Deep Questions

I hesitate to post something serious on this blog, but sometimes my random wonderings are a little deeper than at other times. If you’re not in the mood, that’s OK. Just skip today, and I can almost guarantee the unimportant and mundane will return with the next posting.

Last week a man at our church committed suicide. This man happened to be a professional counselor.

I have heard several comments about how exceptionally sad it is that this man was a counselor, who knew how to get help and deal with things in a healthy way, but his life ended like it did.

Honestly, I do not think I am any more sad than I would be had anyone else in my world ended their life. (And, obviously, I’m much less saddened than I would be had it been someone very close to me.)

Counselors are just people like everyone else. Why do pastors solicit prostitutes? Why do doctors smoke or use illegal drugs? Why do big rig drivers dart in and out of traffic like they are driving a convertible? Don’t they “know” better?

I do not write about excusing the behavior. I am simply sharing my thoughts about our perceptions of people. With knowledge comes responsibility. I know that. I realize we should expect certain things from people. And that’s where the strange balance comes in.

It’s a balance between expecting the best and living with the truth that we all mess up. No matter what someone knows, how long they went to school, how good they look on the outside, or how high a position they are in, no one is perfect.

That’s Jesus’ job: perfection.

It’s also, by the way, the reason we need forgiveness to be a gracious gift: we don’t deserve it and we can’t ever be “good enough”.

So, yeah, I will keep expecting the most of people. I believe that with God’s help amazing things happen and people are capable of making good choices. But I think it is also important to look at and understand the weakness, pain, hurt, and “screw ups” in other people’s lives, just like I should see it in my own life. Otherwise, why would we need to reach out to each other, to live in community, to seek and offer help and love? How else can I believe that we are all equal in God’s eyes, all sinners needing his grace to make things right? It also keeps me from being either too proud or feeling like I’m worse than everyone else.

We are all different. There is no way to assume what someone else feels, thinks, needs, or doesn’t need without really getting to know them.

That’s about all the serious life questions I can handle sharing with all of you at the moment. There are many more questions, and maybe I’ll feel comfortable writing about them for you all to ponder with me sometime in the future. Just not now.