I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up
By Doug Bing, Washington Conference president
In 1989, a company called LifeCall began running commercials that featured a scene where an older lady had fallen down.
The lady who is called Mrs. Fletcher in the commercial uses a pendant that is around her neck to communicate with a dispatcher. She has fallen in the bathroom and is unable to get up. In the commercial she uses a now famous phrase, “I have fallen, and I can’t get up!” The dispatcher calms her down and sends help. The commercial was working to get senior citizens to sign up for their service and so they could help in case of medical or other emergencies that may happen while they are living alone.
The phrase “I have fallen, and I can’t get up” has lasted long past the company LifeCall going out of business.
By 1990, the phrase was known coast to coast and was featured in TV comedy shows and written into popular songs. Stand-up comedians used it, and the phrase was printed on t-shirts. The phrase was even trademarked for a period of time. It is still a catch phrase that is used today.
The phrase is one that Christians need to use when it comes to walking with God.
We have all fallen. No amount of effort on our part can get us back on our feet. We can try and try but that is not what will work. Psalms 94:18 clearly spells it out.
If I say, ‘My foot slips,’ Your mercy, O Lord, will hold me up.
The key to being upright with Jesus is simply knowing that we can cry out to God that we have fallen and we can’t get up. Only God’s mercy can get us back up and going again. Jesus was the help that was sent our way so that all could push the button and communicate with God to tell Him our plight. He first covers us with His mercy and then renews our life so that we can walk upright with Him and avoid the falls into the future.
Maybe our phrase needs to be “I have fallen, and I can get up with Jesus.”
Let us this day get up with the power of Jesus in our lives and go forth and tell others of His mercy, grace, and power in our lives to not only get up but to walk in newness of life.