My Brother is in Jail:

I just got a call that my brother is in jail. He is charged with breaking and entering, threatening bodily harm, and the jury is out on the other charges…

How did all this start?

My brother has three daughters so that in itself can work toward an insanity plea… Sorry I digress…

He has three daughters and the youngest one has fallen in “LOVE”. She is 18, so she is at the age that she can make her own decisions.

She decided to move in with her boyfriend… I don’t know do you call a 30 year old man a boyfriend?

The whole family is very unhappy about this. My brother and his wife are worried sick. Literally, neither are not sleeping, both are looking haggard and losing weight. Her sisters seeing what it is doing to their parents are not speaking to her. The situation is just bad.

My niece decided to talk to Kim (my wife) about what has been going on. It all started as a young girl with stars in her eyes found the perfect older man. He is good looking, he knows who he is, he has a great job that allows both them to travel, he has a great car that he drives and another great car that she drives, he has money, and a nice place to live. Everything a young girl could ask for in a life.

In the beginning he was very loving and caring but as time went on he started treating her like property that he could use in any way he wanted. This included degrading her in front of his friends, degrading her in front of her friends, degrading her in public in front of strangers and hitting her in private.

It finally got to the point that one night during a drunken party he passed her off to some of his friends to use as they wanted. Kim talked to her on many occasions but when she heard this she convinced her to call her parents.

She called and told her parents everything. She then asked if they would come get her. My brother headed straight to her house. When he arrived at the house the boyfriend saw who it was and would not open the door.

My brother called his daughter’s name but it was the boyfriend that answered, “This is my house and you will not step foot in it.” “Everything in this house is mine to do with as I wish to include your daughter!”

At this point he made a big mistake. He slapped my niece and she screamed those magic words…

“HELP ME DADDY!”

My brother kicked in the door. I don’t mean he kicked open the door… the entire door frame came loose.

He ran to his daughter, picked her up into his arms, and headed out the open hole that was a door. The boyfriend made one move as if he were going to stop him but saw the look in my brother’s eyes then looked at the door frame and thought better of it. He did however call the police.

My brother got his daughter safely home and into her mother’s arms. The police came and took my brother away.

My brother is very worried that the guy will come after his daughter while he is in jail. I have a couple of cousin’s back home that are making sure that does not happen. Her sisters are still not speaking to her because their dad is in jail (because of her).

The boyfriend has been calling and trying to talk her into coming back, telling her of all the good times, the trips, and the love they shared. I don't know if my niece is listening or not.

This is very much what God did. He saw His children seduced by one who offered everything the world saw as important. They felt warm and safe and secure with all those “things” but as time went on the one who seduced them used them for his own purposes. He abused them, demeaned them, and took them to their lowest point.

God sent a rescuer who lived with His children as one of them. He saw what was needed to take them away from the seducer but it meant He was going to have to sacrifice everything. When it came down to that moment He made that sacrifice.

He then put the seducer in his place and kicked open the door so we could escape.

Many of us are like my niece, after the sacrifice our Father has made for us we still take the calls from our abuser, we still listen to the lies and sometimes get back in bed with them…

Some are like her sisters when my niece came home they did not welcome her back but reminded her of her mistakes and what she has cost the family.

Some reflect God... they are long suffering, just like her parents never giving up and grieving over the lost relationship.

I think about the sad place my niece found herself but I know when we find ourselves in that place…

We too can say those magic words, “HELP ME DADDY!”

Just don’t stand in front of the door...

The Restaurant

What if I owned a restaurant that had the greatest food in the world? In this restaurant I have perfect vegetarian dishes, melt in your mouth meat dishes, barbeque that puts Memphis to shame, side dishes that could be a meal by themselves, perfect bread that will not make you fat, and deserts that are so good they make you want to cry. 

I hire a waitress that is great. She has a happy personality, when she walks into the room  faces light up. She is smart; never has to write your order down because she remembers them. Her biggest advantage is she loves my food, wants to tell people about it, and to help them experience it. This is a perfect match except… 

After I hire her she starts to have hygiene problems. She stops washing her clothes, she stops washing her body, and she just smells bad. The worse thing is, she picks up a bad habit. When she is not taking orders she sits down at one of the tables, takes off her shoes, bites her toenails, then spits them across the restaurant. 

Guess what happens? People do not want my food any more. My food has not changed, it is still the same perfect food that it always was but people have no appetite for it because of the person presenting the food. 

This is what happens when we as Christians do not follow Christ's example of loving those who are different. When we don’t love those "SINNERS", or we don’t love people who do not believe as we do, when we don't love the down and out or when we don't love the fallen. We become like the waitress, we push them from the food they need.  We may still love the food and want others to experience it but because of us they do not have the stomach for it.  
 
Look at Jesus' example; Every time He was around the sick, the hurting, the unloved, the unreligious, the unbelievers, the untouchable and those considered the lowest of His time. He was comfortable with them and they were comfortable with Him. Why... because He loved them. He loved them as His Father does. 

How often when someone feels like a failure in life do they run to a Christian for help?  How often when they need to know how to find forgiveness from God do they run to a Christian for help? Not too often because they are afraid of judgment or a reprimand from us. They can't depend on us to show the love Jesus showed when He came in contact with people in their situation. 

My prayer is that those of us who claim to be followers of Jesus or who put on that title of Christian show His example in how we treat those around us.

Still Small Voice

Adolescent was hard… My whole life and my self-worth revolved around… well… girls. During a particularly hard period, I was having problems with my girlfriend. She was making me crazy and I probably was not enriching her life either. One Sunday evening I took a very hard blow to my ego. At this time I am five foot six inches tall and weighed 100 lbs (wet) so ego blows were devastating. I had all I could take and decided to commit suicide. I had the shotgun in the car but really wanted one last shot (no puns intended). I drove to church to talk to my youth leader, I told him everything. His name was Jimmy Watson and he was a good man who did his best with a bunch of 1970s sex, drugs and rock and roll Youth. Jimmy did all the correct things by the book, God loves you, Jesus loves you, it’s a sin, Bible verse, platitude, Bible verse, platitude, Bible verse… All the things they teach you in Bible College. Then he made a statement… “God must have something really special planned for you or the devil would not be trying so hard to kill you.” My heart heard this message as it was straight from God.

It is funny from that Sunday evening over 35 years ago those words come back to me in the strangest times. Standing a field in Romania where we are digging a garden for a girl’s home, speaking at a Youth Conference in Switzerland, standing on the top of Skellig Island in Ireland, looking at my friends on Facebook and seeing the Youth I have worked with over the years (many of whom are now grown with families), watching my kids grow up, watching my daughter as an adult, watching my son get married and now watching my grandson…

As I write this I can see how one might think those words so long ago could have played to my ego but the truth is… God did have something very special for my life.

As we talk to those who are hurting please be careful and don’t just give them platitudes and verses, listen for that still small voice, from God.

I’m glad Jimmy did because it has been an amazing life.