My high school friends often
…ask me questions I can’t fully answer.
…bring me problems I can’t possibly solve.
…reveal pain I can never heal.
‘How can a loving God torture people in eternal hell?’
‘Where should I spend holidays after I go to college? At my mom’s house or my dad’s?’
‘How do I tell my future wife that I didn’t wait for her? It’s the biggest regret I have.’
All real conversations I’ve had this week.
I’m a dude…which means I love to try and fix people’s problems. Including my wife’s…which is not always a good idea…and the reason I LOVE this YouTube video that recently went viral.
But when it comes to my high school friends…
and my wife…
I’m slowly learning I can offer them something
other than a solution.
I don’t have to try and fix them.
Henri Nouwen puts it this way…
The more I think about the meaning of living and acting in the name of Christ, the more I realize that what I have to offer to others is not my intelligence, skills, power, influence, or connections, but my own human brokenness through which the love of God can manifest itself.
Glass shines brighter when it’s broken…. I never noticed that. This, to me, is what ministry and mission are all about. Ministry is entering with our human brokenness into communion with others and speaking a word of hope. This hope is not based on any power to solve the problems of those whom we love, but on the love of God, which becomes visible when we let go of our fears of being out of control and enter into his presence in a shared confession of weakness.
Let’s be with our high school friends in their questions, quandaries, and pain…
and enter into His presence…
in a shared confession of weakness.
