5 Things They Don't Tell You About Fatherhood And 1 Thing They Do

     So, I'm a father. My little girl is three months old and her and my wife are in Detroit for the weekend visiting family. (I had to stay home and work.) It's a fitting time, I think, to write a little about the things I didn't expect about becoming a father, because there are some things that they don't tell you. But they should, things like.

Bonding:

     You will bond with your child at least twice, and the first time doesn't really count. When my daughter was born, I was in the room, I watched it happen. I, like most every other man who has ever experienced this event was immediately overcome with emotion. The problem with this, as many would tell you, is that you can't base a relationship on purely emotion. emotional highs (like the one I just described) wear away, they ebb and flow. We, as humans are selfish. It's one thing for me to decide to love my wife on a daily basis, but another to do the same to my daughter (at least it was at first). My wife can love me back, my week-old daughter, could not. This truth left me with a profound sense that my home had been invaded by a small person I had no feelings for. I hadn't really bonded yet. This left me with a deep, deep sense of guilt and shame because "fathers should love their daughters" I said to my wife. It took a little bit of time (a couple of weeks) but I did bond with my little girl and I do love her more than anyone on this planet, (except her mother) but those first weeks were hard.

Sleep:

     "Get your sleep now! Haw haw haw" it's what everyone tells you when they find you you're going to have a baby. What they don't tell you is that if your wife is breastfeeding, you will sleep more or less like you always did. Odds are, at least for the first year or so, your wife will be at home on maternity leave, and if that is the case, odds are you are working and your wife, will let you sleep so that you can go to work. She however, will not sleep which leads to...


Guilt:

     If you are sleeping, you will feel guilty about it. It doesn't matter what she says about this that it's ok, or that she understands, you will feel guilty that you are not suffering with her. also, she will be more tired than you regardless, you will feel guilty about that too.

The Bed:

     It will be taken over by a tiny human who takes up 80% of the space, your wife gets 15%, the extra pillows preventing you from rolling onto and crushing the baby get 2% and you get 3%. Or at least, that's how it feels.

Lying:

     You will lie to your friends and family about how much you love being a new dad until you've actually bonded with your child. Because until then, you really are just confused, and filled with mixed emotions about the whole thing, but you can't say that to your mother, or mother in law for that matter, the best you can get away with is that you're feeling "challenged" when in fact, you may be miserable because this tiny human has invaded your life.

But.

     After all this, there is something that they do tell you about fatherhood that makes it all worth it. The first time you walk into a room, and your baby looks at you, recognizes you and smiles, THAT moment, covers up all the bad and makes every single thing worth it. All I need from my little girl for the rest of my life, is that smile when she sees me, because even though she can't say it now, or even know what it means, that smile says: "I love you dad."

And that means the world.

-Kevin

Sermon text 1 Corinthians 9:19-23

            So, good morning.  I'll be working out of 1Corinthians 9:19-23, though I will bounce around a bit. For now though, let's just read this one together

19 For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. 20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. 21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

            What are some things that traditionally, stereotypically, Christians can't or don't do? (pause for responses)

            There's a rhyme in the more conservative baptist circles that I travel in: “We don't drink, we don't chew and we don't go with girls that do.” It's an archaic expression, but it still rings with truth. Christians don't drink, we don't smoke, or chew and we don't swear. At last that's the stereotype. I know I don't live up to the expectations that many people I come into contact with have of me once they find out that I'm a Christian. I'm a beer snob, which means, obviously, that I drink beer. I smoked a cigar with my uncles when my daughter was born, and much to my own shame, I'd be lying if I said I never swore though I usually do it in French...because fewer people understand me then....When I'm visiting Quebec, I suppose I'll have to switch to English.

            So what Paul here is talking about is how Christians are to behave around people who are not Christians. We're going to look at these all, but let's start off with the one Paul knew the most about.

To the Jews I became like a Jew:

            This first category wasn't all that difficult for Paul since he was, ethnically, Jewish. So for Paul to “Become Jewish” wouldn't have been a big deal because to most of the Jews of the day, he was. He was already Jewish. He was Hebrew. Now the difference comes in the book of Acts when Paul wants to take Timothy, a Greek, and Paul's student out with him on a missionary journey where they would be interacting and ministering to Jews. Timothy, because he was Greek before converting to Christianity, was never circumcised. Now Paul is known in other places in scripture to be adamant that circumcision is not necessary to be a Christian. He goes so far in the book of Galatians as to encourage those that do believe you need circumcision to just go ahead, finish the job and castrate themselves! So it should come as no surprise to anyone, that in this case, Timothy WAS circumcised!

