Forgiveness is key once we have jumped over the shark

Tag : shark leather

Jon Hein wrote an intriguing book entitled Jump The Shark that waspublished in 2002 by Dutton, of Penguin Putnam Inc.
His idea of the content and title of this book came during adiscussion with friends about the time when a TV series,professional singer or group, politician, a celebrity, a sportsfigure or a team did something that irreversibly changed them andour perception of them.
The Jump The Shark title came from the TV series, Happy Days.
It was the time when Fonzie jumped a shark while water-skiingwearing his infamous leather jacket.
Hein suggests that Happy Days was never the same from that pointon.
The book has 237 different illustrations of a moment when peopleblew it and there was no turning back.
They would never be able to recover what once was good, and werenow perceived as irrelevant.
Can we do what Hein suggests and Jump The Shark in our privatelives, families and churches? My answer is yes, we can do preciselyas the title of this book suggests.
I had a friend who was the worship pastor where my family attended.
He jumped the shark by becoming involved in pornography.
He lost his ministry call, his wife and his daughter and son. Atthis point he is involved in his fourth marriage. His sin impactedhis private, family and church life.
There was a church in another part of our province that in theearly 1960s fired their pastor because of a scratchy voice.
Mind you, he had this problem when he was a candidate for theposition.
He served faithfully for five years and earned the love of thecongregation, especially the young adults. This church had been achurch of over a thousand, a church well-respected and studied byothers on