life, uncensored
Written by Aron Strong on June 7, 2008 – 5:55 pm -I had an interesting conversation with a friend of mine a couple weeks ago. He’s somewhere in the seeker/early believer stage. One of the things he’s struggling with is the lack of transparency in church people, staff folks in particular.
I understand where he’s coming from. A lot is riding on what we do - people’s eternity. The Bible gives us clear instruction (Paul in particular) to live spotless lives, to make sure that how we live causes no one to stumble in their faith journey. When you take that with how judgmental folks are of Christians, leadership, celebrity, etc., it’s easy to get drawn above the water line and live on the surface, hiding all the dark secrets of your sin and struggle. It’s not just the world either. Church people can be the worst offenders of the bunch.
Our culture demands us to be real, true authenticity and transparency. (Jesus too, by the way) On the other hand, it crucifies anyone who makes a mistake. An odd mix.
But I understand. Let me confess: I’m no different than our culture. I totally believe in transparency. Ask my friends, I’m always the guy that says “more than he should” when it comes to self disclosure. I just am who I am. I crave that in my relationships. But there’s always that line of how much can you share and still remain safe. I don’t always know. But I’d rather opt for transparency. My only other option is to begin to live only for other’s perceptions. And that’s a dark and lonely road.
So I’m here to confess: I feel tired, insecure, and stressed out. For reason of brevity, I won’t go into all why my week was junk. I tried and this post got way too long. Here’s the sum up. My son’s really sick, I’m suffering for lack of sleep, my wife’s out of town, work is crazy with innovation and obstacles and I feel like crap.
Not that I feel like you’re only being real when you share your junk. It just tends to be what we hide the most.
How’s it going in your world? Really?
Posted in personal, staff life, the church | No Comments »