Wait...what?

            So Paul is adamant that circumcision is not necessary yet Timothy is circumcised just to appease the Jews on the journey? Why the double standard? Because there's a difference between can, and must. See the pressure that was coming from Galatia was coming from other Christians who had been Jews and now wanted all new Christians to be circumcised as well, because they believed that you must be a part of the old covenant in order to be a part of the new one. They were adding circumcision to the Gospel, to the completed and complete work of Jesus. In Timothy's case, both Paul and Timothy knew and understood that whether or not Timothy was circumcised did nothing to change or improve his standing with God but they did know that as a gentile,  his status would bar him from many opportunities within the Jewish community, even if he was travelling with Paul. So he went ahead and got circumcised, because he could, not because he had to. Timothy flexed, and gave up some of his rights, and freedoms o that he might have the opportunity to teach the Gospel.

To those under the Law, I became as one under the law

            So right now the guys in the room are probably wondering how many more times I'm going to say “that word” this morning, and I think, or now at least, I'm done with it. So I'll move on to another topic, one that we men will enjoy a bit more, I think, meat. So it's a new school year at Heritage, where I went to college, and the kids will have probably, by now, moved into residence. I can almost guarantee you, that at some pint in the next eight months, this question will be thrown around in dorm, probably at 3am: Is it appropriate for a Christian to eat Kosher or Halal meat? On the surface it seems like a pretty simple question, Acts 10 effectively changed all of the dietary laws so that Christians are free to eat any animal which is great because I am glad God made pigs out of bacon. In the next chapter, Paul explicitly says that we can, as Christians eat food sacrificed to idols because we know that that idol is just a thing that was created by God and made into an idol by man. After all, if a man builds a statue of Athena, or Molech, or any other god, who made he wood? Who created the metal? God did.  But only four verses earlier, Paul says that to eat food that is sacrificed to idols is to share in the worship of demons! Not to mention that in Matthew 15 Jesus Himself says that it doesn't matter what you eat because it's what comes out of the mouth that matters, not what goes into it!

            So can I eat the Halal cutlets or not? Maybe, because again, there is a difference between can and must. If it's just me, and Cody, sure, eat the halal, though I don't know why, it's more expensive and tastes more or less the same. But let me ask you this, would you have a beer with an alcoholic? Of course not, that's irresponsible. Now, would you eat halal with an ex Muslim who is now a Christian and may have reservations about eating what he may consider to be food sacrificed to an idol? Moving on. But if someone comes up to me and says that all Christians can not eat halal and be Christian, geuss what I'm having for lunch. (laughter?) And I’m not being a smart alek. They are adding to the completed work and sufficiency of Jesus and the Gospel.

To those outside the Law.

            Now here is where we can get tripped up. Because this is where people get the idea of Christian freedom all messed up. Some people hear “outside the law” and think it's a moral carte blanche to do whatever they want in the name of “evangelism”. The problem with this is that there's no limit. To the drunk I became a drunk, To the adulterer, I became an adulterer, to the child molester, I became a child molester? No. Brothers and sisters, this is not what Christian freedom is. Christian freedom is the freedom to do ALL things to the glory of God because when you're a Christian, your desires should only be to glorify God. Not that any of us are perfect, we all fail in many ways at many times, but when we are talking about Christian freedom and the law of Christ; we talk about the freedom to do anything we want because all we want do to is glorify the Father. Because there's a difference between can and must. Just because I can exercise my freedom here, doesn't mean I must nor does it mean that by exercising it I glorify God. Besides, when Paul talks about those outside the Law, he's not talking about criminals, he's talking about people outside the law of Moses, he's talking about Gentiles, non-Jews he's talking about you and me.

