Brian Williams, grace, and the importance of truth.

The big kerfuffle right now in the mainstream media is about NBC anchor Brian Williams and his SLIGHT lack of accuracy in his personal experiences covering the war in Iraq. 

Ever so slight.

By now, we all know the details.

RPG's.

Helicopter crews.

Enemy fire.

Sand.

Wind.

Oh, and...

Lies.

Years and YEARS of lies.

Yes, he lied through his teeth, and by all accounts, he did so willingly.

But you know what?

I even joined in, and for a few minutes, took humour in the memes going around, until S. left a comment on M's Facebook page about the Holy Spirit.

Wow.

BAM! That smacked me hard, right between my self-importance and my sense of perfection.

It brought back memories of the times when I screwed up, and royally so.  

But for Brian Williams, well, how many MILLION people know what he did?

I cannot imagine the pain that his wife and kids have to endure.

In case you didn't know it, shame is a physically exhausting experience, and sadly, a shared experience. And it makes the ripples in a pond look like nothing. 

The ripples of shame are like the aftershocks of an earthquake. Only, they blast harder, dig deeper and hurt for years after the actual event.

Shame shares its power. Even people with the same last name are going to get the "Hey, Williams, are you liar too?" treatment.

So, where do we come in?

As S. said, we pray for the man, and for his family. And we extend grace. Christ-followers NEED to be the ones who buy the guy a cup of coffee and ask him about the weather, and do so in love, because he knows what he did, and frankly, so does everyone else.

EVERYONE else.

God knows. And thankfully, God's grace covers all sin. 

Yes, ALL sin.

Including lying, cheating and embarrassing your family.

But before you say "Oohhh, come ON, the guy is a LIAR!", just be thankful WE don't have to suffer our own levels of judgement. 

Just imagine the Father's heart when we fail. Does He put our sins on Twitter and give us a hashtag like #mykidsarelosers  ?

No. 

And believe me, I am soooooooo thankful I am not measured for salvation by my actions!! Be thankful that God tosses our sins as far as the East is from the West. 


As Mark Twain said "If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything."


So, pray for Brian Williams and his family. The man is hurting, his wife is hurting, his kids are hurting, all because of a "misremembrance".

I have an earned Ph.D in pain.

I'm sitting here with yet another migraine. Yup, I eat my dog's weight in Advil everyday. And I depend on shots of Diet Coke to help things along. Caffiene helps with the pain. Yes, I know aspartame is a complex neuro-toxin and breaks down to some seriously horrendous chemicals once in the body.
I have a migraine. I don't care if my ears fall off. Give me the stupid chemicals NOW.

So, why the migraine?


I was doing this...through a cattle trail in the Foothills of the Rockies. 
Full out gallop, riding hard and fast.
Then we went over a hornet's nest.

So my horse did this.

And then this happened. I flew about 10 feet. Or more. I'm not sure. Because I was knocked unconscious and woke up about 20 feet from where I was launched.

See this? Thanks to the herd of cattle that had just gone through. I landed face first in liquid cow manure.

The only reason I'm alive?

Cow poop.

But I was badly injured AND had to ride 3 miles to the ranch house to call for help. My boss told me that the staff member who was an EMT was 'busy'. 

My doctor told me that had a been put in a neck brace and taken to a hospital right away? I'd have been all right.

"But sadly, because you didn't receive proper medical care, you will have arthritis set into your neck and you will be in pain for the rest of your life."

I was 20.

It is raining.

I am in pain.

But God did not abandon me on that trail. 

No, He has stayed beside me as I slog through life, some days in pain, some days not. 

But do I hold my own future? No.

He knows my name.

He knows where I landed and how much it hurt.

HE knows PAIN.

How much of a blessing to know the King of the universe knows exactly how I feel?

Many more people have it much worse than I do.

Many people would have died or been paralyzed from a fall like that.

So I'm thankful for the little things, like manure.

And the big things, like His hand on me as I flew through the air.

He did give me a soft place to land. And He knew that one day, I'd think it was hysterical.

God is good.

When grace HURTS...and then?

In the Spring of 2006, we were vandalized.
Again.
Yes, again.

We were hit previously on Halloween of 2005.

 How bad?

Our 14 foot trampoline was cut around the rim with a box cutter.
The police said if one of the kids (3, 8, 12 and 15 at the time) had slipped their foot into the holes, they could have very easily lost that foot. The nylon weave is so taut that we didn't see the cuts. And because the sliced nylon was so sharp, well, you do the math.

Our white siding was spray painted.
Our roof was spray painted.
Even our wood pile was painted.

They came back 2 nights later.
Spray. Rinse. Repeat.

Our neighbours were spared.

Therefore, we knew, as did the police, that we were specifically targeted.

We weren't allowed to discuss it outside our home, because it was an ongoing case. Over time, we settled into our routine again and then...

April of 2006. Six months later. My husband was out of town. With both older boys. I was alone with a 3 year old and a stressed out 15 year old daughter. Poor girl. It affected her bigtime.
Then very late at night, I heard glass breaking. 

And I felt God say, very clearly, "Don't move a muscle."

The next morning, I found this.

And this.

That little black bag to the left of the van? That's the CSI guy's goody bag. 
That window shattered into THOUSANDS of tiny pieces. Our neighbours cleaned it up.


And this too.

 


Our world imploded into visits with the police, LONG discussions with detectives, neighbours, friends, pastors and finally the nice doctor in the ER who told me I was having "an externally triggered chemical imbalance".

I was having a meltdown. Annnnd I went on meds.

Between that weekend, and June, our lives were either normal or a whirlwind. Nothing in between.

Then one day, a crack in the case.
And another one.
And then? 
A confession!

We had alot of suspicions, and they proved true.

We chose to mediate with two different police forces and the families of the boys who did the crime.
But we learned, also, the lengths bullying can reach. 
The fear of two of the boys was visceral and quite frightening. Two sets of parents were grieving what their sons had done. One set basically blamed the other two, even though their son was one angry and volatile young man.
The police knew exactly who did what.

So we chose restitution and a contract with the police to stay out of trouble. One of the nice police officers told the boys if any of them as much as jay-walked, they'd be in deep trouble.

So.

Grace.

I had to CHOOSE to forgive those boys. I absolutely had to.

Anger is never sated. Its appetite knows no bounds. 

So over the summer, I'd see one of the boys working at the supermarket to pay off his debts. To us. I'd see the look in his eyes and change it with a "hello, how are you?"

I am not saying I changed this kid's life.
God's love for us both did that.
But I walked the road of forgiveness with that kid and sharing that experience with him was not easy, but God's grace took us one step further each day.

I received an email this morning that let me know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that grace is stronger than our trials, and God's memory is much longer than mine. 
I'd forgotten about that day.
FINALLY!
But these words brought it all back, and finally, we're on the sunny side of the mountain.

This was from his father, to a mutual friend.

By the way, remember the trouble that we had with D---- a while back? He is now Captain L----- and is making his mark as quite a leader in the Military. He is a God fearing, passionate young man. It is a good thing that everyone worked together to resolve that problem, otherwise his career would have been screwed.

I know it is quite while back but thank you. I don’t know if the Major’s still go to the church, but it would be nice to let the Mrs. Major know that D---- is doing very well. This was a significant event in his life to help him turn the corner from where he was headed as a follower , to become a leader.

I am SO proud of that young man. And thankful to have been a part of his life.