Thoughts on this week's The Walking Dead episode

Liz and I are big fans of The Walking Dead. We have watched it since the beginning. It's such a great show. But I think this past Sunday's episode, No Way Out, was the best in the history of the show.

If you haven't watched the show yet then feel free to stop reading because there will be spoilers. If you don't watch the show at all you are missing out, but you can keep reading because there were some incredible illustrations in this week's episode.

Before you read further I want you to watch the show and think about it's implications for you personally and for the church.

First observation: The show began with everyone as victims. Darryl and his crew were victims to the biker gang. Glen and the teen girl (who's name has left me) were victims who couldn't get to where they wanted to go. Rick and the rest of Alexandria were victims to the hoard of walkers who had invaded Alexandria.

As victims they acted like victims: Scared, sheepish, hiding, cowering. 

They covered themselves in zombie body parts so as to blend in and not be noticed.

And if you watched the episode you know that fear lived out led to death (I was very sad about this because I thought Rick had finally found love again) and to Carl getting his eye shot out.

As a result, Rick threw his fear and safety aside and decided to do something about the problem. He took off alone to take on a million walkers.

But something happened when Rick had the courage to take the first step. Everyone followed. There are huge ramifications and implications of this kind of courage in our own lives. We need to be people of courage.

This courage was also displayed by Darryl when he took out the bikers with the RPG. That was so awesome I almost stood up and cheered.

Another observation: They didn't go after each other. They went after the walkers. It reminds me that our battle is not against flesh and blood but against the ruler, authorities and powers of this dark world. We have an enemy. It's not each other.

Another observation: We can do more together than alone. They had a major team building experience. They needed one another. They figured that out by working together, fighting together.

I could write more but I don't have the time. And to be honest, I wrote this mainly for myself. I need to remember how important courage is. Be the one to risk for the sake of a cause that's bigger than me, even with death/failure on the line. I have an enemy and it's not the other human beings that share the planet with me. Make sure I'm fighting the right enemy. I need community. I need others.