A few days ago, I determined to be the last blogger on earth to mention Ted Haggard. So much has been written, and so little of it needed to be, that I didn't want to join the fray. At the same time, this blog is entitled 'stuff i think', and I've been thinking about him a fair amount the last few days, so you'll need to wade through yet another post.
My thoughts about him have centered around how this mess could have been avoided....not to say how could he have continued in his wrong, for these things have a way of finding daylight one way or another, but rather what he or others could have done to have prevented it.
I don't think Ted pursued fame. I do not know him, but the few people that I do know who know him speak of his humility and earnestness. I think fame pursued him, and surely that played a part in leading him to believe that he could live a double life with impunity, speaking the right things with conviction even while doing the wrong ones with shame.
Celebrity in itself is an odd institution, and Christian celebrity probably the oddest institution of all. The Christian who becomes known on the larger stage is suddenly the bigger target. We've seen it a dozen times over - yet we fail to value the seasons of our life when we are kept from the spotlight (and hidden from the sniper's laser dot). Even in valuing humility, what we really want to do is write the best selling book about it and then do a twelve city book tour.
In the past few years, I've had bouts of frustration with not having achieved what I hoped to achieve by the age that I am...not life-crippling bouts of depression, but certainly times of wondering "God, is my time coming? I could make a difference if you'd just get me in front of the right people, God...".
This morning, I was up at 4am, giving Zoe a bottle, and noticed that Kelsey had bundled her tightly in a blanket. We call it the Baby Burrito treatment - place her in a blanket and wrap her tight. Zoe likes it. She can't flop her arms around and she feels totally secure and safe. As I stared at that little girl in the bundled blanket, I heard the Lord whisper "This is what I'm doing to you. I am hemming you in. I am restraining your best human efforts to be known, and in doing so, I am keeping you safe and sound."
Sometimes the biggest blessing the Lord can give you is protection from success.
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8 comments:
No witty remark- just a thank you for reminding me of something I needed to know.
"Burrito-Randy!" Title of a new book. Seriously though, you heard right.
Amen man, for real. This same thought stream runs through my mind. "When is my time coming." Thanks for shedding some light on this to a bro from the generation below. You are a true leader man...I look up to you. May our hearts cry be that of wanting to be found great in the eyes of the Lord.
our time is coming...we will rule and reign with Him! that will be fantastic and last a lot longer than 15 min of fame here and now. i am now scared of the spotlight the closer it draws in my small fishbowl. i know that i don't know my heart and the depths of it's unfaithfulness to Him in times of pressure. Lord have mercy...
anita
I'm an Omega Course co-leader and member of New Life Church in Colorado Springs. It was good to see your post. Please pray for us as we continue to ask the Lord to shake everything that can be shaken....while trying to stand when it's all coming down. We are weak, simple people that love the Haggard's and the rest of the Body of Christ. All we want is Jesus and His Kingdom! Thanks for praying IHOP family...
Anon - your IHOP family is praying for you guys, the Haggards, and everyone involved. Truth wins.
Randy, found you through the ihop podcast interview and loved what you had to say on 1) adoption - my wife and I adopted two african-american children last year (www.james127.blogspot.com), and 2)on the emergent church and truth. Man, I appreciate your heart and your passion for Jesus. I have been stirred afresh by a few things you have said and thank you! This post was right on for me in a season of waiting on the Lord and being filled with lots of desires to do great things for the kingdom. What a sobering warning and reminder of God's kindness and mercy! Blessings brother. w
Randy - your post reminded me of the thought I have occasionally had, which is this: Some of the most significant people in God's kingdom will never be recognized as celebrities or be thought of highly by the masses. They will labor in anonymity and obscurity. Their acts, which God views just as significantly as we view someone like Billy Graham preaching to millions via the TV, might consist of nothing more than reaching out to a neighborhood, taking care of a child, teaching a bible study of 5, or laboring in a local church that doesn't have the zip or zing of the megachurches we humans admire so much. There is a difference between God's scale and ours. Sometimes he reveals this to us, and those moments of truth should awaken us to the revolution of the kingdom that continues, quietly sometimes, in our midst.
Matt in Cincinnati
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