Edwards

The road through life can and usually is bumpy and the case of John Edwards represents a study worth investigating. He was born into a middle class family and was the first member of his family to go to college. He was a good student and continued on through law school. He became a very successful defense attorney and amassed a fortune estimated at 70 million. Later he became a US senator and vice presidential candidate. He married and had 4 children. It was a rags to riches charmed life. He was at the apex of his life when things began to turn around. He wife was dying from cancer when he had a child with a young woman who worked in his office. He denied this but later admitted to the affair. His wife died and he recently was accused of using campaign funds to cover up his affair and is now awaiting trial. All of this is factual and I would like to move into the area of fantasy. There is a place in Matthew where it says that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle that it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. I believe that if we move 30 years into the future and we see Edwards as an 80 year old looking back on his life that he will say that when he lied about his affair it was the low point of his life and it was a turning point. From that point on he started to understand how life really works and what is really important. He learned after that God doesn’t come into your life through the front door of your ego but through the back door of your shame. At the point where his shame was broadcast on the public airways he felt deep within the beginnings of a new life. As the years past he came to understand that fame and fortune were just phantoms and represented barriers to happiness. It was only after meeting his shame that he began thinking of others and how he could help them and with each passing year he grew into the person he was meant to be. It is not the rich that prevents the rich man from entering a life of happiness but the ego that bloats up when riches come along.
When things are going my way I don’t need anyone. I am self-sufficient and I control my destiny and I am the captain of my ship and I know where I am going and how I will get there. Every one of those I’s in the previous sentence represents the ego. It is only when adversity strikes and misfortune rears her ugly head that I have the opportunity to open my heart to those around me. When my mistakes are made public and my shame is exposed I am on the road to happiness. I may not know it at the time but down the road it will be my salvation. The road of life is filled with strange and unexpected turns. I have faced disappointed many times but in retrospect each was a learning experience.
Back to the real world I believe that Edwards could make a decision to devote the rest of his life to doing pro bono law work for those who cannot afford a top attorney. As the years past and he used his skills to help others his children would slowly regain the respect they once had for him as will those around him.
Presented by Pastor John