Not All In The Family

Like most creative and powerful human activities, there is much that training, effort, interest and hard work can do, but there is still an element of "giftedness" that makes a difference between good and great. You can be a good painter by hard work, but there is a "gift" needed to be a great artist. You can be a good piano player by lots of practice, but you need a special something to be special. You can be a good basketball player by doing lots of drills, but there are only a few exceptionally gifted players. You can be a good minister by hard work, but it is a gift to be a powerful and effective preacher. Some of us have tried very hard to be effective preachers, but have always known that we did not have the gift.

More often than not the gift is given to an individual and not to a family. The special talent is a "one and done" deal. Unfortunately, there are lots of cases where the children of the special talent try to follow in the gifted one's footsteps. I know this happens very often in religious circles. Without the gift, the results are not very satisfying.

This is not a new reality. "Now Eli's sons were scoundrels and had no regard for the Lord." Eli was a devout Priest for the Children of Israel back in I Samuel 2 of the Old Testament. Eli was a good priest, but his sons were self-indulgent and arrogant. The prophet's mantel does not fit very well of the prophet's son.

So perhaps it is not surprising to watch two recent developments of the children of the prophet failing to live up to the prophet's position. The Rev. Franklin Graham has been injecting himself into the political arena lately and not doing a very smooth job of it either. It is something his father managed to avoid publicly. Billy Graham obviously had a lot of impact on several politicians privately, but he managed to avoid getting caught in public debates over the faith of various candidates. Franklin has never had the preaching gift of his father and now has shown the lack of political finesse that his father had.

Even more recently have been the collapse of the Crystal Cathedral ministry of Dr.Robert Schuller. There were many of us who always doubted that Dr. Schuller was preaching the Christian message, but there was no denying that he had of gift of communication. It is the same gift that Joel Osteen is enjoying now. Joel Osteen is preaching the same positive thinking message as well. But the preaching of positive thinking was very profitable and effective for Dr. Schuller and the Crystal Cathedral as long as it was being done by Dr. Schuller. It was not a gift that was given to his family. His son tried to take his place, but he went to seminary and learned about Jesus and the church fired him because the son talked too much about this Jesus fellow. The next efforts were daughters and they could not reverse the downward spiral. The Crystal Cathedral has been sold the the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange County.

More recently Dr. Schuller and his wife have resigned from the congregation of the Crystal Cathedral, which he started, because they were unable to resolve the financial problems between them and the board of trustees. The congregation has filed for bankruptcy and the board of trustees must be trying to claim the writings of Dr. Schuller, the tape of the ministry, and all the tape promotional stuff as assets to be used to pay off the debt. Dr. Schuller and his wife wanted something to pay for housing and retirement for themselves. They were not working it out. Two of his daughters and their husbands have been fired by the board of trustees as well.

There is a specialness about the gift. It is one of those evidences of unmerited blessings that are given to us. The gift is given. It is not a possession. It cannot be transferred to our children. It is often wasted on promoting or encouraging the wrong thing, but it is a gift and it does not stay in the family. It can not be obtained by hard work. Some of us got a little better by hard work, but it was not the gift. And to be honest there is a little satisfaction to watch those who have tried to capitalize off the gift of others encounter difficulties. I am not sorry to see the Crystal Cathedral experiencing these difficulties.