To the Weak I became weak

            Last group. To the weak I became weak in order to win the weak. Does that sound really strange to anyone else besides me? When you're trying to present something to someone who is weak, you want to come at it from a position of strength don't you? You don't want to appear weak to the weak so that the weak don't trust you do you? You want to have it together so that the weak say “Wow, look at him, he's strong, I want what he has.” Paul says no, to the weak, become weak to win the weak from out of their weakness. So who are the weak here? Well that's the beautiful thing about the continuity of this passage. See, where the top two categories are Jews and God-fearers, that is Ethnic Jews and uncircumcised gentiles who have converted to Judaism; The second two sections are Gentiles (those not under the Law) and the weak. These weak ones are different than the weak in chapter 8, in that they are not Christians, we know that because Paul says he still wants to win them. These weak ones are probably the kind of people we see here in churches today, they come to church, they have good morals, and they're really uncomfortable with other religions, but they're not Christians yet. They're like the people who show up on Christmas and Easter, or Republicans. They’re not Christians so much as they are “religious”

I have become all things to all people...

            Do you see what Paul is doing here? He's gathering together ALL people for the Gospel! The Jews, Those under the Law, who were probably God-fearers and Jewish by religion and not ethnicity, and those not under the Law, the gentiles and the weak ones. That's everyone! I have become ALL things to ALL people that by ALL means I might save some. Paul is saying what I hope by now is rather obvious. The methods you use in ministry to get the gospel out are flexible, and it's you that does the flexing. YOU flex, don’t water down the message, but tailor it to your audience. And here's why Paul even says it.

Participate in the Gospel

            Paul says “I do it all for the sake of the Gospel” and most English translations here probably read “that I may share in it's blessings” or something similar. I learned something, however, when I was researching this sermon, that the original Greek is a little more ambiguous and translates literally to “That I might participate in it.” so: “ I do it all for the sake of the Gospel, that I might participate in it.” and what is participating in the Gospel all about if not all about doing what Jesus himself did and identifying with those he came to save. Jesus, the second part of the trinity, God, from eternity past perfectly holy, perfectly righteous, comes down to earth to identify with us. To the Humans, I became a human in order to save humanity. And not only become human, Jesus identifies with us so much He went as far as the cross, dying our death in our place to save some of us. I know that there are a lot of things that River City does to help you identify and be able to communicate the truth of this Gospel to the people around you. To help equip you to explain the story of the God who identified with us. We just finished a series on movies, and film, and how the stories we watch and are entertained by fit into the Biblical story. And I hope that you see that not just as light summer church fare because there's fewer people around in the summer, but take it as an opportunity to challenge yourself and grow as a Christian. Think of areas you may need to flex when it comes to the Gospel. Ask yourself what all things to all people looks like to you, and how can you live out the call that God has placed on your life as well as mine. Let's pray

Covenant Faithfullness According to Dr. Dre and Eminem

     


     I've had this song in my head for a few weeks now, It's "I Need a Doctor" from Dr. Dre's "Detox" album. It's a three verse ballad (can I call a rap song a ballad?) featuring Eminem in the first two verses and Dre in the last with Skylar Grey providing the melodic chorus. I've reproduced the lyrics here censoring the coarser language for our more discerning readers.

[Chorus - Skylar Grey]

I'm about to lose my mind
you've been gone for so long
I'm running out of time
I need a doctor
call me a doctor
I need a doctor, doctor
to bring me back to life

[Eminem]
I told the world one day I would pay it back
say it on tape, and lay it, record it
so that one day I could play it back
but I don't even know if I believe it when I'm saying that
doubt starting to creep in, everyday it's just so grey and black
Hope - I just need a ray of that
'Cause no one sees my vision when I play it for 'em
They just say it's wack
they don't know what dope is
and I don't know if I was awake or asleep
when I wrote this,
all I know is you came to me when I was at my lowest
you picked me up, breathed new life in me
I owe my life to you
but for the life of me, I don't see why you don't see like I do
but it just dawned on me you lost a son
demons fighting you, it's dark.
let me turn on the lights and brighten me and enlighten you
I don't think you realize what you mean to me
not the slightest clue
'Cause me and you were like a crew
I was like your sidekick
you gon either wanna fight me when I get off this f******g mic
or you gon hug me
But I'm out of options, there's nothing else I can do 'cause

[Chorus - Skylar Grey]
I'm about to lose my mind
you've been gone for so long
I'm running out of time
I need a doctor
call me a doctor
I need a doctor, doctor
to bring me back to life

