Managing Expectations

The buxom young lady favors V-necks. Nothing too risque, you understand. Just stylish. Between that and the push-up bra, there is sufficient cleavage to be "in". And the crucifix necklace dangles at just the right place, serving more as a pointer than an identification with her Christianity. If it's not a V-neck, she'll often where t-shirts with messages emblazoned across the chest. You know, snappy sayings that catch the eye. She complains to her girlfriend, "Why is it that guys are always looking at my chest instead of my eyes?" What did you expect?

He's an individual. He's one of the cool crowd with his tats and piercings. You know ... girls like boys who are a little bad. So he decorates himself with metal protruding from various body parts and with colorful images stitched into his skin. His hair is multicolored, cut at varying lengths, and spiky. It's ... him. You know, an individual. "Why is it," he muses, "I can't get more than a minimum wage job?" What did you expect?

He's a dedicated Christian. Well, mostly dedicated. I mean, who is perfectly dedicated? But he's confident of his faith and eager to defend it. Nothing irritates him more than those skeptics that attack Christianity, and he uses just about any tool he can dredge up to fight them off. He calls it "righteous indignation". Yes, it is loving, he's quite sure, because when someone has a strong opposition to the truth it takes a strong response, kind of like slapping a hysterical female. It gets their attention. So if he has to fudge the facts or doesn't have time to examine the arguments at hand or finds it necessary to use less-than-wholesome language, it's not a big deal. These are high stakes and he will do what it takes. "Why is it that people don't seem to want to talk to me about Christianity?" he wonders to a friend. What did you expect?

Just examples. If you take the time to think about it, it's a little frightening, actually, how much of the time we spend doing things counter to our own goals. We fail to love and wonder why we can't find love. We are unkind to folks and wonder why people aren't more kind. We live as poor examples of Christ and wonder why people aren't interested in Christ. We do it over and over and over again. What do we expect?