During the early years of our marriage, my wife worked at a florist shop and I worked at the local YMCA. One of my jobs was driving the van around to the various daycare facilities to pick up the children and bring them back to the YMCA for basic water safety classes. After picking up a particularly energetic group one day, I decided to play a game in an attempt to channel their energy in a more constructive fashion. As I pulled up to a red light, I asked the group" what does a red light mean?". In unison they all yelled "STOP".... " Nice job", I told them. When the light turned green, they were even more enthusiastic in yelling "GOOOOOOO...". We proceeded down the street and approached the next light. As the van got closer, the light turned yellow and I was greeted by the loudest response yet as every voice screamed, "SPEED UP!!!"........
Our lives are, in many ways, defined by how we respond to the yellow lights we encounter. Yellow lights are by their very definition warnings. As one who has spent his entire adult life working in some capacity with youth, I look back and hear within the majority of my messages a call to heed the warnings in our life. And yet, I am constantly shocked by the human capacity to believe that the warnings of life are not intended for us.
A few months ago, shortly after I ushered my teenage children out the
door to school, my wife and I were about to relax with coffee when my
phone vibrated in my pocket. It was one of my youth group kids who had
over slept and missed his bus. We got in the van and headed out to give
him a ride in the early morning chill. After picking him up, we were
heading back into town when we were forced to stop by the presence of a
local police car parked across the road. The officer pointed us onto a
detour and we went on our way. After dropping off my friend, we went
home and hopped on Facebook in order to see if there were any news as to
why that portion of road in town was closed. We went on the police
page and were surprised to find that a grenade had been found on the
sidewalk. The bomb squad arrived on the scene and took care of the
issue in short order. But it got me thinking...Why did I follow the
police officers directives to take another route? Because he had seen the danger which lay directly ahead...
And that is why we warn those we love, because danger lies ahead. As a father, I stand in the road and point my children to the path away from danger. I monitor their facebook and twitter and point them away from hurtful words and dangerous interactions. I love them enough to risk their anger as I give them curfews and limit the time spent with certain friends. " Nothing good happens after midnight" is a refrain my children can recite at any given time, usually with a roll of their eyes. But I have seen too many people become injured, both emotionally and physically , by the decisions of the fools they associate with to allow those I love to pass around my figure in the road and head towards the grenade. Because I have seen the grenade, I stand firm in the middle of their path and warn them. But do I have the credibility necessary for them to heed my pleas?
Those children in that van those many years ago were only reciting what they had been taught. Not by the words spoken by their parents, but by the actions displayed by them.
A mother tells her daughter she is beautiful just the way God created her but then constantly hates her own body, even though she is built the same way...
A father tells his daughter she should wait til marriage before having sex but never hugs her, denying her the affection she so desperately craves from him....
A father tell his children that all people should be treated with respect but uses words and slang that devalues particular groups...
A coach tells his players that integrity is to be valued but looks the other way at the behavior of star players...
We so often tell our family and friends that we would die for them, but do we have the courage and selflessness to live for them, to become examples of lives lived well?
Most of us have heard the saying to "practice what we preach", but most people are not aware that is was Jesus who first spoke it, to the religious leaders whose words did not match their behaviors. Lately I have heard and seen words and actions within my children that I despise. I despise them because I realize they are simply living what I modeled. And that awareness has driven me to my knees to pray...for forgiveness, for healing, for help...Help in becoming the father they deserve, the friend my friends deserve, the pastor my church deserves..
On that chilly day, I took the detour because I trusted the officer. If we want those in our lives to heed our warnings, we need to be trustworthy, to possess integrity. I have seen the danger ahead, I desperately want people to avoid the paths which lead to destruction. Do I possess the credibility within my own life to point them to the paths which lead to blessings, to Gods plan to give them a hope and a future?
It is a humbling question, but one I pray none of us shy away from. The stakes are too high and the consequences too real.
Now then, my sons, listen to me;
pay attention to what I say.
