Duck Dynasty

I’m beginning to think that God likes setting me up. No really, I write and schedule my blogs well in advance and as fate would have it, my “Duck Dynasty” blog would come out a week shy of Phil Robertson flat-lining his career in reality TV. If you haven’t heard by now, Phil has been removed indefinitely from the hit show “Duck Dynasty” after making some very crude comments against the LGBT community, as well as racially offensive comments. I really wanted to trash this post altogether after that news was released. How would people receive this message now after all the negative publicity? I’m thinking this could go wrong real fast. That lasted just a moment until I remembered who was in control so I’m trusting His timing. Regardless of the recent occurrence, I still believe that there’s a message in the video selected. I just hope you all can listen to it with fresh ears no matter what your feelings are towards him as a person. So here goes…

At first glance, my thought was “there is absolutely nothing that is going on with them that would ever interest me!” I mean the name of their show is “Duck Dynasty!” They look unkept and hairy. Most of my friends know how much I dislike hairy men! 🙂 So of course I would not make any effort to check out the show. Silly me!

This past summer I had the pleasure of listening to a panel with the creators of the show and got a taste of what the show really represented and to my surprise it was nothing like “Honey Boo Boo!” Even after the panel discussion, I still didn’t make much effort to watch the show. It just wasn’t on my radar. That was until I ran across a video on a site that I frequent often called “I Am Second.” Their movement is incredible and uses real life people, including celebrities to share stories from everything from drug abuse to molestation.

I’m hoping that you all checked out the video for yourself but in case you didn’t I’m going to highlight the reasons you really should:

Discipleship – In his earlier years, Phil, the patriarch of the family, owned a beer joint and one day some guy came in with a bible. The guy wanted to introduce Phil to Jesus but Phil ran him away. Time passed, Phil hit rock bottom, and out of all of the places he could have turned, he turned to the one stranger he ran away years before. It was on that day that he gave his life over to Christ. Such a great lesson in the saying “A no today isn’t a no tomorrow.” Don’t grow weary in well doing. Continue to be a light and eventually people will be drawn to you.

Commitment – Phil and Karla married right after her 16th birthday. Phil was 17. They started having children a year later. Phil had turned into a hot head and heavy drinker. Eventually he became a fugitive after a bar room fight and left his family. For a year he battled alcohol and lawlessness. Karla would tell her boys “that’s not your daddy, that’s the devil.” When Phil returned, she welcomed him back and essentially was the bridge that lead him to dedicating himself to Christ. I know so many of us would have been too bitter and angry that we would have thrown in the towel long before. Some of us would have bad mouthed him to our kids. Commitment is not about feelings. It’s what you’re supposed to do in a covenant marriage. Easier said then done but look where commitment got them.

Generational Curses – Phil’s decision to follow Christ didn’t make his children exempt from the same attacks that kept him in bondage for years. Even having been raised in a God fearing home and taught the Word, temptation is real. One of his sons rebelled and led a life of drug abuse. The tough love from his family is what brought him back. He was suffering and at rock bottom his family extended a hand to get him out. His response: “What took you so long?” It’s my belief that they were always with their hand extended but it wasn’t until he was ready to receive them that he actually saw them. Generational curses are real and can be broken if you’re ready for a serious fight! You don’t have to be what your mother or father was. You don’t have to fail at the same things they did. You have your purpose and God has given you everything you need to fulfill it despite your upbringing. Just be ready for a fight. The best thing about this kind of fight is that you know you win because God is undefeated and He’s on your side!

Happy Tuesday and Merry Christmas EVE!!

Love, Bianca