Bittersweet

Tuesdays are always bittersweet. Bitter due to the fact that I will not see my wife all day and night because of work and her Bible study. Sweet because I will be hanging out with a bunch of friends one week or hanging with just one friend the next. This Tuesday the bitter and the sweet seemed stronger than ever but for different reasons.

When I arrived at work on Tuesday morning I was informed that a man whom I deliver packages to regularly had taken his own life. I was totally shocked and saddened. A man who seemed to be so happy and by the worlds standards had it all, suddenly decided to end it all. But why? I heard what was believed to be the primary reason but who could know for certain all that he was battling. My mind flashed back to six months ago, when another man I knew personally chose the same ending. What pushed them to make that choice? This made Tuesday morning a little more bitter than the norm.

The day went on and by afternoon my thoughts began to focus on the friends/brothers that were going to be gathering in my basement that night. By about 6:45 they start pulling in the drive. One car after the other. That is when the SWEET part starts. We chat, pray and within minutes one of the new guys shares his testimony of a restored marriage, freedom from addictions and a radically changed life. So powerful and so encouraging. Great discussions follow and then another man shares some of his deepest, darkest, humiliating, lifelong struggles. Things that he has shared with VERY few others. What courage to share and to be transparent. He made himself to be totally vulnerable to another 12 men, two whom he had never met before the evening began. That takes guts. That takes a man. By sharing his battle with us, another brother shares that he has also struggled with this burden and has carried it and hid it within him his whole life. Suddenly two men realize that they are not alone. Not only that, they realize there are other men who love and accept them regardless of their weaknesses, struggles, sins, or burdens.

Then another brother shares how he had confessed his sins months earlier at our group and how God has been faithful to His word in lifting that heavy burden off his shoulders. He expressed how healing had begun and stated that as hard as he tried on his own, he never experienced the freedom that he now has. All of this made Tuesday night a little sweeter than the norm!

We need to bring these burdens, sins, struggles and weaknesses into the light, not hide them in the dark recesses of our lives. When we confess our sins to one another and when we share those struggles and burdens with one another satan looses any stronghold he might have. The enemy lies to us and tells us we won't be accepted and tells us that we are all alone in our battles. That is such a lie! Satan is a punk and he is a liar!

We all have something in the dark recesses of our lives. The most difficult thing is finding a place where we feel safe to share these things. I am thankful I have a place and even more thankful for the men who share my safe place and use it!

All day today my mind couldn't escape these questions. Did the men that took their lives have a safe place to share their struggles, their burdens, their sins, or their weaknesses? And if they didn't could their lives have been different if they did have that place?

My Wednesday was equally bittersweet.

The Tackle Box

My son has been going fishing with some friends a lot lately. He has been asking advice about what bait or lure he should be using. I told him it depended on what your fishing for, where your fishing, the time of day, the time of year, the type of weather and many other things. I continued to tell him that first the fish must be where you are fishing for them. Secondly the fish must be hungry or you must entice them with something alluring. You need to stimulate their senses. You must make it appealing to them, you must capture their attention. You must trick them into believing that what you are offering is real and that it will satisfy their hunger. Make it look good, sound good, and smell good. Most importantly you must hide the hook. The hook is what allows you to take control of them. If you hide the hook and they take and swallow the bait you have caught your fish. A fight might begin but a good fisherman rarely loses a fish when the hook is set well.

Satan is a professional fisherman and the world is his tackle box. We are the fish. He knows what is appealing to us and he knows just the right time to cast the line. One of the many baits or lures he frequently uses is alcohol. He uses this bait for many but he particularly targets younger people. He uses billboards, magazine ads, and TV to entice his targets. The ads usually feature young, attractive, well dressed people laughing, smiling and having fun while holding a beer or whatever. It captures the targets attention and it looks appealing. It seems that if I'm drinking this alcohol I will have cool, good looking friends and I will have a lot of fun. It will make me happy. Often this is true in the beginning stages. The problem comes in the fact that we don't see the hook. We nibble on the bait, it tastes good, so we go back for more. The hook is always hidden until we are no longer nibbling and we swallow the bait, hook and all. It is then that Satan sets the hook and begins to reel us in. We are no longer in control and we are taken to places we never wanted or intended to go. You never see the person passed out in a pile of vomit on the billboard. The magazine ad never shows the broken marriage, the abused spouse or child. The TV commercial never shows the accident scene that claims lives of innocent victims. Satan lures us into believing we will get and have what we desire only to discover later it is everything that we never wanted- destroyed lives.

I'm not legalistic. Many people, Christians included, enjoy a glass of wine with a meal or a beer with their pizza. That is fine. The fact is, I have seen many more whose lives have been destroyed and taken over by this lure in Satan's tackle box. Never bit or nibbled on this one? Be careful! He has many others. Drugs, materialism, premarital sex, and porn are a few more of his favorites. I know this first hand. They all seemed like so much fun in the beginning, but the end result were lives being devastated, relationships destroyed, deeply wounded and scarred children, broken trust, and a marriage being held together by a thread. I swallowed the hook and Satan had me in the boat with the filleting knife in his hand. But a strong wave of prayer knocked Satan on his can and set me free. I swam in a new direction and discovered true joy and happiness in the waters of Jesus, aka the "church" , or "the body of believers". Satan is no stranger there either. He is constantly casting his line in these waters. This is where the trophy fish swim. He loves catching fish but the "big ones" are the Christians. The trophies are the pastors, the elders, the deacons and leaders in the church. Be careful, Satan is a seasoned fisherman looking for another trophy to display to the world. I pray we will not fall for the bait.