Do not let your heart turn to her ways
or stray into her paths.
Many are the victims she has brought down;
her slain are a mighty throng.
Her house is a highway to the grave,
leading down to the chambers of death.-Proverbs 7:24-27
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Evil in The Dark
I was 13 years old and walking home after wresting practice from the junior high. It was a typical Oregon winter night in the valley. The sun had gone down, leaving a brisk chill in the darkness. I said goodbye to my friends and walked out into the night. There was one streetlight in those days which cast a dim glow over the parking lot. As I trudged around the few cars remaining, I turned right onto the road and began the trek home. There was not, nor is there to this day, sidewalks along that particular stretch of road. I walked along the narrow shoulder , my feet shuffling in the gravel and I could hear the wind moving through the branches high above me in the evergreen trees. The breeze tugged at my sweatshirt and I pulled the hood tight around my head. The road led down a hill to a four way stop. Turning left led away from town into the country. Turning right led to a long dark stretch of unlit road down past the bus garage and high school baseball field into town. The road straight ahead was also unlit in those days but it was a much shorter journey to the lamp lit, sidewalk lined avenue I could see a few hundred feet in the distance. I made the decision and walked straight ahead, my chin lowered into my sweatshirt. As I moved through the darkness, my feet no longer shuffling in the gravel, but rather picking up their pace a bit, I could hear the sound of Ames Creek approaching before me. Fields stretched out to my right and left, the unmown grass making strange shapes and sounds as the wind blew though it. The evergreens above me continued to sway to and fro in the dim moonlight, casting temporary shadows all around me. As I approached the short bridge over the creek, my heart was pounding, my eyes wide as they searched the darkness which surrounded me. And then I heard it, some small shuffling from beneath the bridge as I crossed to the other side. My ears strained through the wind that blew across my hoodie, to identify what I was hearing. I began to walk faster, towards the streetlights getting nearer. All of my body wanted to look back, but I was terrified as to what I might see...Struggling to control the impulse to run, I began to reason with myself , "Its just the wind, its just the water or the branches, noting to be afraid of...". And then I heard a noise in the ditch to my right...And I ran! My heart pounding, my eyes watering, I ran as only a 13 year old scared out of his mind can run. I ran faster than I had ever ran in my life. I hit the corner of Elm street and took the turn at full speed, my legs churning and my hood flapping behind me. I ran a full block beneath the street lights now illuminating the pleasant tree lined avenue. The warm lights spilling out of homes caught the glow of my deathly white face as I flew past their living room windows. Finally, I slowed down beneath a streetlight and gathered myself. The wind still blowing, I mustered the courage to look back. With my hands on my knees, my chest heaving, I looked back down the street towards the corner, and I could see, just beyond the light, hugging the darkness...nothing.
Even to this day, I am always a bit concerned about what the darkness holds. As a father, I have spent years putting to rest that same concern within my children. " Daddy, leave the door open", " Daddy, could you leave the hall light on?"....Evenings too numerous to count spent teaching my children that Daddy will always strive to drive away the darkness...Whatever form that darkness may take. And as the years have passed and my children have grown, that darkness has taken many differing forms. And the light that must be shed is sometimes more difficult to cast than an open door, a brightly lit hallway. Scripture tells us that people love to hide their evil in the darkness, away from the light ( John 3:19 ). And nowhere is that more evident in the lives of people today than in the realm of social media.
Freed from the accountability of face to face interaction, people take to their phones and computers and say things that would have made our parents blush. Angry at your parents? Take to Facebook or twitter and tell the world how much you hate them. Having a rough day at work? Using a limited number of characters, assassinate your bosses character. Disappointed over a breakup? Spill the most innermost hurts of your heart to 900 of your closest friends...In real time, tell everyone how you really feel!!...
