Van Down by the River

For all of you old SNL fans, who remember Chris Farley’s character, Matt Foley, the motivational interventionist, this is for you.  When I took this picture of an old van, it reminded me of the classic skits he performed in.  If you’re not familiar, Matt Foley was called in to do an intervention by concerned parents.  The unsuspecting kids would be seated in the neat, suburban living room, as the anxious parents explained to them their concern for their moral, and social wellbeing.  Fear that the measures they had taken, in an attempt to get their offspring to improve their grades, get off drugs, and find better friends had failed, prompted them to call in Matt.  Matt, in all his “rotundness“, enters the room, sweating and falling over the furniture.  He begins quietly enough, and builds to a crescendo as he recalls his own fall from grace.  Long story short, he tries to scare the teenagers into good behavior by loudly proclaiming that he now lived in a “van down by the river”.  Life just didn’t get much worse than the scenario Matt Foley painted, and we are led to believe that lives were changed, because of his testimony.  While this intervention was purely for entertainment, Jesus was called to intervene in our lives by another concerned parent. Our bad behavior had separated us from our father, and was leading us to an eternity of living in that pitiful old van down by the river.  Unlike Matt Foley‘s bad example to be avoided, Jesus presented, and lived a God-pleasing lifestyle that could be attained by any of us, by following his good example.  “May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 15:5-6.