The flapping of a single butterfly's wing today produces a tiny change in the state of the atmosphere. Over a period of time, what the atmosphere actually does diverges from what it would have done. So, in a month's time, a tornado that would have devastated the Indonesian coast doesn't happen. Or maybe one that wasn't going to happen, does. (Ian Stewart, Does God Play Dice? The Mathematics of Chaos, pg. 141)
I shared in my last post that I found out the other night that an old friend of mine passed away. He was more than a friend, he was my best man when I got married. When my wife and I separated the first time, he came along when I ran away to Joppa, umm I mean Florida. I remember how we showed up to the rehearsal with 40 Ounces in hand, and me in my boxer shorts because my wife’s Dalmatian puked all over me, Don moved just a little faster and was able to show up with his pants on. I remember when we drove up to chain of lakes and canoed a few lakes in, pulled up on a sand bar, and got plastered on whiskey, I remember how beautiful it was watching lightning strike all around as we paddled back to the boat launch across deserted lakes. I remember…
It will be five years ago in February that Don and I left for Florida. I could have went by myself, but I wanted someone to come with me, so I found Don and talked him into coming with me. He hesitated but with a little convincing he was down for it. And we didn’t just go to Florida, we want as far as you can go. We made it all the way to the southern most point in the continental US, Mile marker 0, 90 miles from Cuba, we went to Key West, We had visions of wasting away on white sandy beaches in Margaritaville.
I’ll tell you one thing about Key West. They don’t have White Sandy beaches, They have Staff infected sand made from crushed coral, and the cops arrest you for sleeping on the beach.
I can’t help but think about the unexpected consequences of sin, about how the seemingly insignificant choices that we make can end up having unforeseen and devastating consequences. One sinful decision can set off a chain reaction of seemingly unconnected series of events that have consequences far beyond ourselves.
People could argue that I played no role in the death of my friend. Hell I hadn’t even seen him in like three years right? But when I look at it truthfully I did play a part. My inviting him to Florida with was part of the series of events that led up to the day he decided to end his life, and so was my decision a couple of years after that to not invite him to get to know the Man that saved my life, The God who rescued me from the dominion of darkness and brought me into the Kingdom of the Son that He loves.
When will Christians start owning up to the consequences of our sins? When we stop blaming society, MTV, homosexuals, and the Democrats? When will we realize that when it comes down to it- The problem starts with us, or better yet with the Sin that is within all of us? How long will we deny our culpability in the suffering that goes on in this World? Have we learned nothing from the words of Jesus?
“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
I still have more to say but it will have to wait another day, once again my brain is fried, and my soul feels thin- like old sheets.
Filed under: Christianity, Church, Faith, God, Hell, Jesus, Missional, Missional Christianity, Questions, The Gospel | Tagged: Butterfly effect, Chaos Theory, Sin, Suicide
