Recollections of a Blind Man's Past

(Something I pulled out of my archives - written in Sept. '07)

Does anyone in our churches care about the people who are floundering? And why is our solution to their hurting always another program? Titus seems to think that the solution is for the older to come along side the younger; to teach them, to show them what it looks like to grow up in the Lord; to demonstrate the way of journeying through life in righteousness. He does not explain how to structure a mentoring program nor does he lay out a twelve step process.

We, on the other hand, see a few young guys wandering through life, making poor choices, hurting themselves and their lonely single mothers, and what is our response? We say things like, “Let’s do things for single mothers, let’s build up a mentoring program for young boys, let’s structure a process through which these boys can become Godly men.” And we all stand, applaud and shout amen.

But those programs never happen. The single mothers remain alone to fret over their lost and misguided young sons, continuing their destructive lifestyles, all the while thinking they are making a life for themselves. I suppose they are making a life for themselves, but it is not a life that I would, by any means, wish on anyone.

Why do these great and mighty initiatives never happen? Because they are just that, great and mighty. They are elaborate programs built with the assumption that they will wipe out the problem all at once. After making an initial effort, we find that the problem still remains. Or worse, we never make the initial effort because we simply do not have the man power to put together a program of that caliber.

I believe that Titus would say our efforts, although well intentioned, are utterly useless. There is no program that can replace loneliness, no church activity that can stand in the void an absent father has created in a child’s heart. It is the simple yet indescribably significant relationship of one to another that can make a difference. Mother Theresa once said that in this life we can not do great things, only small things with great love. She was one person who understood the teachings of Titus; that it is you and I who make the difference through our love. No program can provide that.

If there aren’t people, individuals, who are willing to step up and take the initiative, to enter into the lives of those they see hurting, lost and wandering, then there simply aren’t people who genuinely care. No one has caught the vision of Christ’s love, no one who has been compelled by God’s never ending heart of compassion.