You Need A Butt Kicker

“5”

Part 2 – You Need A Butt Kicker

Carl Brashear, was born in 1931 to sharecroppers. He decided to join the Navy in an attempt to better himself. He was the first African American to attend and graduate from U.S. Navy Diving & Salvage School. Master Chief Brashear was the first African-American to make the rank of U.S. Navy Master Diver.

In January 1966, a hydrogen bomb was lost off the coast of Palomares, Spain after two U.S. Air Force planes collided during a refueling attempt. The Navy was called in to find and recover the bomb; and after 2-1/2 months of searching, the bomb was found. On March 23, 1966, during recovery operations, a line used for towing broke loose, causing a pipe to strike Brashear’s left leg below the knee, nearly shearing it off. He was evacuated to the Naval Hospital in Portsmouth, Virginia. After persistent infections and facing years of recovery, Brashear convinced his doctors to amputate the lower portion of his leg. The scene we watched is the depiction of what took place when Carl Brashear became the first amputee to be certified as a diver. In the movie a Master Chief by the name of Captain Billy Sunday drives Brashear to overcome his disability. The character in the movie was actually a compilation of several men who Brashear came into contact with in the Navy.

This movie speaks to this truth that each and every one of us needs a particular relationship in our life. Now the problem is I can’t say b word. So, I have some help this morning to preach. We all need a “butt kicker” in our life.

We need someone who can have a “come to Jesus meeting with us”, someone who can jerk a knot in our chain, someone who can straighten us up and out. We have to have someone who can give us the stink eye when we need it. We need someone who can kick us in the seat of our pants and get us moving in the right direction again.

Aaron was an eleven-year-old boy whose behavior was described by Dr. William Glasser, his psychiatrist, as horrible. In his book, Reality Therapy, Glasser says Aaron was the most obnoxious child he had ever met. The boy would kick, scream, run away and hide, become withdrawn, disrupt his classes and make everyone disgusted with him. Dr. Glasser saw one problem with Aaron that no one else observed: "No one had ever told him that he was doing wrong." No one had ever set limits on what he could do and not do. The psychiatrist decided to try a completely new tack. The boy would have to behave, to act reasonable, or be punished. He became courteous, well behaved, and his miserable grades went to straight A’s. For the first time in his life Aaron began to play constructively with other children, to enjoy honest relationships with others, and to stop blaming his troubles on his mother or other people. Dr. Glasser calls this "reality therapy" and says one of an individual’s greatest needs is to be made to realize that he is personally responsible for what he does and that right behavior accomplishes more than wrong behavior.

There are several examples in Scripture of people who need some reality therapy. These people who needed someone to come along and kick their rear, but there was no one or it happened later in their life:

Samson - where was his dad or a friend who would stand up and say you are out of control and you’re playing with fire? You’re going to get caught. You’re dating life is out of control.

Absalom - where was the person that could say you are headed down a path of destruction? Quit acting like a Jerry Springer family and go work things out with your dad.

Jonah – where was the man or woman in his life that would stand up and say don’t run from God or it won’t go WHALE I mean well for you!

Woman at Well – This woman needed someone earlier on in her life who said you know what your relationship skills need help. Find the common denominator of your issue! It might be that you need to work on you before you try to work on an "us" again.

Paul – He needed a butt kicker who could approach his cocky rear and say you know you have watched too many violent movies. You aren’t Rambo! Quit trying to kill everyone who doesn’t think like you.)

What we discover is Scripture is that it was those who had a butt kicker in their life even when they messed up they were able to survive and come back from the mistake.

Perhaps the two greatest examples of a b kicker in scripture are in 2 Samuel and Exodus.