It’s almost football season in the US, when “armchair quarterbacks” point at television screens as they yell at refs and players, “That's such a bad call,” or "Why didn't he pass the ball?" or "They should've changed the play!" Criticism has become an industry.
That's sports. Real life has the same angst ... "Why did he do that?" Criticism, fault-finding and negative commentary seems to fill the atmosphere of daily life.
Right now, young men are headed back to school with hearts filled with anxiety, anger, and addictions. Fights, shootings, and trauma are on the news every hour. Immature men impregnate women, then walk away. Criminals. Abusers. Addicts. It seems to come from every angle.
They all “should've changed the play,” done something different. But they didn’t.
So easy to be the “armchair quarterback” and criticize others. But whose job is it to do something?
Recently, a friend attended a church on the same day as another visitor who was unkempt and rough-looking. The music played. Decent, not great. The pastor preached. Decent, not great. But then the pastor did something unusual. He asked if anyone there wanted to receive the free gift of forgiveness and a new life from Jesus Christ. Then the pastor paused.
Uncomfortable silence.
Then my friend watched as the other visitor walked to the front. They prayed. Then ushers uncovered a horse trough full of water. As the pastor prepared to baptize the man, his mic picked up the man’s voice.
“Don’t get my ankle-monitor wet,” he said.
How many men would have marched right past that man at the store, on the job, then showed up on Sunday to critique the music and sermon and walk out feeling they’d done their duty?
That is not who we are. That is not what CMN men do. We are the brotherhood that is here to reach out to men where they are. Here was a man with an ankle-monitor tracked by police and the judicial system. But, what changed his life was Jesus!
We're not men who just sit and criticize. Men in crisis is our mission. They became our responsibility when Jesus said 2000 years ago to “Go make disciples.”
In John chapter 9, Jesus was walking and noticed a man that was blind. He healed him.
Jesus walked and noticed. He saw people. He observed and helped.
You never know when it’s the man in the ankle bracelet who will give his heart to Christ.
Our mission is to lead them there.
We are CMN. We rescue men.
