Growing up in a church, you start to shape your views on the world by the words recited to you every Sunday.
Before you learn anything else, you are given the lord’s most important directions.
The blueprint for your moral code.
The Ten Commandments.
Thou shall have no other Gods before me
Thou shall not make for yourselves an idol.
Thou shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God.
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
Honor your father and your mother.
Thou shall not murder.
Thou shall not commit adultery.
Thou shall not steal.
Thou shall not give false testimony.
Thou shall not covet.
These commandments were everything to me growing up.
As long as I stuck to these rules, I saw myself as a good person and worthy of the lord’s love.
As I got older, my heart hardened, I got jaded, and I turned my back on all of them.
Wrestling became my god.
That gold medal became my idol.
God damn it soon became my go-to saying at every mistake I made.
Sunday was just another day, the last obstacle before I got to show the world what I do best.
Monday was my Sabbath, the ring was my temple.
I even tried to murder Israel Grimwolf.
Worst of all, every little action I had made since my parent’s passing did not honor them.
I thought I lost their love and the lord’s love after my actions.
But Vayikra came to me and reminded me how God loves everyone regardless of who they are or their actions.
It’s what makes him better than any of us.
No matter if you’re a sinner or saint, he will love you even if you or I don’t deserve it.
Learning that and realizing I could honor him like I used to and stop using grief as an excuse for my heinous actions made me give up the gold and take up the cross.
In turn, I could not only honor him, I could show my parents that all the years they spent making me the man I am today were worth it and when I pass away, I’ll join them in paradise.
Not all of us will have that opportunity, so many people did worse than me at my rock bottom and forsaken the lord and all his teachings.
I hope they will find our savior again but men and women like them prove that even the lord can’t make people do things.
What makes you think you can Simon?
No one is above the lord.
If humanity can take his commandments as mere suggestions, your words mean nothing to them.
And without your words, you mean even less.
Just another man in a suit trying to prove to the world that they are more important than they truly are.
I can’t wait until the rest of the word sees what I see.
When the whole world stops caring what Simon says, then I won’t have to care about your presence.
Until then, I’m going to prove actions mean a lot more than words.
After all, silence is golden.