Yesterday in my sermon I shared this illustration, which I had originally heard from C.J. Mahaney's sermon Grace and the Adventure of Leadership, one of the most helpful sermons I've ever listened to.
Imagine you are a parent who receives this letter in the mail:
Dear Mom and Dad,
Since I left for college, I have been remiss in writing and I’m sorry about my thoughtlessness in not having written before. I’ll bring you up to date, but before I do, are you sitting down? Please sit down. It’s imperative that you sit down before reading any farther. I’m getting along pretty well now that the scull fracture and concussion I got when I jumped out of my dorm window after the room caught on fire is pretty well healed. I only get splitting headaches a couple of times a day. But fortunately my jump from the window was witnessed by a gas station attendant, who took me to the hospital and continued to visit me there.
When I got out of the hospital I had nowhere to live because of the fire, so he was kind enough to invite me to share his apartment. It’s small but cute, and he’s a fine young man and we have fallen deeply in love and plan to get married. We haven’t set the date, but it will be before my pregnancy begins to show. I know how much you are looking forward to being grandparents and I know you will welcome the baby and give it the same care you gave to me when I was a child.
In conclusion, now that I’ve brought you up to date, I want to tell you that there was no dormitory fire. I did not have a scull fracture, I was not in the hospital, I’m not pregnant, and there is no boyfriend. However, I have failed history and science…and I wanted you to see these results in their proper perspective.
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