The Fall

When Confessions of a Westchester Christian Housewife talks about THE FALL, you are probably expecting a biblical account such as, In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth-Genesis 1:1 or perhaps a poetic flurry such as Of man’s first disobedience and THE FALL by John Milton the English poet. Probably not expecting me to talk about my recent fall on a rug where I had neglected to put a rug pad. There were a couple of throw rugs in the attic of my recently purchased house that cleaned up pretty well. So, I thought that I would see how they would look in various locations before I bought a rug pad. I knew they were a little slippery but I seemed to forget that when I had an occasion to run across one of those rugs.

I am typing this blog post with my left hand, dealing with a technical fracture, rotator cuff and soft tissue injury. That fall, is the inglorious and humbling moment which is changing the trajectory of the spring season that I had planned for myself. How easy it is to get injured and sidetracked. How fragile is our human condition, that in just the twinkle of an eye, everything can change! It sounds like I am talking about that first fall again doesn’t it? Or, any fall? As my fall and its’ aftermath unfolded, I also became aware of someone from my past who was also dealing with a fall, he had again run afoul of the law. 

Those long term readers of this blog may recall a few blog posts that I did years ago highlighting a person from my past who got arrested. Another change that occurs in the twinkle of an eye is the disappointment and grief that we feel when someone that we care about falls in an unexpected and terrible way. I made a decision to try and stand beside this man in a godly way as he negotiated the prison system and his relationship with Jesus Christ.

Sin and its’ aftermath are always with us no matter how we try to spin it. Knowing God, has given me the courage to face this and to have some peace within that reality. That includes the news that *****, who spent five years in the slammer for selling some prescription drugs, has fallen down in doing right yet again. This was a sad turn of events for a man who had accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior. 

I recently discovered that he had re-offended maybe by accident, maybe by grace or maybe I was wary of *****. My relationship with ***** fell apart pretty quickly after he was released from prison. After his incarceration, my husband and I took him on a sort of Christian retreat. It was apparent almost immediately that he was not able to accept responsibility for his actions. He went to bible study with us but seemed to have a chip on his shoulder that never came down. The accountability partners that my husband and I were hoping to be for him never materialized. 

I feared almost immediately that he was on the wrong track. He seemed to lose complete interest in us after he met a mysterious Cuban woman that he had an online relationship with. She was beautiful, and seemingly out of his league. The whole situation had catfish written all over it. I didn’t even bother to tell him that. I didn’t have to, he knew what I was thinking. 

More and more, ***** seemed to drift away from the Lord too. He had been asked to work in a bible study ministry and somehow, I heard nothing more about it pretty quickly. At a certain point, I assumed that he was falling away from his church’s fellowship. So, I was not surprised when, while searching for his address online, that a headline popped up from his local newspaper that says he was arrested last year for petit theft on Christmas Eve.

What a sad place to be on the Christmas Eve of your life, alone and stealing. What was he thinking, and feeling that would allow him to do that on one of the holiest days of the christian calendar? Alone, angry, or had his impulsive nature gotten the best of him? I am resolved to send him an Easter card and address this issue. Then it will be up to him if he wishes to call me up.

Ironically, it was my decision to send him an Easter card that lead me to search his address online. I had not spoken to him for a few years and thought that the remembrance of Jesus’ resurrection would perhaps recall our past Christ centered bond. Samson had a fall too. But, it is what we do after the fall that can either reconcile us with God or further sever that relationship entirely. Samson chose repentance. What will ***** choose? That is between him and God.

We are living in a time of huge failures, all of these failures reflect our sinful natures back to us everyday in huge ways. What about Russia and the Ukraine? What about our marriages, our friendships. What if there is no difference in sin and it is all wrong? You know what I am talking about, venial and mortal sin. The concept of a little white lie comes to mind. That some sin is okay, like looting from rich people or their stores. If sin is not so bad, then I would have to conclude, that it is all good as I hear cashiers and salespeople tell me all day long. But, observations keep telling me that the Bible is right and that we are sinners in need of a savior. 

I have noticed as of late, that society says that some sins are okay while others are not. The wrong sin and you are canceled. The right sin and no one will hold you accountable. Every day, we witness some one being canceled financially or professionally. But, didn’t Jesus say, Let he who is without sin cast the first stone-John 8:7? We are not to be part of the cancel culture, unless of course that we are as blameless as Jesus.

What if the Bible were true and what we see around us is the result of the epic fall that lead Adam and Eve to be escorted out of the Garden of Eden? What if all the evil around us reflects our epic falls and that it is not all good? If not for that first sin would my fall have not resulted in bodily injury? Perhaps not, but because of that fall that Adam and Eve had, a departure came from God’s plan causing consequences of The Fall, including the present state of my shoulder. I imagine in the garden that the consequences of my fall might have been a giggle or good-natured ribbing.

There are things that seem right to us, such as taking money that doesn’t belong to us, or cheating with a friends’ girlfriend. It even seems okay to us when we are bombing schools and humanitarian corridors where innocent non-combatives are trying desperately to escape a brutal war. That is our sin nature. We can make excuses for it, but that all amounts to a hill of beans. We could say my commander told me to do it, or that I am a good person. How about, that woman drove me mad. Really! All the excuses in the world don’t make it the truth.

All The Falls around need to remind us that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. Apart from him we can do nothing righteous. Science won’t overcome the sin of the world. The Marxist utopia being re-packaged for consumption will not bring peace nor security, let alone happiness. Stop looking to all the wrong things to base your life on and again choose Jesus. It won’t stop the consequences of my physical or spiritual fall, just mitigate for it. As the frustrations of my all too human injury have taught me, Jesus comforts and heals. 

*****- refers to the man in my story.