I have this thing where I love to watch people fall! If you are with me and fall, you are going to have to give me a minute to laugh at you (or with you) before I can help you up. It doesn’t matter if you trip over your own feet, slip on ice, miss a step and take a tumble! It is all just hilarious to me! Ask any of my friends!

I laugh even when it is me! You want to send me into a laughing frenzy, send me a video of people just falling down. It just makes me laugh, sometimes uncontrollably!

My brain is wired to make unpleasant things more pleasant. I do not know why I do this, but I do.

I fall quite often, at the most inopportune times. Of course, there is never a good time to fall, but sometimes, it is worse than others!

I have a story to share with you. That can only happen to me, or so it seems!

**There are many stories of me falling. I will have to share more later***

Just little background (for dramatic effect! lol)

My dad and mom used to pastor a church. They rented the “Union Hall” on a back street in Oceana, WV. By “Union Hall,” I mean the building belonged to the United Mine Worker’s of America Union. We would get it all cleaned up and shining only to come in to find a mess that only men have the ability to make! So, we would clean right after church and then again before the weekend church, after the union workers had their meeting. I hated the smell when we would first go in after a union meeting, but when we were finished scrubbing and cleaning – you would never know anyone had been in the building!

The bright spot was my friends would come and help! Which usually meant some cute teenage boys would be there to help with the heavy lifting, you know, the “manly” stuff! We were there to clean, and I knew that I couldn’t dress up, but I could at least try to look decent. You have to remember that growing up we did not wear pants, only maxi skirts/dresses, no make-up, and depending on the “season” we didn’t cut our hair. So, it was hard for me to look “cute,” but I tried. I was probably one of the prissiest of the “Morgan Girls,” as we were so affectionately called. I was not the prettiest, so I had to try the hardest!

SO MY CHURCH (BRAT) STORY begins:

It was a hot, muggy day, and we all piled in the 8 passenger van and headed out to the Union Hall to clean. I had on a long maxi skirt with a cute top. I knew that the boy I had a crush on would be there, so being a teenage girl, I wanted to look my best under the circumstances.

I was pretty excited and I wanted to be the first one out of the van so I could run and find a mirror and check myself out before anyone else could see me. I climbed over my sisters, trying to make my way to the sliding door on the van. I was going to be the first one out! I turned around to tell my sisters that I had beat them all as I exited the van. Well, I made an exit, alright!

I stepped out of the van right into an uncovered manhole. It was a “now you see her, now you don’t” moment. I didn’t sink all the way down because there was some kind of pipe that caught me about midway of my fall. Thankfully, I didn’t drop all the way down the hole, but boy, I wished I had. In the process, I had lost a shoe and was struggling to keep the other one from falling off. Now that I think about it, what good was one shoe going to do me? I loved those shoes!

As I struggled, guess who came up right behind me…yep, my crush and his friends!

I was about waist deep, when my crush and another guy tried to help me out. I was a small girl back then, but I was pretty much stuck in that manhole. As I I looked around, I saw that there was a crowd of people just looking at me, my friends laughing at me (not with me), and I just wanted out. I was humiliated but knew I couldn’t stay where I was — I was in a hole.

I did get out, but it took 3 of them to pull me out of that stupid hole. I couldn’t believe that I had just stepped out of the van into an uncovered manhole. As they helped me out, my legs were wobbly! I was having a hard time standing up and walking. Those friends helped me to the building and sat down with me until I could find my legs again. Those are real friends!

After that horrible experience, I learned to look before I got out of the van or stepped through any door!!

I wanted to disappear, but ya know what, I didn’t and here I am – I lived to tell about it!

WHAT’S ON MY MIND?  GLAD YOU ASKED!

As I was reflecting on this “event” that I thought would totally ruin my life, I realized all the mistakes I made that day.

• If I wanted to be the first out, then I should have sat beside the door.

• If I hadn’t been so vain in my appearance, I wouldn’t have been rushing trying to look at myself.

• If I had looked where I was stepping instead of taunting my sisters because I was first, I would have seen the manhole was not covered.

We have all heard that hindsight is 20/20. I can tell you from experience, it really is!

I know that falling in a manhole is a pretty dramatic way to learn a lesson, but, have you met me?

On observation over the years, I have found that this is the way we live our lives a lot of times.

-Not being where we should to accomplish what we want in life

-In our vanity, we think only about ourselves. Jumping in front of others, trying to get ahead in life, not really caring who we step on in the process

-Not looking where we are going because we are too busy trying to be first and looking to see who is behind us and how close are they to getting what we want and deserve

and last, but not least

-Missing what is right in front of us and that causes us to fall because we are looking back

We all fall. There is no shame in the fall, but there is shame in staying down and/or not learning a valuable lesson. When we fall in our walk with the Lord, we are ashamed and wish He had not have seen how stupid our actions were. We disappoint Him. We disappoint our family or friends. We disappoint ourselves.

We finally realize that we are waist deep and are barely hanging on. Trying to keep those things that we cannot even use anymore. In desperation and out of our humiliation, we look around for help. What do we see? We see those that are there laughing because we fell and then some just staring through us with ice, cold, and uncaring eyes. We are ashamed and cannot bear the thought of looking up to see who saw us fall.

Then God! Yes, God! He puts people in our path that will push past everyone, they will look with compassion and not with condemnation, and help us out of the hole we fell in. We may be embarrassed! We should have known that because we were careless, we would fall. But, we did fail, we did fall. God sends us friends to help us up. Tell us not to worry about everyone else and take care of the problem in front of us. They will dust us off and walk with us! Every wobbly step, they will hold us up and encourage us to take the next steps necessary to get better, even though we are not steady on our feet.

We tend to look at falling as an addict going back to their addictions, adultery, stealing, …etc…and any failures that are evident for us to see.

But what about our failures, our falls, that no one knows about? Bitterness, anger, unforgiveness, hatred, gossip, causing division wherever we go. What about those things. We seem to feel superior to those that everyone sees when they fall, but what about our “falls” no one sees?

This is why you need friends that pray. Friends that will hold you accountable for your actions, especially when our actions are not reflecting Jesus. Friends that know Jesus and know that we have to be there for each other. Through every failure. Through every embarrassing slip up. Through the times of humiliation. They will protect you and help you up and pray with you until you are able to walk without your legs giving out from under you.

Ecclesiastes 4:9 (ESV)
Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil.

I pray that I am that friend. I pray that if I see someone fall I will be the one to help them up and not further their humiliation.

What about you? Are you that friend?

As we get ready to pray. Get in a place that is quiet and you can connect to God.

PRAY THIS WITH ME TODAY (in your own words)

Jesus, I am here before you today, in humility and humbleness of spirit. I know you are the Creator of the Universe and yet You still see me and have Your eye on me.

If you see every sparrow that falls, how much more will you see me, Your child, when I fall. I am confident You are there to catch me. You are there to forgive me. You are there to put me back on my feet. God, I am asking You now to do that.

I have failed You in more ways than I care to admit. Jesus, forgive me. I take responsibility in what I did and how I disappointed You and humiliated myself. You can make all things new. You see me worth redeeming when I have devalued myself.

Make me a new creation! Renew my strength as I run back to the Father!

Amen

Matthew 10:29

Aren’t two sparrows sold for only a penny? But your Father knows when any one of them falls to the ground.