Wife Swapping

I watched a show on television last night that still haunts me.
I don't remember its name - probably for the best.
The premise is this:
A wife and mother swaps places with another wife and mother
for two weeks.
They move into the other woman's home,
fit in with the family for one week,
and then change the rules for the second week.

One woman was from the Midwest.
She was warm and likeable and hefty in appearance.
She, her husband and four sons live in the country
outside a small town with only 550 people.
They eat fast food,
drive ATVs
and love playing paintball.
They hope their oldest son will win a paintball scholarship
to go to college.
They are flag waving, proud Americans.

The other woman lives in San Francisco
with her husband and two children.
They spend $40,000 annually on private schools,
eat organic
care about the environment
and are physically fit.
The husband is a naturalized citizen from Britain,
more rude and arrogant than anyone I have ever seen,
even in the movies.

Both women were on target with their observations.
The Midwest family needed better health habits,
exposure to some culture (she took them to a college French lesson),
and more helping out around the house.

The San Francisco family needed more time with their children,
and the children needed a sense of play.
Their lives were structured and regimented
with little time for fun or enjoying one another.

Change was not easy for either family.
It was impossible for the San Francisco crowd.
The father in that fashionable home was/is HORRIBLE!
I have never seen such cruelty, rudeness, arrogance and sick behavior.
The Midwest mother was a kind and gentle soul,
and I pray the scars she received from that man will not last.

Although religion was never mentioned,
the San Francisco guy shows us what life looks like without God -
self-centered, judgmental, closed minded to the nth degree.
His abuse was painful to watch.
It still upsets me.

I was treated that way once.
I guess that's why the show bothered me.
It struck a little too close to home.
Maybe that's why I have such a heart for outcasts,
for people who are downtrodden
and can't quite find the American dream.

Matthew Linn says that if we can allow ourselves to be loved by God
in the place of our deepest wound,
that place will become the foundation of a ministry.
I think it's true in my case.
I pray for that arrogant, obnoxious man today
and pray protection for his wife and children.
Somehow, may the light of Christ find him
and soften that petrified, stony heart.