulterer, murderer, king, shepherd, leader, super messed up but fantastic anyway, Man After God’s Own Heart, dancing naked before the Lord, David. His sword—we saw what the ancient Ottoman Empire claims to be his sword.

I dig David because he loved big, praised passionately, and messed up in ginormous, embarrassing ways that brought both shame and remorse. He hid and ran and stood and fought and faced his giants with faith and determination. He may have possibly been The Original Badass. And God dug him and called him one of His own.

And I dig that because if he could blow reputations, hide in caves, play music, write poetry, get in a deep blue funk sometimes then slay giants at others… plus everything in between and STILL be the Man After God’s Own Heart, I know God probably digs me in my crazy ol messed up humanity, too.

Oh, and BTW… David’s sword lives near Moses’s staff plus John the Baptist’s scrolls. (And honestly I didn’t even know John had scrolls.)

Jaw dropped, heart moved, mind blown.

#picturesoftheswordnotallowed #randompalacepicsinstead