Pray for the Spitzer family

"Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops."
The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. Wheaton : Standard Bible Society, 2001, S. Lk 12:1-3

As I follow the news coverage of New York governor Eliott Spitzer my first reaction was to join the crowd and gawk in guilty pleasure at the tabloid-rich story coming from Albany. Then I saw the photo of Governor Spitzer and his wife, Silda, and the story I saw in their eyes made me ashamed of my own self-righteousness.

Only days ago this man and his wife were at the top. The governor of one of the most high-profile states in the union and his wife, an accomplished attorney who stepped away from law to focus on their family and philanthropy. Governor Spitzer gained prominence as attorney general fighting corruption in the very state he now led.

Now they both stood there in front of a press corps that smelled blood in the water. The now-disgraced public official, standing like so many before him in humiliation and confessing his sins to the world. No security detail, bulletproof towncar or spin doctor could offer him any protection from the questions that would come. A man who once controlled a state government now controlled nothing. His wife, who perhaps heard the news for the first time only hours before standing with him, unwillingly pulled into the whirlwind and having to hear him repeat the details of his indiscretions. I can't begin to imagine what is going through her mind, but it must surely begin with "How did it come to this?"

Looking deeper into the picture I came to realize the humanity involved. This was not a plot line from a drama series where the director yells "Cut" and the scene ends. No! A real family is under attack, perhaps on the verge of being destroyed as we watch from the comfort of our homes and discuss it as though the problem is a million miles away. After all it's not our family, right?

It made me think about the "pet" sins in my own life that I must overcome on a daily basis. Even though I confessed them to God I spent several years allowing them to control me, not through giving in to them (although it happened occasionally) as much as trying to keep them hidden. The enemy kept telling me how embarrassing it would be having to explain myself to friends and my wife, and was it really such a big deal anyway? So one day I just bit the bullet and did it. You know what? The enemy was wrong. There was no embarrassment in telling my wife. There was freedom. And yes, it is a big deal. When I told her she became my ally in fighting those temptations instead of being a means for letting them have the upper hand. "Why take the chance of rejection?" you may ask. Because I never want to make her stand beside me in a moment when my sins are exposed for the world to see and wonder "How did it come to this?"


A group of men in our church is doing a study through Steve Farrar's book "Point Man". He has much to say on this subject, and I would recommend it to any man who is or will be leading their family.





TO GOD BE THE GLORY!!