rescue me

aired last night on F/X. a series starring dennis leary, a post-911 recovering alcoholic firefighter who is separated from his wife.

while irl, dennis leary is not my favorite comedian, i am more inlined toward a brian regan, or a kathy madigan, leary has his moments. to see him set in this ultra serious series, is a juxtaposition of humor and tragedy. kind of like life.
 
without revealing much of the story, let me just say, leary’s character, tommy is trying to reconcile the past. but he is pissed off at God. with good reason. he is a FDNY firefighter. he was there. he lost buddies and relatives.
 
i think the timing of this series is good, it will remind forgetful america that the knee-jerk patriotism after 911 isn’t something to forget. if you are a patriot, be one even when tragedy isn't occuring. the thanking and loving of our first responders (although not necessarily in the way they discuss in the series) is essential.
 
At one point tommy asks, “if there is a God, He has a hell of a lot of explaining to do.”
 
my heart ached. people so easily let anger at God become their focus. while it is tragic, i think any discussion of God, even God sucks, is valid and opens a door for God to show Himself. i am much encouraged by the faith issues of this series. and while it is not a series for the prude or easily offended, it is a powerful reckoning of life, death, and all that is mucked up in between.

here is a quote from a book i will blog on later in the week:
 
"Unwavering trust is a rare and precious thing because it often demands a degree of courage that borders on the heroic. When the shadow of Jesus' cross falls across our lives in the form of failrure, rejection, abandonment, betrayal, unemployment, loneliness, depression, the loss of a loved one, when we are deaf to everything but the shriek of our own pain, when the world around us suddenly seems a hostile menacing place—at those times we may cry out in anguish 'How could a loving God permit this to happne?' At such moments the seeds of distrust are sown. It requires heroic courage to trust in the love of God no matter what happens to us." Brennan Manning from Ruthless Trust.
 
 that is all for now. back to real life.