But the latest social media phenomenon to spread amongst teenagers is the the actual definition of darkness. On the website Ask.fm, you can log on and say whatever you want to others who belong to the site. Here's how it works. You log onto the site and tell people they are free to ask you anything. Some recent questions which I pulled from the site?.." Why are you such a slut?", " Why don't you kill yourself ?", "How many people have you slept with?". This is just a small sampling of the worst. The great thing is you can say whatever you want because it's totally anonymous
To be true, many of the questions asked are perfectly harmless, but eventually, it seems that everyone is receives a hurtful question, a missile fired from the dark. Safely hidden in anonymity, kids feel free to say words that wound, that hurt, that scar. But even so, kids return en mass to the computer, their need to connect overwhelming their common sense as they invite everybody to "Ask me anything "...
But more surprisingly than teenage kids lacking wisdom and opening themselves up to pain are the parents who turn a blind eye to the social media habits of their children. I have spoken to many parents who choose not to check on their childs social media. As their children return again and again to a place where deviants roam, where bullying is pervasive, far too many parents choose to remain, well, in the dark. But the truth is, that as our children grow and change, so does the role we as parents must play. Teaching our teenage children that words, whether stated or written, have power, and that we are all ultimately responsible for those words is not always met with the same gratitude as the hallway light. But the evil that darkness hides in the perceived anonymity found on a computer or a phone has the power to cut us off from genuine relationships, destroy friendships and distort self worth...
As it turns out, evil exists, but not within our closets, beneath our beds or even on a darkened stretch of road, but within the darkness, where we refuse to shine the light.....
His eyes are on the ways of mortals;
he sees their every step.
There is no deep shadow, no utter darkness,
where evildoers can hide.-
Even to this day, I am always a bit concerned about what the darkness holds. As a father, I have spent years putting to rest that same concern within my children. " Daddy, leave the door open", " Daddy, could you leave the hall light on?"....Evenings too numerous to count spent teaching my children that Daddy will always strive to drive away the darkness...Whatever form that darkness may take. And as the years have passed and my children have grown, that darkness has taken many differing forms. And the light that must be shed is sometimes more difficult to cast than an open door, a brightly lit hallway. Scripture tells us that people love to hide their evil in the darkness, away from the light ( John 3:19 ). And nowhere is that more evident in the lives of people today than in the realm of social media.
Freed from the accountability of face to face interaction, people take to their phones and computers and say things that would have made our parents blush. Angry at your parents? Take to Facebook or twitter and tell the world how much you hate them. Having a rough day at work? Using a limited number of characters, assassinate your bosses character. Disappointed over a breakup? Spill the most innermost hurts of your heart to 900 of your closest friends...In real time, tell everyone how you really feel!!...
But the latest social media phenomenon to spread amongst teenagers is the the actual definition of darkness. On the website Ask.fm, you can log on and say whatever you want to others who belong to the site. Here's how it works. You log onto the site and tell people they are free to ask you anything. Some recent questions which I pulled from the site?.." Why are you such a slut?", " Why don't you kill yourself ?", "How many people have you slept with?". This is just a small sampling of the worst. The great thing is you can say whatever you want because it's totally anonymous
To be true, many of the questions asked are perfectly harmless, but eventually, it seems that everyone is receives a hurtful question, a missile fired from the dark. Safely hidden in anonymity, kids feel free to say words that wound, that hurt, that scar. But even so, kids return en mass to the computer, their need to connect overwhelming their common sense as they invite everybody to "Ask me anything "...
But more surprisingly than teenage kids lacking wisdom and opening themselves up to pain are the parents who turn a blind eye to the social media habits of their children. I have spoken to many parents who choose not to check on their childs social media. As their children return again and again to a place where deviants roam, where bullying is pervasive, far too many parents choose to remain, well, in the dark. But the truth is, that as our children grow and change, so does the role we as parents must play. Teaching our teenage children that words, whether stated or written, have power, and that we are all ultimately responsible for those words is not always met with the same gratitude as the hallway light. But the evil that darkness hides in the perceived anonymity found on a computer or a phone has the power to cut us off from genuine relationships, destroy friendships and distort self worth...
