thankful thursday #113

Tonight the long-awaited public confession of Lance Armstrong aired on television. I'm watching it as I write.

In the days leading up to this interview, the media has feasted on this celebrity carcass, and the public has condemned the hero they thought they knew.

For me personally, I have mostly been appalled at his addiction not to any substance, but to power, fame and attention, after which he continues to lust, even in this confession -- with Oprah -- and the reinstatement he is seeking.

As I watch his interview, I do not feel sorry for him. Consequences are his burden to bear, and bear them he will, to varying degrees on this earth.

With that said, I do relate.

I have not abused illegal substances, against the policies of a professional sporting organization, and I have not confessed to anything on national television (praise you, Jesus).

But I certainly have committed countless transgressions against God and others. I have kept those sins close to me, and defiantly denied them when convicted by the Spirit. My pride has kept me from coming clean before a holy God, and consequences follow.

When I do come around, release my tight fists, and offer an honest confession, that holy God from whom I was once separated, tells me he's known all along, and that he's been waiting for me.

He takes me back. Every. Single. Time.

Sure, Lance Armstrong is in a big mess. He will find out quickly who his real friends are, and he will reap lifelong consequences for a betryal that seems unforgiveable to most.

But for those of us who claim the name of the Great Redeemer, Armstrong's story is one that, despite our insufficient human efforts to understand it, is redemption-worthy.

Thanks be to God, for in all of us who take him up on it, he brings beauty from ashes.

Despite the tendency to judge, go on, be grateful!