A Prince has fallen

I received the second most dreaded call on Sunday. The first is someone close has died. The second is someone close has fallen. The absolute shock and disbelief flooded my mind as a distraught wife accounted the story that had just unfolded.

This is a most traumatic of stories. A son, a Jesus lover, a prince in our world had stumbled. Why? Noone can know for sure. Even speculating cannot be helpful as we simply do not know. We know the enemy is on the prowl - if he can't get us in our weakness, he will go after our strengths.

We know that ministry carries massive emotional expenditure, so we need to have dear friends around us who will speak honestly to us when they see the signs of wear and tear beginning to show - and we need to be humble enough to listen to them.

But this blog is not about possible causes and consequences. It is about respect, honor and love. Our dear friends need our highest value response. They need us to say little and pray much. They need our highest hopes, greatest faith, largest forgiveness, whilst we honor their privacy and space to take the needed steps forward.

We must say little. Knowing some of the details, I have been deeply disappointed by the misinformation that is swirling around. Please dear reader, say little. A prince has fallen, his wife is finding Jesus in the most traumatic of times, his kids are confused and hurting deeply. Now is the time to show true brotherhood, sisterhood, communitas. This needs to be Christian Community at her best. Our speech needs to be laden with hope and comments limited to what builds faith. Details are not important now. Please do not be inquisitive to create an information feeding frenzy - much of which is incorrect anyway. Rather let it be a time of "information humility" - I choose to hold my info and thoughts. God will bring all things to the light in His time.

A Prince has fallen. A wife is finding Jesus. Kids are hurting - please let this be our finest hour as we uphold them in our arms of prayer.