Reality Check

My job has become a big source of discontentment and frustration for me. I think in many ways it always has been. Even before I moved into a help desk position, people would come to me for help with things they could just as easily do on their own. Although, now that my job title includes the word "help" in it, it seems all I do is spend my day cleaning up other people's messes. And generally it is the same handful of people. I continue to delete the mistakes of the same people, reset the same passwords, explain the same steps to the same person for the umpteenth time. My impatient nature often gets the best of me, and I find myself praying, asking God for the patience to deal with the people who just don't get it. It's at that time that God reminds me that I've been praying for patience since I was a child. I've learned that lesson many times, yet I continue to fail and need to ask Him to fix my problems. It puts my job situation in a much different perspective.

Q and A

"Do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say." Luke 12:11-12

Peter tells us that we should always be prepared to give an answer for the hope we have (1 Peter 3:15). And for the most part, I think I am, if asked the right question... It's fairly easy to give an answer as to why I believe in Jesus. I've experienced Him, I live in Him, I sing about it every day. But what about the things that I understand but have a hard time putting into words? Questions about theology or doctrine I don't know well enough to discuss, or issues and questions about God's motive that I can't answer without speculating. What about those who don't ask at all but still need to hear?

My talents lie in strengthening and encouraging other Christians, but my skills are often lacking in reaching out to the non-Christian. Sometimes I find myself shying away from opportunities to speak, especially when there is a small window of opportunity, because I don't know the answer and am afraid of showing the person a false image of God. I worry because I don't know what direction the conversation will take, and therefore avoid conversation at all. When I think of being prepared, as Peter said, I feel like I need to have every word for every possible outcome ready before I speak my first word. But I must remember Jesus' promise to His disciples. Sometimes we are taught, not only at that very hour, but at that very moment, what we are to say. This is how we can be certain that the words are from the Spirit, and are not our own. And sometimes the Spirit won't give us the answer right away. Not because God has failed us, but because the best thing the person could hear at that moment is "I don't know." As Christians, we do not have all the answers, nor will we ever have them all. But we must be willing to seek out those answers and share them with others, knowing with confidence that our knowledge comes from our Lord.