Sometimes, it's not what you think....

 I saw some sad news about Jerry Falwell, Jr.  I've not ever been a fan of this man.  Maybe I'm a bit to cynical or maybe there's still some lasting damage from the PTL thing with the Bakker clan back in the 80s.  I honestly think that when church leaders fall, it's a very sad thing because of the damage it does to Christ's church.  It makes a skeptical world that much more-so.  People will judge Mr. Falwell instead of seeing him for the broken human being he is.  He fell.  He landed hard.  

He needs Jesus.  We all do.

It's not that he's some sort of pretender.  Maybe he is, but I'd hope not.  I hope he's just one of the thousands of men in history who let a little power and prestige get to him.  I don't know the whole sordid story.  I don't want to.  The part of it I read was sad enough.  But I can empathize with him because without power or prestige, I had my own battle with an "indiscression"

There's a polite word for "sin".  What I had was my own battle that I lost with sin.   Plain and simple.  And brother, do I know the cost of that.   That's the thing about sin.  You get enticed, but the enemy never tells you up front that there's a bill to pay and when that bill comes due, the price is often staggering.

I opened with that sad story this morning to talk not about the high cost of low living, but of something wonderful happening in my own little orbit, which will tie into the story I opened with.  

I see God at work in the lives of some friends.  I have house guests and there's been a little turmoil in the lives of some of the people they're close to for the last couple of weeks.  I don't necessarily think that's the bad thing I thought it was.  It's certainly not how I thought things would go.  But what I'm seeing is something really cool.  I'm seeing some relationships in the lives of these folks being restored.  

Sometimes we can get caught in selfish motives and I'm trying not to be that guy.  It struck me this morning that I've seen God do that in my own life.  I saw him bring the ex back into my life; not to restore that romantic relationship I broke (see above) but to restore us to a place where a friendship exists.  We've been blessed to help each other out when the other needed it and I learned some things during that time that are helping me out now.  I'm mindful that it's God's nature to restore relationships and it's His prerogative to restore them to a place that He wants them.  

I think too, that it's easy to have our expectations of what God is doing or His particular time frame and when it doesn't go to our plan, our default can sometimes lead us to complain.  I have to watch that myself.  If I tell God to use me and then complain about the way He does that, what then does that make me, but a spoiled child?  Or if I decide that I need to go on my own because it's not going how I planned, and I telling God I know better than He does?  Things to consider.

God has a bigger plan than I have for me.  My part in that plan is to do probably the hardest thing I have to do which is simply this:  Just love the people around me.  And watch what He's doing in the lives of the people in my midst.  He's restoring family relationships of people I really care about and it's a good thing to see.  And that brings me full circle to where I started this morning:

Mr. Falwell is going to need a heap of what we all need every day:  God's grace.  He needs to be forgiven.  He will pay a price for his sins and a bit of damage has been done that will take a lot of time to repair.  He will need some restoration of his own.  Its's going to be a long road for not only him, but his family as well.  He's tarnished the family name.  He's lost his job.  If there's a divorce, chances are it is going to be messy.  He needs our prayers.  Most of all, he needs what he'll find at the foot of the cross:  Forgiveness.

And who in their lifetime hasn't needed all of that?