My friend, we’ll call him Larry, was living in this cool place, where a bunch of Christian people decided to live together and share their space. He loved living there, and loved the people, but every once in a while he would have arguments with them and get frustrated. I mean, who doesn’t have arguments with the people they live with, right?
One time, Larry came to see me, and he was really upset. I could not really figure out what he was so upset about, but he said he was never going back to living with those people again!
Larry held true to his word, he had a backpack with him, and he was out. I asked him where he would live, and he said he would live in the homeless shelters. Sure enough, that’s what he did, and he did that for quite a while, I think about a year.
I couldn’t fathom this idea of just up and moving out of a place without even having a plan as to where you would go, but I guess being homeless was a better option to him at that time than living with those Christians.
Sometimes it is difficult to be around certain people, it is hard to work things out after someone has done something wrong. Sometimes we will run away, and do anything we can to not have to deal with the other person’s issues or our own. This seems like an extreme example, but it’s not that different from the way I have avoided conflict in my own life, or the lengths to which I go to avoid dealing with my own problems.
Let’s resolve to face our problems, speak them out honestly, and to pursue forgiveness, from others and from God. God offers it freely, so let’s do our best to do the same when other people have issues too.