As it turns out, evil exists, but not within our closets, beneath our beds or even on a darkened stretch of road, but within the darkness, where we refuse to shine the light.....
His eyes are on the ways of mortals;
he sees their every step.
There is no deep shadow, no utter darkness,
where evildoers can hide.-
Job
34:21-23
Woe
to those who go to great depths
to hide their plans from the Lord,
who do their work in darkness and think,
“Who sees us? Who will know?”
to hide their plans from the Lord,
who do their work in darkness and think,
“Who sees us? Who will know?”
Isaiah 29:15
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
The Greatest Weapon in the Fight of Your Life
13 years ago, my wife and I were moving through our life at a comfortable pace. We had two young children. Our house was comfortable and well maintained, the yard manicured and our bedrooms clean, the beds made every morning. We had taken vacations to visit our family in faraway states. The lines of our life had fell upon comfortable places. And then, with the birth of our third child, it changed. Like so many other families, the unexpected occurred and our lives were thrown into a tailspin of doctor visits, surgeries and medical complications until we finally settled into an uneasy period of vague unrest, an eye always scanning the horizon for the next traumatic event. We moved on with our lives but things were different. Outwardly, I'm certain it appeared as if we were fine, but there were small signs all around. Our house and yard not as well maintained, bedrooms not as organized, vacations untaken. Even as so many things in our lives were amazing, the vague specter of crisis was always just at the door. My sleep habits suffered as The Unknown woke me up nightly, prompting me to check my children, to listen to their breathing as they lay in bed. But something happened as I waited for the next crisis....Life moved on. My children grew. Seasons changed. And I came to a startling realization. I had been living with this constant unease for so long that I didn't know how to live without it.
I have discovered that I am not alone in this .... I have a friend who struggled for years beneath the crushing weight of financial obligations even though he had attempted to be faithful in every decision. Now that his life has turned to blessings, he struggles with being critical, the joy that was once so evident in his life not so apparent. The season has changed, but sadly, so has he. And I understand... Even though the Lord has moved him from the desert to the place of promise, his eyes are still focused behind him, on the land he has already passed through. I understand because I still feel the pull to do the same.
I know a man, a man who was once a great man of God in my life, a hero to many people. He encountered a situation where bitterness was an appealing option. In fact, there were no shortage of people in his life who told him that his anger towards the church was valid...And so he gave in. The years have passed, and so has the man I knew, from a vibrant force for good within our community to a bitter, angry shell. Even his health has suffered from his decision to give in as his body has wasted away and his countenance become hard.... And I understand. I understand because I have felt the appeal to give in to the voices that tell me I would be justified, I would be right...
I spoke last week with an individual struggling with fear. While these fears would sound baseless to many people, I could relate because I had felt them rob me of joy during my college years. He was surprised as I responded with words that revealed my intimate knowledge of the issue, knowledge only someone who had wrestled with the same fears would possess. I struggled when he asked me how I had overcome the grip which these fears had once held over me. But after considering it for a moment as we stood in his driveway, wrapped in silence, I told him this...Sometimes you have to fight for your sanity. And the greatest weapon in the battle is the Truth.
I cannot speak to everyone's situation, but I can speak as an expert to my own story. In my darkest moments, whether those moments were filled with the darkness of depression, the absolutely paralyzing fear of losing a child or the sweet lies inherent in bitterness, the only thing which provided me the strength to get up and move forward was the truth. The truth surrounding my family; that we are blessed. The truth regarding the wrongs that have been done to me; that I have been forgiven so much, and only in forgiving others will I be free. The truth about my fears; they do not reflect reality, and I will base my life upon reality...The truth.
Every day we must choose. Some days that choice comes easy and without cost. But often, that choice is a struggle, a fight. But it is never a battle we must fight alone. Scripture tells us that Jesus embodied truth and that the truth contained in Christ would set us free...I have raised my hands in church as I have heard that preached, surrounded by crowds of varying size. But it has only been in my darkest moments, when I have felt beaten and alone, afraid and embittered, that I have discovered its truth...
