a "you are the man" moment

"You are the man!" It's like saying "who's your daddy." And who's your daddy in this context is not a question, it's a statement. When your middle linebacker stuffs their tailback at the goal line for no gain you say, "YOU ARE THE MAN!" Or when you make a 25 foot jumper over your best buddy in a friendly game of 21 you say, "WHO'S YOUR DADDY!" If you ask it in the form of a question - Who's your daddy? - the answer from the other person should be, "You are." If you ask - "Who's the man?" - the answer should be, "You are."

It's probably a guy thing, but it's good to be "the man."

Remember David and Nathan? If you don't, you can read about them in 2 Samuel 11-12. King David had slept with another man’s wife and now she was pregnant with the king's child. David had looked around in greed and decided that he could have anything he wanted. He had taken what did not belong to him and had then conspired to commit murder to cover his tracks.

The Lord sent Nathan to visit with David, and Nathan told him a story. He told him a story about a rich man and a poor man. He told him that the rich man had many sheep and cattle and the poor man had only one little ewe lamb that he had raised and it was like a child to him.

The rich man had unexpected company one night and he needed to feed his guest and instead of butchering one of his many…the rich man killed the ewe lamb of the poor man and fed it to his guest. “David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die!” Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man!”

I was setting up my profile on Myspace. I don't usually do those things. I never know what to say. But, I was reading the questions...name...schools...favorite books...movies...tv...who would you like to meet? That one caught my attention for some reason. Who would you like to meet?

I started thinking about that one and couldn't think of one celebrity, or movie star, or athlete, or president. I thought of Jesus. That one seemed very obvious to me. I want to meet Jesus...but then it was like, "You know, I've met him. I'm walking with him and some day I believe I will see him. So I started thinking of other biblical names; Moses, Peter, Paul...Pilate.

Pilate, I want to meet him. I want to ask him some questions. What was it like to give up an innocent man to a murderous mob? Were you ever able to wash the blood off your hands?

Then I thought of a nameless man. The man who drove the nails. I want to meet the man who drove the nails. I want to ask him some queestions. I want to ask how it felt. I want to know if it was hard to do, or easy. I want to know if he laughed when he did it…and if he cried later.

I want to meet the man who drove the nails… then this thought…It was me. I am the man.

YOU ARE THE MAN! Doesn't sound so good any more.