We all have a wake that follows us through life. Oftentimes, we cannot see the wake but it is there. You'll see it in this picture of a 737 on approach. The conditions have to be just right in order to see these wakes and in this picture the temperature and humidity was just right in order to capture the swirling vortex that is a jet wash.
Air traffic controllers know this wake is very dangerous. If you will remember the movie Top Gun, Tom Cruise looses control of his F-14 Tomcat because he got too close to another F-14 and crossed through his wash. The blast from the jet engine when it blows into the intake of a jet trailing it can shut down that jet's engine. All that air blasting into the intake will literally blow that engine out. So controllers keep a very safe distance between jetliners on approach to an airport so as to keep the planes out of each other's wake. Sometimes this safe distance is as much as 7-8 nautical miles.
We too have wakes trailing us in this life. Often they are not visible. Sometimes they are strong, good wakes. Other times, they are a wake of destruction. My brothers were 5 and 6 years older than me and when I was in middle school, I remember their struggles with peer pressure in high school particularly around athletics. There was a senior who was a good football and basketball player and a leader on both teams. He was also a leader in the school. George Flowers had a great reputation. Parents knew it. He stayed clear of the drinking and partying and stayed true to his beliefs. It was not easy. I can remember George facing some tough struggles from his peers. But as a 6th grader literally looking up to George, he became a role model for me. A road map if you will. I can remember family talks around the dinner table about the issues and about George and how strong he was being. I remember my parents telling my brothers, "Stick with GG (as he was called back then). GG is being strong. People respect him. If you stick with him, you'll be fine."
GG had a wake behind him. A wake of good. He was a trailblazer and a pioneer and he got a few arrows in his butt because he was willing to say "No, I'm not going to do that." But he also made things a LOT easier for my brothers and 5-6 years later...for me. When it was my turn in high school, I could ski in GG's wake. He had proven to me it could be done and I respected him.
Some wakes are not so good. We had a very unfortunate incident last week here. A guy I grew up with and knew pretty well killed another man and ended up taking the police on an 8 hour manhunt through the woods. He eventually turned the gun on himself. He was exceptionally bright and a gifted trial lawyer but he also had some very bad personal problems and unfortunately they got the best of him. His marriage fell apart and his wife left him.
Tragically, he killed another man -- the father of a 14 year old girl. He left behind three sons. All of these kids now are left wondering what happened to their fathers. He left behind a huge wake of destruction.
I have another friend of mine that I attended high school with. He got mixed up into too much drinking and drugs in high school. He was cool back then. When there was a party, he was always there. To some, it was funny back then. It was cool. But he never grew out of that phase and kept partying through college and into adulthood. Very sadly, he became an addict and ended up taking his own life a few years ago leaving behind a child.
That's the thing about addiction...for some of us, it gets its teeth into us and we can't simply choose to stop. Look at Charlie Sheen or Lindsey Lohan. What started out as cool teenage partying and ramped up into even cooler heavy drug use became a toxic addiction and master of their lives. Charlie Sheen is the highest paid TV sitcom actor playing a drunken sex addict. It is a true picture of his real life.
That's the thing about Satan. He doesn't play fair. He lies to us and tells us the partying and booze and pot and cocaine and sex is all just about having fun and blowing off a little steam. There is nothing permanent about it. There is no cost it is just a bunch of high school buddies blowing it out on a Friday night. Sex is the same way...there is no cost, it just feels good and no one is getting hurt. Just do it because everyone else is...but there is no "permanent" cost to it.
These are lies straight out of the gates of hell.
The Bible says Satan is the father of all lies. He is a seductress tempting us with these things and telling us we can stop whenever we want. And yet, addiction recovery is a multi-billion industry in America. For many of us...we simply cannot stop.
And so we have this choice, what kind of wake do I want to leave behind me as a 10th grader or senior in high school? We have kids in the 2nd grade looking at us. Little girls who tell their Moms that they want to be a cheerleader just like _____ or the 5th grader who looks at the running back and says, "I'm going to be just like him when I'm in high school."
If those kids could see what we do on Friday nights after the game.....would you be proud of it? And that's just the thing, they are watching us. They are looking for the kind of wake we leave behind. Like it or not, you're a role model.
God offers us relief from the crushing assualt from Satan. There is a better way. Jesus came (John 10:10) that we might have life and an abundant life at that. My role model George had an abundant life in high school. He was a great football player and basketball player. He had a lot of fun and he was a leader but he didn't sink into the muck and crap. He stayed above it and cleared a path for a lot of us to follow.
Jesus didn't come to condemn you. He came to liberate you. He came to free you from the bondage of sin and that lifestyle. While that lifestyle looks fun and promising it is really death. Jesus offers life. He died for us that we might be willing to die to self. That we might want to give up that way of life and die to that and stand the ridicule that might follow. He was willing to die for you to take that sin and bury it on the Cross. All you have to do is invite Him into your heart and ask Him to takeover and be the Lord of your life. Acknowledge your weakness, acknowledge your temptations, admit your failings (we all have them)...surrender your pride and ego and let Jesus in to Quarterback your life.
What kind of wake do you want to leave behind?
Soar!
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