[Eminem]
It hurts when I see you struggle
you come to me with ideas
You say they're just pieces so I'm puzzled
'Cause the s**t I hear is crazy
But you're either getting lazy or you don't believe in you no more
seems like your own opinion's not one you can form
Can't make a decision you keep questioning yourself
Second guessing and it's almost like you're begging for my help
like I'm your leader
your supposed to f******g be my mentor
I can endure no more,
I demand you remember who you are
it was you who believed in me
when everyone was telling you don't sign me
Everyone at the f******g label, let's tell the truth
you risked your career for me
I know it as well as you
nobody wanted to f**k with the white boy
Dre, I'm crying in this booth
You saved my life, now maybe it's my turn to save yours
but I can never repay you, what you did for me is way more
but I ain't giving up faith and you ain't giving up on me
Get up Dre, I'm dying, I need you, come back for f**k's sake 'cause

[Chorus - Skylar Grey]
I'm about to lose my mind
you've been gone for so long
I'm running out of time
I need a doctor
call me a doctor
I need a doctor, doctor
to bring me back to life
bring me back to life
bring me back to life

(I need a doctor, doctor
to bring me back to life)

[Dr Dre]
It literally feels like a lifetime ago
but I still remember the s**t like it was just yesterday though
you walked in, yellow jump suit
whole room, cracked jokes
once you got inside the booth, told you, like smoke
went through friends, some of them I put on
but they just left, they said they was riding to the death
But where the f**k are they now?
now that I need them, I don't see none of them
all I see is Slim
f**k all you fair-weather friends
all I need is him
f******g backstabbers
when the chips were down you just laughed at us
Now you 'bout to feel the f******g wrath of Aftermath, f******s
you gon see us in our lab jackets and ask us where the f**k we been?
You can kiss my indecisive a******k, maggots, and the cracker's a**
Little Cracker Jack, beat-making w******s backwards producers
I'm back, b******s
one more CD and then I'm packing up my bags and as I'm leaving
I'll guarantee they scream, Dre don't leave us like that man 'cause

[Chorus - Skylar Grey]
I'm about to lose my mind
you've been gone for so long
I'm running out of time
I need a doctor
call me a doctor
I need a doctor, doctor
to bring me back to life

     I love this song, I have loved it since I first heard it, I bought it on iTunes, learned the lyrics, sing along. But there was something else about this song, something that got to me at a deep spiritual level, it reminded me of something, of someone.

It reminded me of David and Jonathan.

     The storylines and narratives of these two groups of men's lives certainly have nothing in common, but what struck me was the depth of commitment between Eminem and Dr. Dre, how they have covenanted with each other, seen each other through both good and bad.

    This all got me thinking about something I think about often: Christians and Media. Can the redeemed learn from the world? I've been of the belief that we can, and should learn and seek to connect and understand worldly events, people and even art in relation to biblical metanarrative.

     How many of us would give almost anything to have the kind of deep, intimate friendship that David and Jonathan had or that Eminem and Dr Dre have? This song gives me shivers in certain sections because of the feelings of hopelessness and devastation that come with the loss of a friend who may not come back. Eminem pleads for the life of his friend: "Get up Dre, I'm dying, I need you, come back for f**k's sake!"

     Not only does Eminem plead for his friend's life, he has the courage to tell Dre like it is even though the truth will hurt. You can almost put a scripture reference at the end of the first verse. (Proverbs 27:6)

     We can learn about friendship and covenant from David and Jonathan.
     We can learn about friendship and covenant from Eminem and Dr Dre.


-Kevin

I LOVE Christian Satire...

I stole this from The Gospel Coalition, it's awesome, I have reproduced it here...

A Recently Discovered Letter of Critique Written to the Apostle Paul

A satire, co-authored by Justin Taylor and Jared Wilson
Exclusive: In an exciting example of scholarly cross-collaboration and interdisciplinary research, textual critics and archaeologists have just published a translation of a recently discovered first-century letter, apparently authentic, written to the Apostle Paul himself. Scholars believe it was likely written in the late AD 40s or early 50s. The parchment was remarkably well preserved in a jar buried in a cave on the island of Satiricus. It is surmised that the author of the letter, Parodios, was an elder who had met Paul on one of his missionary journeys.
The translation, published here for the first time, reads as follows:

---

Parodios, a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, to our brother Paulos.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Our church recently received a copy of the letter that you sent to the church of Galatia. We hope you will not mind hearing our humble concerns. In the past we have noticed you are more interested in confronting people rather than conversing with them, but we hope you will receive this letter as an invitation to further dialogue.
First of all, we are uncomfortable with your tone throughout the correspondence. We know it is difficult sometimes to discern tone of voice from written communication, but you should keep this in mind as well. One could gather from your careless use of words that you are losing your temper. You certainly sound angry. This is unbecoming a spokesperson for the faith. As you say yourself, one of the manifest fruit of God’s Spirit is gentleness.
Aren’t you being a hypocrite to preach grace but not show it to our Judaizer brothers? They may not worship as you do or emphasize the same teachings you do, but our Lord has “sheep not of this fold,” and there is certainly room within the broader Way for these brothers. Their methodology may differ from yours, but certainly their hearts are in the right place.
You yourself know that our Lord required personal contact when we have a grievance against another. Have you personally contacted any of these men? Have you sat down to reason with them personally? Have you issued a personal invitation? Some of them may even reconsider their viewpoints if you had taken a different tack. We know that your position is likely that public teaching is open to public criticism, but we can do better than what is expected, can’t we?
In one portion of your letter, you indicate you don’t even know these persons! “Whoever he is,” you write. Our dear Paulos, how can you rightly criticize them when you don’t know them? It’s clear you haven’t even read their material, because you never quote them. We implore you to see that they are plainly within the tradition of Moses and of the Prophets. They understand the context of the covenant in ways you appear deaf to.
Similarly, we find your tone and resorting to harsh language not in keeping with the love of Christ. “Foolish Galatians.” “Let him be accursed.” “Emasculate themselves.” Really? Can you not hear yourself? You think this is Christlike? Does this sound like something our Lord would say? Do you think this flippant, outrageous, personal, vindictive manner of speech speaks well of God’s love or the church? It is clear you are taking this way too personally. Indeed, you ask the Galatians if you are now their enemy. Does everything have to be so black and white to you?
Paulos, what will unbelievers think when they read this letter? Do you think this will commend the gospel to them? This kind of harsh language just makes us look like a bunch of angry people. They see we can’t even love each other, and over what? Circumcision? This is a terrible advertisement for God’s love to an unbelieving world. You have given plenty of people permission now to disregard Jesus, if this is what his mouthpieces sound like.
We hope you will reconsider your approach. We know that you catch much more flies with honey than with vinegar. We are concerned that your ill-worded letter signals a divisiveness that threatens to fracture the church. We beg you to reconsider how important these minor issues are, and how in the future you may speak in ways that better reflect God’s love.
The grace—and the love!—of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brother.

---

It is unknown whether the Apostle Paul actually received and read this letter, and history has left no record of a response.
But we think we can make at least two observations.
First, Paul’s words to the Galatians were not inappropriate. They were true words, and they were loving words. Even if it runs contrary to our presuppositions and expectations, they were an example of “speaking the truth in love.” These words were inspired by the Holy Spirit, so that to critique Paul and his language is ultimately to critique God himself.
Second, this language was not Paul’s default. He did not respond to every controversy in the same way. He would be appalled if people took this letter to the Galatians and made it the norm for Christian discourse. Christians should seek to guard their tongue, using gracious speech seasoned with salt, delivered in love, and designed for edification (Col. 4:6; Eph. 4:15, 25, 29). But false doctrine and false teachers can infiltrate the church, and when the gospel is at stake, the means of being loving, edifying, salt-flavored, grace-filled may require harsh words in order to protect the flock, the church for whom Christ died.
May God give us much wisdom in how to speak the truth in love, especially when we have to call a spade a spade.

What the Church can Learn From AA

I went to an AA meeting a couple of weeks ago. No, I am not an alcoholic, and no I didn't crash some random meeting. I went to an AA meeting this weekend because of my father. He was receiving his medallion for being sober for a year. For an alcoholic, the one year medallion is a big deal, the whole meeting was about my dad. I'm proud of my father, and I'm happy and grateful that he has come this far, but this post is not about dad, it's about what I learned, and what I think the Church can learn from AA.
During the meeting, one of the men my dad asked to speak for him read the 12 traditions of AA, and what got me was the tenth and eleventh ones:

"Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the A.A. name ought never be drawn into public controversy."
"Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio and films."