I have discovered that I am not alone in this .... I have a friend who struggled for years beneath the crushing weight of financial obligations even though he had attempted to be faithful in every decision. Now that his life has turned to blessings, he struggles with being critical, the joy that was once so evident in his life not so apparent. The season has changed, but sadly, so has he. And I understand... Even though the Lord has moved him from the desert to the place of promise, his eyes are still focused behind him, on the land he has already passed through. I understand because I still feel the pull to do the same.
I know a man, a man who was once a great man of God in my life, a hero to many people. He encountered a situation where bitterness was an appealing option. In fact, there were no shortage of people in his life who told him that his anger towards the church was valid...And so he gave in. The years have passed, and so has the man I knew, from a vibrant force for good within our community to a bitter, angry shell. Even his health has suffered from his decision to give in as his body has wasted away and his countenance become hard.... And I understand. I understand because I have felt the appeal to give in to the voices that tell me I would be justified, I would be right...
I spoke last week with an individual struggling with fear. While these fears would sound baseless to many people, I could relate because I had felt them rob me of joy during my college years. He was surprised as I responded with words that revealed my intimate knowledge of the issue, knowledge only someone who had wrestled with the same fears would possess. I struggled when he asked me how I had overcome the grip which these fears had once held over me. But after considering it for a moment as we stood in his driveway, wrapped in silence, I told him this...Sometimes you have to fight for your sanity. And the greatest weapon in the battle is the Truth.
I cannot speak to everyone's situation, but I can speak as an expert to my own story. In my darkest moments, whether those moments were filled with the darkness of depression, the absolutely paralyzing fear of losing a child or the sweet lies inherent in bitterness, the only thing which provided me the strength to get up and move forward was the truth. The truth surrounding my family; that we are blessed. The truth regarding the wrongs that have been done to me; that I have been forgiven so much, and only in forgiving others will I be free. The truth about my fears; they do not reflect reality, and I will base my life upon reality...The truth.
Every day we must choose. Some days that choice comes easy and without cost. But often, that choice is a struggle, a fight. But it is never a battle we must fight alone. Scripture tells us that Jesus embodied truth and that the truth contained in Christ would set us free...I have raised my hands in church as I have heard that preached, surrounded by crowds of varying size. But it has only been in my darkest moments, when I have felt beaten and alone, afraid and embittered, that I have discovered its truth...
Thursday, March 14, 2013
What Has She done?!
Caution: If you are the children of Michelle and Don knight, reading this blog will cause you gastrointestinal difficulty and acute embarrassment
Today is the 25th anniversary of the day that I looked into my wife's eyes and heard her say " I do". But what exactly has she done?
She gave birth to my mini-me, a curly blonde headed, chubby cheeked son. Her very first words to our baby boy who had spent far too long a time in the birth canal, his cone head a testament to his prolonged arrival? " You're not very cute, but I love you!"...Those words were just a foreshadowing of who she would be over the next 20 years as a mother, wife and friend; honest, accepting and always loving...
What has she done?..When she felt that we needed to find a church, she went without me and found a church home. When my job kept me away on Sundays, she prayed that God would provide a way to bring me back to church...And He did....When I decided to move from a great job working for the state to a ministry opportunity for one third of the money, she scoured the ads and worked the phones, finding us the perfect rental which we could afford. During those lean years, she stuck with me, inviting kids into our home and loving them as much as I did. While working full-time, she hauled our son to ballgames in a baby carrier slung to her back and pushed him in a stroller to church events. When our daughter was born, and I couldn't bear to be in the Dr.s office when my children had to get their shots, she held them because that's what moms do.
What has she done?..She stuck with me when I left my job and returned to the State. She quit her job to be with our children full-time, taking them to dentist appointments, play dates, tumbling classes. When our youngest son was born, sickly and needy, and our world was rocked, she changed his colostomy, did the research and ordered the cream to bring relief to his chafed skin. During the year he had his colostomy, she performed the necessary daily steps to ensure his little body would be prepared for the the surgery to correct his issue, an invasive procedure that I avoided but she did not, because that's just what moms do...
