There's been a lot of talk this week about Brian Williams and his habitual embellishment of events. He was called out on a lie about being shot down in Iraq which led to being called out on more "misremembering" of events he was involved in. This led to public outcry, then to public mockery, and ultimately to Mr. Williams' suspension from NBC Nightly News.
It is not too much for us to expect "just the facts" from a newsman. That, after all, is what we should expect. Those who report the news are charged with giving us the facts without commentary, opinion or embellishment. They are to report the game accurately from the sideline. Mr. Williams seems to have a tendency to want to not only report the game. He wants to be in the game.
This is what I don't get: As a man who is widely respected and has reached the pinnacle of his profession, what does he have to gain by adding to the story? What does he have to gain by lying?
Sympathy? Respect? Personal fulfillment? A larger-than-life persona?
Another, bigger question is why we are so quick to send Brian Williams away in disgrace while eagerly accepting much bigger lies on almost a daily basis from politicians, celebrities, movies, music, magazines and so on. Is a 'helicopter lie' somehow worse than a lie about foreign policy or a lie about what matters most in life?
Ultimately, this little white helicopter lie is inexcusable. Every lie is inexcusable.
Yet no one will argue that we regularly tolerate, accept, and propagate bigger lies than this. Lies that hit a lot closer to home with generation-spanning consequences. Lies are ingrained in the culture. We regularly accept, and tell, lies.
Lies that tell us our self-worth is based on our appearance or economic status.
It isn't.
Lies that tell us fame and fortune bring success and joy.
It doesn't.
Lies that tell us that if our kids aren't the strongest, smartest, best and busiest, we are horrible parents.
We're not.
Lies that tell us that tolerance requires acquiescence.
It doesn't.
Lies that tell us attraction and intimacy are based on degradation and objectification.
It's not.
Lies that tell us we will find happiness if only _____________ happens.
We won't.
It seems that we are told, and we are willing to believe, an awful lot of lies. And we tell a lot of lies. They may be "little ones". They may be just exaggerations. Embellishments. But they are lies nonetheless.
Jesus tells us that
"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly" (John 10:10). The thief spoken of here is Satan, who is also referred to as the father of lies
(John 8:44). Lies are what he does best.
In contrast, Jesus refers to Himself repeatedly as 'The Truth'.
It is in our nature to believe and tell lies, even with Truth sitting squarely right in front of us. We do it regularly. And the best way to keep ourselves from falling for lies, and from becoming little white liars ourselves, is to surround and fill ourselves with Truth.
So why did Brian Williams lie to us?
I can't answer that question; only Brian Williams can. But I do know this -it is certainly not the first time we have been lied to on TV.
And it won't be the last.
It is up to us to recognize lies for what they are. Truth itself is and always has been sufficient.
I read earlier this week that the Memphis, TN city council has voted unanimously to exhume and move the bodies of General Nathan Bedford Forrest and his wife based on his involvement with the Ku Klux Klan. This comes during a time of the most media coverage I can recall the short-lived Confederacy ever enjoying in my lifetime. 
There's been a lot of talk this week about Brian Williams and his habitual embellishment of events. He was called out on a lie about being shot down in Iraq which led to being called out on more "misremembering" of events he was involved in. This led to public outcry, then to public mockery, and ultimately to Mr. Williams' suspension from NBC Nightly News. 
Another, bigger question is why we are so quick to send Brian Williams away in disgrace while eagerly accepting much bigger lies on almost a daily basis from politicians, celebrities, movies, music, magazines and so on. Is a 'helicopter lie' somehow worse than a lie about foreign policy or a lie about what matters most in life?
As we enter 2015, I can’t help but reflect on 1915.
It was the year Alexander Graham Bell made a phone call from New York to his friend Thomas Watson in San Francisco, the first phone call across the continent.
It was the year Edward Stone became the first US soldier to die in WWI.
It was the year McCrae published In Flander's Fields.
It was the year war rose to a terrifying new level with the first use of poison gas.
It was the year the US National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was created. It was eventually renamed NASA.
It was the year the planet Pluto (or is it?) was photographed for the first time.
It was the year the Lusitania was sank by German submarine. 1,195 perished.
It was the year Woodrow Wilson became the first President to attend a World Series game
It was the year Henry Ford's assembly line manufactured the one millionth Model T.
It was the year Teddy Roosevelt criticized “hyphenated” Americans.
It as the year the Ku Klux Klan was chartered, and the year Jack Johnson was the first black world boxing champion.
Come to think of it, the world of 1915 is glaringly similar to the world we inherit in 2015.
The world of 1915 was a world at war. It was a world filled with mistrust between nations, stark political and cultural divisions at home and rising racial tensions and misunderstandings. But it was also a world brimming over with promising and innovative new technologies such as the automobile, air travel and voice communications that continue to define our lives a century later.
In 2015 we are presented with another New Year and another set of resolutions. We repeatedly slide into the last week of each year resolved that things will be different once the new calendar is hung.
Last year I made a resolution and this year I resolve to add to it.
Last year I resolved to read through the Bible in a year. A resolution I kept.
This year, I add to that by resolving to read one chapter of Proverbs a day each day of 2016. Earlier this year, my Pastor challenged our congregation to do just this, and I started to, but didn't stick with it.
This year I resolve to read a chapter of Proverbs faithfully each day, and I invite you to join me. It can only make us better, wiser, and less apt to repeat the mistakes of the past, but rather to chart a new course to better understand and respond to the maddening events that swirl around us.
I pray that this year my heart and mind will be filled with wisdom instead of rashness, patience instead of impulse, and forgiveness instead of bitterness. 2015 will hold it's own challenges, sure. But it can be our best year yet if we are willing to put in the effort. The history of 2015 is ours to write.
At least that's the way I see it...
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