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".