What has she done?...When I lost my job, a victim of budget cuts, she pushed me to go back to school to get my degree. As I went to classes during the day and worked all evening, she took care of our children and ran the household. After I went to interview after interview, eventually giving up and becoming depressed, she searched the internet and put my resume on multiple job sites. I can still remember taking a call at home and hearing the voice ask me if I were still interested in a job at Target. I repeated the question out loud, confused, when she rushed into the kitchen and told me "YES...YOU ARE!!"..I worked the next seven years at a job which provided for my family and taught me numerous invaluable lessons...A job that I never even knew I had applied for...
What has she done?...She has worked every angle to make ends meet over the past 25 years. She has attended nearly every single sporting event and school activity which our children were involved in, often the only parent in the stands, yelling loudly for every child, not just her own. She has created a growing business while coaching multiple sports to ensure that kids in our community feel valued and loved. She took a job in the counseling office at the high school and has made sure that there is always chocolate available for any person, staff or student, who needed just a little reminder that they were appreciated.
What has she done?...She has held me accountable when I was wrong, encouraged me when I was broken, forgiven me when I was hurtful and kept our house filled with laughter. She has been a steadfast friend and loving mother.
What has she done?..While I have aged and become more tired and haggard looking, she has become more beautiful with every passing year. She is the person I wish my kids to be...And a model for me to point to for children who, sadly. lack such an example within their own home...
Happy anniversary Michelle, I love you
A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.
Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value.
She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life.
-Proverbs 31:10-12
Today is the 25th anniversary of the day that I looked into my wife's eyes and heard her say " I do". But what exactly has she done?
She gave birth to my mini-me, a curly blonde headed, chubby cheeked son. Her very first words to our baby boy who had spent far too long a time in the birth canal, his cone head a testament to his prolonged arrival? " You're not very cute, but I love you!"...Those words were just a foreshadowing of who she would be over the next 20 years as a mother, wife and friend; honest, accepting and always loving...
What has she done?..When she felt that we needed to find a church, she went without me and found a church home. When my job kept me away on Sundays, she prayed that God would provide a way to bring me back to church...And He did....When I decided to move from a great job working for the state to a ministry opportunity for one third of the money, she scoured the ads and worked the phones, finding us the perfect rental which we could afford. During those lean years, she stuck with me, inviting kids into our home and loving them as much as I did. While working full-time, she hauled our son to ballgames in a baby carrier slung to her back and pushed him in a stroller to church events. When our daughter was born, and I couldn't bear to be in the Dr.s office when my children had to get their shots, she held them because that's what moms do.
What has she done?..She stuck with me when I left my job and returned to the State. She quit her job to be with our children full-time, taking them to dentist appointments, play dates, tumbling classes. When our youngest son was born, sickly and needy, and our world was rocked, she changed his colostomy, did the research and ordered the cream to bring relief to his chafed skin. During the year he had his colostomy, she performed the necessary daily steps to ensure his little body would be prepared for the the surgery to correct his issue, an invasive procedure that I avoided but she did not, because that's just what moms do...
What has she done?...When I lost my job, a victim of budget cuts, she pushed me to go back to school to get my degree. As I went to classes during the day and worked all evening, she took care of our children and ran the household. After I went to interview after interview, eventually giving up and becoming depressed, she searched the internet and put my resume on multiple job sites. I can still remember taking a call at home and hearing the voice ask me if I were still interested in a job at Target. I repeated the question out loud, confused, when she rushed into the kitchen and told me "YES...YOU ARE!!"..I worked the next seven years at a job which provided for my family and taught me numerous invaluable lessons...A job that I never even knew I had applied for...
