Pet Peaves and Powerful Pleas

Have you ever listened to how the media words things? Sunday, I was listening to Fox News as they were talking about the tragic death of the man attacked by a shark in California. I know the family is grieving, and I would never make light of that fact. But immediately after the reporter finished his story, they began to talk about the number of “unprovoked shark attacks.” Why do you need to say “unprovoked”? How many shark attacks happen because somebody jumps in the ocean, swims up to a shark and punches him in the nose? Do you go down there and yell underwater, “Your momma wears combat boots?” I mean really. Who provokes a shark attack? Oh, I know there are those idiots who love the adventure of chumming the water and swimming among the sharks. Perhaps the experts call that provoking the sharks; I call it serving up an appetizer.

I had the privilege yesterday of speaking to the Muscle Shoals Association Pastor’s Conference. They are a great bunch of guys over there. Thanks, Mark, for the invitation. I met an active duty chaplain who served a tour of duty on the ground in Iraq and now is on his second tour stateside. He seemed like a great man whose heart was broken over the horrible tragedies he has witnessed since the war begun: broken bodies, broken families, broken lives. On top of it all, his son has just completed his tour in Afghanistan as a Green Beret. Not too long ago, this young man was in a humvee that hit a roadside bomb that obliterated the front end of the vehicle and sent him and his team flying through the air. By the grace of God, none of them were injured seriously. But this father’s heart was evident as he asked for prayer for his son and all the others involved in this war – not only that they would come home safely but that they could make the adjustment back to civilian life. “Dear God, may it be just as he prayed.”