throwing stones...

So, I'm no different than many others of us that have watched, yet another, celebrated public figure blow their life up right in front of our eyes. A highly decorated real life action hero...a previously impeccable warrior... has proven once again that we are all fatally flawed. It really got me thinking about fatal flaws both in the context of flawed things...objects... and in our flawed story we are writing with our lives as well. In presumably a brief moment of blindness and indiscretion the beloved and esteemed soldier and adviser to the president went from heralded military hero to fallen tragic hero. In pure literary terms a classic tragedy is getting ready to be written and played out in full detail on the evening news. In the ancient times of Greek tragedies this “fatal flaw” was called a Hamartia, which very simply defined is a heroes' critical error in judgment that results in his fall from an often times lofty perch. While there is much difference of opinion in the actual meaning of the word I think it is safe to say it is a moral failure...it is sin. We all have these failures but when you are a celebrity and live your life in the mainstream of public awareness it become easy for us to point fingers and endlessly analyze. It really seems like there is an abundance of stones being cast here lately. It is easy for us to join in the fray and heave a stone or two as that is our nature. However, Jesus made it pretty clear what our response should be in John 8:7, when He said, 

  “They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, "All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!" 

So, ok, then...who's throwing stones...now ? You see,this fatal flaw that brings us all down is also known as missing the mark and that simply defined is sin. It is a moral failure of such a magnitude it cannot help but capture our attention. Our culture has created the term “epic fail” to describe these events in peoples lives that we are so hungry to weigh in on even when we have very few, if any, accurate facts. Many of us us have witnessed so many of these epic failings in recent years we barely pause to think about what has been lost or wrecked or to even pray for those affected. We're too busy at the rockpile picking out the stone that will hurt the most. Why? What is our investment here? I think it is an instinctive reaction based on fear. Fear that it could be us...or that it is us. Even those who live seemingly charmed lives are not immune from being a victim of their own undoing. It really can all change in a second with one bad choice. I think of someone like Lance Armstrong, who many “worshiped” as a hero and how awful they must feel now. The more you feel bullet proof and removed from the failings of others the more shocked and devastated you will feel when it happens to you...and it will. The reason it will is that we are all broken and flawed...tragically...fatally...hopelessly. This flaw has but one purpose and that is to destroy you and everything around you. It is geared to take away every single thing that you own and that is important to you. Again, I refer you to Lance Armstrong...I have lost track of what he has lost. Everything he worked for and everything he believed in and us with him is gone. Clearly, it was the wrong thing as he was being deceived by his fatal flaw and in that process deceived us. Maybe that's what scares us just a little bit...how easily we can be deceived by our own subtle sins. These public examples are a huge lesson for us of what happens when we abandon our moral compass and think we know the way and can journey through life without God. Choosing to live life on our own terms without God or holding God at arms length initiates a series of events over time that culminates in ruin and personal disaster. We will never know the personal thoughts and the decision process that actually went on in someones mind prior to making a decision resulting in monumental consequences. However, I do know this...we have all done it. Whether your sin...your fatal flaw...has made it to the news is immaterial. Put away your smugness...your finger pointing...your gloating...your endless fascination with how others are wrecking their lives...I think it's time for us to drop our stones.