When I began to write my latest HuffPost piece, I was going to really slam South Carolina "Lovey Govey" Mark Sanford for his stupidity sharing the greatest TMI (too much information) of all time about his affair with Ms. Argentina. When he said God wanted him to stay in his position as Governor so that he could learn a lesson in humility, I immediately thought he went to the Bible and read the life of King David who committed adultery and murder to marry Bathsheba, the wife of one of his most fearless warriors. A voyeur David was, he was just walking around on the roof of his castle one day and saw Bathsheba bathing. His adultery as King of Israel was shouted from the roof tops of the entire Kingdom.
David like Sanford suffered a great humiliation bringing public shame to his name.
In Psalms 51, King David cried out to God "Have mercy upon me, O God,.....Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me."
When Governor Sanford speaks, it appears he is trying to be a modern day King David, servant of God; whom God favored despite his transgression. According to the Bible, David remained King, but Sanford will not remain Governor.
Sanford's juicy public confessions of love, lust, soul mates and betrayal have most of us into this so deep it is as though we are licking out of an empty bowl of good grub. Many of us are also shaking our heads in disgust; with some sort of righteous indignation over this sleaze, but we watch it still. Perhaps a good number of us are worried that the lie we told to our spouses yesterday or last week "that we needed to get away to find ourselves" will be found out - we are next to caught cheating. Then again, there may be another group of us who are so bored that Gov. Sanford's affair is more interesting then Young and the Restless and our own lives.Yet there is a growing number of people who are now turning off the television, radios and even giving the Internet the middle finger because of the information overload about this man's personal life. No matter what category we might fit, Sanford has made great tabloid over the phone, in the cafeteria, the office, the waiting room of a doctor's office or heaven forbid the church! Despite the motes in their own eyes, I am sure Pastors across America to their flock have sermonized, demonized and teachified about the sinful Gov. Sanford, but have any prayed for him?
We can expect the "Lovey Govey" to give us some more "shock and aww," in the coming days. But if you look beyond his Jackie Collins-style escapades he shares, you see a man who needs an emergency intervention. Sanford needs more than just a few Republicans calling him up, and asking him to step down. He needs someone who can come and help save him from himself. There is something dark about Sanford's confessions that makes one have sympathy and pity for his soul.
The media; particularly the cable chatter are too engaged in the breaking news about Sanford to really notice the real anguish on his face. As his bad news increases, his humanity decreases daily. A man crying uncontrollably and unloading on the nation like this is deeply troubled. Some who read this may get upset and shout, "What about his wife and children, they are the real victims!" My answer is, they are, but at least for right now the wife is not on the verge of some sort of mental/nervous breakdown that could lead to something we all don't like to discuss, but is a harsh reality that's happening more and more these days.
I only hope Gov. Sanford's true friends he believes he has don't leave him alone at night. I hope they are working overtime to get him to take a break from the media and get some counseling and real spiritual help. Sanford needs relief soon. I can only imagine how he must cry out to God in the darkness of night for someone to save his life. I hope his prayers get answered.