By Peter (Rediscovering the Church)
My father once worked in an office which shared a parking lot with an army recruitment office. This was in England, back in the 1980's and, back then, England was going through a rough period where we had frequent terrorist threats and attacks.
Every now and then there would be a credible threat against all military offices and bases and the army guys would come by my Dad's office and nicely tell him that he should check under his car for bombs before going home.
It was all very exciting, but no bombs were ever found. We lived in a far too insignificant town for terrorists to come around our way. The threat was still real though, and the checks were necessary.
As I was reminiscing about those 'good old days' recently I started to really think about how important it is for us to check for hidden bombs. I'm not talking about C4, high explosive devices that will make your car jump three feet in the air like in a movie but rather hidden bombs in that threaten to destroy your life and your relationships.
Time and time again we see families torn apart because a bomb has gone off, decimating everything they believed to be true. Common bombs are things like:
- Affairs
- 'Coming out' as being gay
- Pornography
- Child abuse
- Drug addiction
One day the family is plodding along just fine, thinking everything is OK then, suddenly, BOOM! A secret is revealed, hurt caused, bonds broken and relationships damaged, sometimes beyond repair.
I want to encourage you today to check in your own life for bombs. Is there anything in your life which could potentially cause damage if it comes out in the open?
The danger here is denial. It's easy to get ourselves into a state where we believe that "no one will ever find out". Do you have things that you are keeping secret from your spouse or family that you're just certain they'll never find out about? Get a dose of reality before reality grabs a hold of you: It's almost impossible to keep anything a secret forever.
If you have a hidden bomb in your life, then you need to deal with it before it's too late. Dealing with it now while you still have some control will limit or even nullify its effects and will lift a huge weight from your shoulders that you possibly don't even realize is there.
Here are some steps that you can take to start dealing with hidden bombs:
- Seek wise counsel
- Be willing and prepared to change - the bomb must be diffused or it is still potentially deadly
- With the help of trusted counselors work out a strategy for talking to you family - don't just 'reveal' the bomb to them without serious thought as to how best to do it, or it's likely to explode in your face!
- Be prepared for a long, slow trek back to being fully trusted again by those you love.
Checking for bombs under the car was never the most pleasant experience for my Dad, he had to get down on his hands and knees in the dirt in his nice suit. It was a dirty, sometimes painful job but for his sake and the sake of his family, it was well worth it.
Checking for bombs in your own life can be painful and messy at first but it's a million times better than the pain and mess created if you let that bomb sit there until one day it goes off.
Peter is a fellow blogger who is a husband, stay-at-home dad, house church pastor, aspiring author and small business owner who tries to make God the center of everything he does. He's walking out his salvation and learning and struggling just like the rest of us!