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"I Don't Fall Down"

A few days ago, democratic presidential nominee John Kerry was accidentally bumped by a secret service agent, and careened ungracefully down a ski slope, falling as he went. Upon reaching the bottom, which was filled with media, he exclaimed, "I don't fall down," he said. "That son-of-a-bitch ran into me." Or "knocked me over," depending on which version you read.

As I read this story and the ensuing media frenzy that it generated, it struck me that, despite Sen. Kerry's protestations, he was, in fact, wrong. We all fall down. We all fail to live up to the standards which our Creator has placed before us. We all miss the mark. The Greek term for "missing the mark" is "harmatia." We translate it in our bibles as "sin." Sin is missing the mark. Sin is not meeting God's standards. Sin is.....falling down.

C.S. Lewis once remarked that the big problem in evangelizing in the modern age was not the ability of people to accept the truth of the Gospel and Christ's atoning death for them on the Cross of Calvary. The problem, he noted, was that modern man seemed incapable of seeing himself as he was. In other words, in being able to look at himself and see himself as a fallen sinner in need of salvation. Romans 3:23 makes this quite clear -- "We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." To bring this into Sen. Kerry's language, "We all fall down."

Perhaps Senator Kerry should revisit the truth of God's word and take a good long look in the mirror. There is no harm in acknowledging that you fall. The harm comes in not acknowledging it, because it keeps you from the Savior who is the only one who can pick you up.

Kathleen Parker, a conservative columnist, suggested that as Senator Kerry continues to read the Bible this week (as he has in the past few weeks) to come up with great sound-bites for the media, perhaps he should remember the words of Proverbs 16:18, "Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." Good words for all of us to remember.