mendacity

when i was in college, i saw "cat on a hot tin roof" for the first time. it was the movie version (burl ives, angela landsbury, paul newman and elizabeth taylor) and not the play, but i was dating a girl who was an english lit major at the time and this was her attempt to convert her defensive end boyfriend to the arts. what i really liked about the film (aside from a young elizabeth taylor)was the performance of burl ives as big daddy. big daddy loved to walk around and proclaim, at the top of his lungs, "bull"! there is also a wonderful scene where he and paul newman are in the basement of the house talking about living in a world full of mendacity.

for those of you who are new to the word, mendacity is defined as: "untruthfulness". in the movie, it was used in a way to call out those who were pretending to be something they are not - a putting on of airs. everyone in the movie was living what amounted to a lie, and yet they were a pillar of their southern community.

today was chest/bicep/tricep day. there is nothing like the feeling of serious weight looming over your body to wake you up (we lift at 6:30 am). seriously, it's just you and the weight - there is no pretentiousness and there is no gray area. either you lift the friggin' weight or you are a wuss. pretty simple.

i realize i just lost the four of you who read this regularly - but here's the connection. living in a fallen world means we will be confronted with mendacity on a daily basis. when it comes from other people it makes us mad, when it comes from within it leaves us fearful. pastors have to deal with mendacity in a critical area. if a church member is living a lie, fails to repent and responds with greater mendacity it gets amazingly frustrating. pastors should respond by speaking the truth in love - and the "in love" part is where it gets hard. i know what i want to say and i know what i should say. to that end, lifting has become a means of grace to me. the part of me that fuels the side that wants to say what i want to say (voddie bauchum calls him "bad voddie") - that side can be turned loose for an hour 3 times a week. the frustration of having to put up with mendacity can be taken out on the iron. no lies, no b.s. just you and the weight. lift it, or be a wuss. there is no mendacity in the gym.

grace comes to us in mysterious ways.