3-30-09 " 'hey, paris-- our enemy, old menelaus, just gave us a huge, hollow horse! Let's roll it inside the gates!' "

A couple weeks ago I did a STUPID thing. The rule of our computer has always been: DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES DOWNLOAD ANYTHING OFF OF ANY SITE WHICH YOU DO NOT KNOW AND TRUST. Guess who downloaded something off a site I did not know and trust?

     I was just looking for free sheet music. But the site we usually use did not have anything I was in the mood for. So I Googled the name of the song I wanted and I found this INCREDIBLE site with scads of awesome sheet music! I downloaded one after another, looking for the perfect song. Suddenly, Norton Internet Security gave me a pop-up, warning me that I had a virus in my computer. I looked at the files under My Computer and I saw...... 3,000 Trojan Horses. I had no idea Trojan Horses had anything to do with computers. I thought the Trojan Horse was just a large, hollow, wooden horse from Greek lore. Apparently, a Trojan Horse is also a virtual weapon of mass destruction created by some sadistic person who thinks its awfully fun to ruin people's lives.

     I got to thinking. We all come in contact with Trojan Horses in our spiritual lives. We find something that seems harmless enough, like a a large wooden horse, free digital sheet music, or a funny movie, and before we realize that the apparently innocuous object has somehting destructive hidden inside it, we are under attack. If we react quickly and go to God for help, the invader can be quickly annhilated.   But allowing a Trojan Horse into our lives IS our choice.  If you just stop and think, that big wooden horse may begin to look suspicious. Just as the Trojans could have seen past the deception (come on, people. A big, huge, wooden horse from an angry army you just defeated in battle is dropped off at the gates to you city. Sounds preeeetty suspicious to me!), and I should have known better than to download unknown internet files, you can check out YOUR Trojan Horse before you roll it into your gates. Test everything by scripture- your "Sword of the Spirit" is the best defense against an invading army.

*And just in case you were wondering, my dad took care of the virus problem as soon as he got home*