Bill and I have a favorite television show. “24″ is the biggest adrenaline rush I get all year. We’ve seen all the previous episodes and have many conversations about the characters and the issues in the show. The plot includes terrorists and a counter terrorist agent named Jack Bauer who is like the old McGuyver; he can get out of most any trap and set his own.
Last week Bill and I watched all the DVDs from season 6 and loved it! Of course it wasn’t perfect and there were several unbelievable elements that I frowned at, but I am crazy about Jack Bauer’s honor, loyalty, and integrity!
This guy has character oozing out all over. For those of us who are black and white thinkers, Jack scores points! Here is what he said at the beginning of Season 1:
“You can look the other way once and it’s no big deal. Except it makes it easier for you to compromise the next time, and pretty soon, all you’re doing is compromising because that’s how you think things are done. You know the guys I blew the whistle on? You think they were the bad guys? ‘Cause they weren’t. . . They were just like you and me. Except they compromised-once.”
Wow.
Involuntarily I make personal applications with most everything. If a book like A Look at Life from a Deer Stand: Hunting for the Meaning of Life by Steve Chapman can make biblical applications then I’m certain it’s okay to use Jack Bauer! Here’s what I ask: How much love do I have when I’m betrayed by others who are doing the best they can? How alone am I willing to be in order to do what I know is right? How strong is my integrity, even when it seems I’m facing insurmountable challenges?
Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.” Matthew 16:24-27