What if the church did this? What if we shut down the media blitzes, and the PR, and the battling bus ads and just lived attractionaly and stayed away from controversy? What if we could say:

"The Church has no opinion on outside issues; hence the Christian name ought never be drawn into public controversy."
"The Church's public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio and films."

Before you immediately disagree with me on the first one "Of course the church has an opinion on outside issues! the world is full of SIN!" (One may say) consider these two items. 1) Sin is not an outside issue, but is at the core of Christianity and what we believe. 2) Why do we insist on discussing and denouncing the moral actions of people who are not Christian? Is it not a waste of time? Did Jesus not die precisely because our moral acts can not and will not stand up to the Father's expectations? It is inappropriate to talk about morality until after we talk about the Gospel.

But what about the second statement? don't we need promotion and flashy ads for the church today in this consumeristic product-driven culture? Sure, if you're selling a product. Sure, if you want to compete with the World. Simple truth is, the Church will never be able to compete with the advertising world. We'll never be the Old Spice Guy, or Diamond Shreddies (If you didn't get this in the States Google it, brilliant campaign) and that's fine, we have something that consumerism and fads will never have, staying power. Jesus died 1972 years ago (give or take) and His Church has stood up to (and thrived in) ridiculous persecution and out and out wars to kill it. So why don't we just do what we do best, preach Christ, teach the Gospel and leave morality of unbelievers to Philosophers.

With Love For The Church
-Kevin

Justice Wins: A Post About Franz Stangl, Treblinka, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived.

 

     Last night I watched a documentary on the History channel. It was about Franz Stangl, the one time Kommandant of the Treblinka extermination camp. I won't go into the details of Treblinka's operation (you can read about that here) but I will say that over the course of it's operation, Treblinka is estimated to have seen anywhere from 700'000 to 1'400'000 Jews pass through it's fake train station and into its gas chambers.The camp was staffed byless than 150 people.

     One hundred fifty people were responsible for the deaths of up to one million four-hundred thousand people. Stangl himself was eventually tried and convicted of war crimes and the deaths of nine-hundred thousand people. The numbers are staggering alone, and all night I've been trying to imagine a just outcome to all this, on this world. The simple fact is that there isn't. What can we do? Line up the offenders and shoot them? Is that justice? Do we torture them, and then kill them? Is that Justice?

     There is nothing that we can do to mitigate the enormity of Treblinka. Nothing we can do for justice, to make any of this right.

     Franz Stangl died in Dusseldorf prison in Germany of heart failure in 1971. Is that Justice?

"Cargo. They were cargo. I think it started the day I first saw the Totenlager in Treblinka. I remember Wirth standing there, next to the pits full of blue-black corpses. It had nothing to do with humanity-it couldn't have; it was a mass-a mass of rotting flesh. Wirth said, 'What shall we do with this garbage?' I think unconsciously that started me thinking of them as cargo."

"My conscience is clear. I was simply doing my duty..."
                                                                                                 -Franz Stangl

Winning?

Charlie, Charlie, Charlie…

Unless you’ve been living under a rock the last few days, you’ve heard about Charlie Sheen and his recent tailspin/trainwreck. I spent about 20 minutes today, on the TV watching Charlie make a fool of himself in a self deluded perhaps sober/perhaps not state. On top of that, I’ve been trolling #winning and #tigerblood on Twitter on my iPhone all day as well. Why am I doing this? Same reason as the rest of us are, it’s entertaining, it’s funny.

My wife, on the other hand, can’t do it. It’s too sad she says.
She can’t watch someone destroy themselves like that.
She can’t watch their kids get taken away. (Though she agrees that that was for the best.)
She can’t watch someone tear their own life apart while she sits on the sidelines.
She can’t be part of the mob.

Charlie Sheen is sick. His father knows it, the internet knows it, the Church knows it.
Where is the church by the way? Where are we? Where am I? I’m on the sidelines looking in, I’m part of the mob, I’m laughing, I’m being entertained.

I am the world.

What would happen if the Spirit of God came down and did something miraculous in Charlie’s life? What if next week, we could call him a brother? How much would God be Glorified then?

There’s time, let’s do this this weekend. Let’s be the Church, love people, see a life changed.

Now that would really be winning.

Let’s add a new hashtag to the Twitterverse

For His Glory

#prayforcharlie