People come to me with stuff because I'm a pastor. Most of the time they come to me with stuff they can't go to anyone else with. I'm sworn to confidentiality, so I can't go into specifics, but let's just say I hear some pretty ugly stuff. I don't know what's in the water lately, but I've had a record month for ugly stuff.
I can honestly say that I'm seeing more and more people lured into terrible choices by life's temptations than ever before. My proof is not scientific, but all I can do is base this on what I'm observing, and what I'm observing is not good.
Look, we all have our stuff, but what I'm writing about is a bit more than the occasional slip up, or the periodic moral dilemma. What I'm addressing is full blown, large scale, no-way-out, what-the-heck-am-I-going-to-do-now screw up's of the highest order.
The most difficult thing about all of this is that it makes me realize how thin the line is between walking upright and falling face down. Many of the people who have bombarded me with their stuff are indistinguishable. There's nothing about them that would cause others to have any suspicion about the level of their personal failures. Most of them are people I would describe as noble, yet they've been lured into deadly traps like bugs into the inviting confines of a hungry spider's web.
I'm reminded of this quote by the great John Bunyan: "One leak will sink a ship; and one sin will destroy a sinner."
I've probably shared more than I should have already, but if you think about it, please pray for these folks. Pray that their confidence would be renewed, and that their faith in the goodness and sovereignty of God would be bolstered. Pray for me as well. As Augustine said, "Nothing so clearly discovers a spiritual man as his treatment of an erring brother." I want to be discovered as one who is gracious with those who have fallen, and humble in the knowledge of my own weakness.
Grace and Peace to you.
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