Wednesday, June 22, 2005

Runaway Bride

Did you catch the TV interview with the "Runaway Bride" on Tuesday night? She was the woman in Atlanta who took off on a bus 4 days before her wedding and then made up a story about being abducted. Katie Couric interviewed her.

I found it interesting. Couric was trying to get an answer to how she could do something like that. How could she hurt her loved ones so much? She said that many people think she did it for the notoriety and to make money. That's amazing to me that people would suggest that.

The truth is...to some extent we are all "runaway brides". We all have things that we can't face, things that put us over the top. Either these things aren't as dramatic or newsworthy as this woman's or we haven't yet faced the predicament that will put us over the top. But can you imagine all of the major networks swarming your house at the exact moment you had your life's most embarrassing moment... the mental lapse, the moral failure, the fit of rage?

I can't judge her. I feel sorry for her. She admits that she's a perfectionist. She's a driven person. There's something inside of her that needs affirming - that needs validation. All her life she sought to feel worthy by being the perfect little girl...and then the perfect adult woman. She was going to have the perfect wedding - 600 people. But this event put her over the top. She couldn't do it. The fear of failure, of being exposed as a phony- as incompetent- was too much to bear.

You see, when you reach your breaking point you aren't thinking about anything but survival. You aren't thinking about your poor fiance or family or returning 600 gifts. It's like a panic attack. Your world closes in and you just want out. The woman said that it was either she take the bus ride or take a bottle of pills to end it all.

I'm writing about this because I want people to have more compassion for each other. We all have hurts. We all have weaknesses - flaws. That's the human condition. It shouldn't surprise us. We know it's true in ourselves. Why are we so quick to attack others when their flaw is revealed? Tomorrow could be the day that we hit the wall. Don't we want people there to catch us when we fall? The Bible tells us...
1Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. 2Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. 3If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Galatians 6

Monday, June 20, 2005

Adventures in Missing the Point


Currently Reading Posted by Hello

I'm on to another McLaren book...Adventures in Missing the Point: how the culture-controlled church neutured the gospel. I would subtitle it...Why we always seem to ask the wrong question.

Unlike the McLaren triology (see post below) this book takes a more direct approach to rethinking the Christian faith. Plus, it includes Tony Campolo. Tony and McLaren share chapter writings and then each comment on each other's thoughts. It's a good primer for the things that were touched on in A New Kind of Christian.

Tony and Brian rethink everthing from the Bible, to salvation, to the end times, to women in ministry, to the environment and more. I think it's very helpful to hear these two respected pastors/theologians talk about issues that many people think are pure black and white. In reality, there is a range of thought in Christendom and I find it helpful to hear it all, not just one version.

I was discussing this book with a few others last week and we noted how much more intertested people seem to be in the Christian message if it's not presented it in such black and white - "all or nothing" ways. As I've written before, no one likes things crammed down their throat. When we sense people have an agenda (and that agenda involves us!) we naturally back away. This book softens the edges of the faith and helps people find an entry point to it.