April 5, 2009

Today is Palm Sunday. I spent the morning ministering with Jill in a little country church in Hartselle, AL. I've been in about every kind of church imaginable over the years both ministering with Jill and as a pastor's son. Usually in an "older" church like this everyone sort of stares at you and you get the feeling that you're not connecting and then after church everyone rushes up and gushes over you with all the southern hospitality the south is known for. That was precisely what happened.

Jill had a larger concert in Decatur over the weekend. The city has been plagued by teen suicide for the better part of a year now. At least one per month in a city that size is a lot. The concert was a part of a series of events geared toward restoring hope and offering help. I sat with a father whose high school daughter had ended her life. Those are not easy conversations and I realized as I listened to his story how profound our choices are. Obviously he had looked at this tragedy a thousand times from a thousand angles questioning what he could have done. We're heading into a part of the Bible where we're going to see quite clearly that what we do and what we say matters a lot. My take away from that conversation wasn't just a "make sure you hug your kids" sort of thing. It was simply that our actions for good or evil build on the actions of others. We may never know the force of something we do or say but there are always repercussions one way or the other. Seemingly random sets of events eventually culminate with some sort of outcome somewhere down the line. It's not acceptable to believe that we don't matter because we do. All of us. No matter our age or status. No one breathing is exempt.

The pastor brought a brief message today. "Isn't it ironic," He said, "that the Roman Empire that put Christ to death eventually became the protector and purveyor of that same Gospel?" It is ironic indeed. The actions of twelve, turned into the actions of seventy and then one hundred twenty and then five thousand and then......

What we do matters. Don't count yourself out. There isn't time for that anymore.

Onward Comrades,