24

A few years ago, my brother asked me if I watched the TV show "24". I'm one of those guys who refuses to pay for TV so I surf on three channels, those I get with my roof antenna. I said, "No". My brother was aghast. He told me I was the most out of touch person on God's green earth. My life went on as I blew him off.

This summer, a friend of mine asked me the same question but rather than mock my cheap, no cable TV policy, he asked me if we would like to watch season one of "24" on DVD. I accepted his offer to loan me the series not knowing what I was getting myself into. After two episodes, we were addicted. During our vacation this summer one rainy day, we started watching "24" at 10 a.m. and watched one episode after another about counter terrorism until 3 a.m. the next morning. I crawled out of my man cave looking like I had been in a "Sleep Deprivation Study".

I will spare you detail but "24" but it is about the life of a government agent, Jack Baur who works for CTU (Counter Terrorist Unit). Each season is composed of 24 episodes, each episode is an hour in real time of Jack's life. In my opinion, the show is absolutely captivating. Anyhow, I'm not trying to sell you on the show as much as I've realized that the main theme of the show is trust or the lack thereof. There is not a character on the show that trusts anyone. And every time someone decides to trust, they pay dearly. Everyone is looking over their shoulder and can't give up their hand. And yet countless times you hear statements like, "You have to trust me." "Don't you trust me?" "I wish you would trust me".

Anne Jackson asked on her blog, “What is one thing you feel you can’t say in church?” She was overwhelmed by hundreds of repressed responses, like, “I’m not sure I believe in hell;” or, “I’m addicted to porn and I can’t tell anyone, not even my pastor—I’m afraid he would ask me to leave the church;” or, “My marriage isn’t working, but I am a pastor—who can I turn to?” or, “After my divorce, nobody called me; it broke my heart … again;” or, “My brother is gay and a Christian. I don’t feel I can talk about it in church.” Those anonymous admissions were the inspiration for Jackson’s just-released book, “Permission to Speak Freely".

Who do we trust with the secrets hidden in the deep inner recesses of our lives? How many of us have people that we could spill our guts and they would stand with us? Could the neurotic nature of our society stem from not being able to trust? Maybe the most direct way I can ask this question would be, "Who do you trust?"

I'd love to hear from you.