I HAD TO USE A SHIELD FOR MY JOB. HERE'S HOW IT CHANGED THE WAY I LIVE MY LIFE.

Captain America 3 will soon be with us, this time with Spider-man in action as well!

Cap's iconic shield flying through the air and amazingly returning to him is a sight that I never tire from seeing.

Yes, I'm a fan, and have been since my exposure to Marvel comics as a child of the 60s. 

But my real life exposure to working with a shield is somewhat different.

In 1981 I joined the Metropolitan Police Force. (Yes, back then it was called a force rather than a service.)

At the age of 19 I was walking the streets of Lewisham trying to keep law and order. 1981 was the year of the inner city riots, and as a result my basic training included shield training.

I learned how to hide behind a 5 foot 6 inch shield, interlocked with two others with a third in position above my head, huddled together with a unit of six officers.

4 shields, 6 officers, shuffling forward with projectiles raining down on us, trying to get close enough to arrest someone or to work with other units to control a crowd.

Depending on your politics and experience of the police that may sound exciting or scary.

My perspective has certainly changed over time.

But one thing my experience of being in the middle of a shield unit has given me is a perspective on something the apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:

"Take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one." 

Paul wrote this when the Roman Empire was in charge.

Roman soldiers carried a type of shield that was designed to be used in concert with their fellow soldiers. It formed a wall, sometimes in defense, sometimes as an offensive tactic. Yes, they could be used individually, but there was always a call for them to be used together. This was called a Testudo formation. 

Here are a couple of things I learned from my experience of using a shield.

First, a shield worth having is heavy, especially when you're standing around waiting for something to happen. But a strange thing happens when it's time to lift it up and lock it in with the shields either side of you ready for action. The weight is that much easier to carry because you are focusing on what it's doing for you and for those around you. At times like that, the weight is secondary. And the more you use it, the easier it is to handle.

Second, situations that seem really scary are a lot more straightforward to deal with when you have a bunch of people with you that you trust and are trained to use their shields. For example, a deranged guy waving a samurai sword around an inner London housing estate is easier to deal with when you have a team with shields to work alongside you.

There's a direct application here of how to live a life of faith.

1. The more you act in faith the more proficient you'll become.
2. You don't need to stand alone. There's strength to be gained from standing alongside those who share the same faith you have in Christ.

So forget the image of Captain America standing alone with his frisbee shield. Instead, take up the Roman-style shield of faith and stand shoulder-to-shoulder together with your brothers and sisters in Christ.

Together we make a formidable force against whatever gets thrown our way.

THE NEXT TIME YOU CATCH THE E2 BUS...DON'T LOOK DOWN

Swaying perilously above the surging waters of Niagara falls, Blondin carefully balanced himself on the thin highwire that stretched out in front of him. Deep down he knew his destiny was to conquer these mighty falls, & on 30 June 1859 he did just that.

Charles Blondin, Ealing’s most famous resident you’ve never heard of, lived 150 years ago and was a talented tightrope artist.

If you take the E2 bus from Ealing Broadway down through Northfields, you’ll will eventually turn right at the Plough Pub. On the opposite side of the road is Niagara House, next to Blondin Avenue and Niagara Avenue, connecting to Blondin Park.

Blondin, so called because of his striking bright blond hair, toured the world performing his death-defying feats, high above enthusiastic audiences. On the day that he first walked across Niagara Falls, 10,000 people showed up to watch. Wanting to capitalise on the gathered crowd, his manager Harry Concord announced that Blondin would do it again the following week, only this time with an extra stunt.

The next week the crowd was even bigger. He went across again but, this time, walked across with a potato sack over his head. The weeks and stunts continued with the crowd growing each week.

The next week he bicycled across.

Another time he did somersaults.

One week he even put a small stove inside a wheelbarrow, took it out to the middle & cooked himself an omelette!

But the stunts were running out.

Harry came up with an idea for the ultimate stunt. Blondin would carry a man across on his back…that meant that there would be two lives at stake, a real crowd puller. Everybody was excited and it was their biggest ever crowd. They say that 100,000 people turned out to watch this final stunt...but first, they had to find someone who was willing to do it.

Harry put an advert in the local paper and offered $1,000 to any man who was willing to be recruited to go across on Blondin’s back - a huge amount of money back then. Many people turned out for the trial, and they had to cut down the number to those that weren’t too big…but finally, they had a whole group.

On the day, Blondin took them to the brink and demonstrated that he could do it by walking out onto the rope carrying a heavy bag of potatoes. Then he came back and he went down the line and to every man he asked this question:

Do you believe without a doubt that I can carry you across?

And one by one they answered:

Absolutely, we complete believe you can do it. We have no doubts.

He then went down the line and asked...

Will you let me carry you across Niagara Falls on my back?

And one by one they answered:

Absolutely NOT!

Every one of them said no - no one would do it!

You see it’s one thing to intellectually believe in something…but it’s another thing altogether to actually step out and give over control.

Since there were now 100,000 spectators waiting for a show, Blondin turned to Harry, his manager, and said:

Harry it’s going to have to be YOU!

Harry was terrified, but he agreed.

Half way across that day, carrying Harry on his back, Blondin started to sway. Whenever they would sway, Harry would try to counter-balance by swaying back. Blondin yelled over the surging waters:

Harry, until we clear this place you must become part of me, mind body and soul…if I sway you must rest in me completely and sway with me. Do not attempt to do any balancing yourself. If you do, we shall both go down to our death.

Blondin was saying to Harry: If you try to save yourself, you will end up losing yourself. You have to rest in me & trust me completely.

And that’s what it means to be a Christian.

Jesus asks us to trust in him. To give ultimate control over to him.

Blondin could have dropped Harry that day and fallen…but Jesus cannot drop you.

If you want to stretch the metaphor out further...Jesus has already plunged into the depths so you will never have to.

Let Jesus carry you.

Are you willing to SWAY with Jesus, to trust him completely, and to follow his leanings for your life?