What has she done?...She has worked every angle to make ends meet over the past 25 years. She has attended nearly every single sporting event and school activity which our children were involved in, often the only parent in the stands, yelling loudly for every child, not just her own. She has created a growing business while coaching multiple sports to ensure that kids in our community feel valued and loved. She took a job in the counseling office at the high school and has made sure that there is always chocolate available for any person, staff or student, who needed just a little reminder that they were appreciated.
What has she done?...She has held me accountable when I was wrong, encouraged me when I was broken, forgiven me when I was hurtful and kept our house filled with laughter. She has been a steadfast friend and loving mother.
What has she done?..While I have aged and become more tired and haggard looking, she has become more beautiful with every passing year. She is the person I wish my kids to be...And a model for me to point to for children who, sadly. lack such an example within their own home...
Happy anniversary Michelle, I love you
A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.
Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value.
She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life.
-Proverbs 31:10-12
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Ray Lewis vs Rev. Alden
 |
| Rev. Alden, pastor of the Walnut Grove Community church and school |
In a recent study, 64% of people surveyed said that they looked to athletes as their role models more than pastors and clergy. Even more startling, pastors were ranked #8 on a list of professions people considered to be trustworthy and ethical. Pastors were one spot behind college professors and just two above chiropractors....But it could be worse. We could be car salesmen or members of Congress ( dead last ). During the run up to the Super Bowl played last week, the Ravens Ray Lewis was held up as the model for us believers to praise as his faith was played out in bigger than life terms. But looking to him as a role model can prove troubling as his failures have been well documented. Sports writer Frank Deford described it in this fashion,
"He is not, shall we say, quite the exemplary family man, having sired six children with a variety of women. He was indicted for murder in the year 2000, turned state's evidence and pled guilty to obstruction of justice. And, of course, he can be a brutal player—witness the monstrous illegal hit he pummeled the Patriots' Aaron Hernandez with in the AFL championship."
You see, Ray Lewis and I apparently have a great deal in common. Not in the specific details of our failings or struggles nor even our near identical genetic advantages in the areas of strength and quickness ( stop laughing, its possible ). Nor is it our chiseled physiques and fiery competitive nature ( seriously, stop laughing )... What we have in common has nothing to do with what the world values; strength, success, wealth. Instead, our commonality lies in our weakness. The same weakness that afflicts athletes and pastors, chiropractors and congressmen, husbands and wives, We are all broken and hurting creations, longing to be loved and encouraged in a world quick to strike and destroy. All of us struggle, to some degree, with the fallout of our worst decisions.... We all struggle with physical illness, emotional hurts. The ability to deliver a crushing blow on 3rd and 2 no more insulates a person from pain than does the ability to turn a pretty phrase on a Sunday morning. But, if Ray Lewis is to be believed, we have even more in common. We have found our answer in Christ, we have found our healing in Grace.
But perhaps, far from being your role model, Ray Lewis' past makes his present message of faith hard for you to swallow. You long to sit next to the Ingalls family in the Walnut Grove Congregational Church and listen to the wise and loving Rev. Alden. But perhaps, as Paul Harvey ( the voice over in the cool "farmer" commercial during the Super Bowl)used to say, Perhaps you need to hear the rest of the story...Robert Aldens personal story of pain and hurt, despair and regret?
In the series Little House on the Prairie, Robert Alden was a prairie farmer who lost his entire family to a terrible disaster. Alone and bitter, he turned to alcohol to dull the demons that raged within him. Day after day, he descended further into anger and the bottle, until one day, when he came face to face with a god who loved him, who had a calling for his life. A Father who lifted him above the circumstances of his life and forgave him his worst moments. Transformed by Grace and called by God, Robert Alden became a pastor.
You see, more amazing than a persons ability to run fast or jump high is Gods ability to forgive and transform the lives of people who have stumbled and fell. Greater than the ability to speak well is the desire to speak hope into the lives of the hurting. But most amazing of all, still is and will continue to be, the grace of God, equally available to Super Bowl athletes, pastors, chiropractors, car salesman......even congressmen.
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