Rainey Prays on Some Days

I recently taught through the book, The Prodigal God , by Tim Keller. When teaching chapter five on The True Elder Brother (“My son, everything I have is yours”), I opened by playing the song " Highway Patrolman " by Bruce Springsteen.  The song is about an older brother who is a highway patrolman that frequently bails his younger brother Frankie out of trouble. The song portrays well a moral older brother with a wild living younger brother, expressed with the chorus: Me and Franky laughin' and drinkin' nothin' feels better than blood on blood Takin' turns dancin' with Maria as the band played "Night of the Johnstown Flood" I catch him when he's strayin' like any brother would Man turns his back on his family well he just ain't no good The older brother believes it is a moral obligation to look after family members in a way the elder brother in the biblical story does not, pointing out the need for a "true elder brother" tha...