“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in
weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my
weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”- 2 Cor. 12:9 NIV
I never thought
my mistakes would catch up with me. I never thought I would have to interact
with anyone or anything I may have left a negative mark on in my previous life.
I never thought I would have to look my failure directly in the face but, as
they say, “never say never”.
While in
California I had the great opportunity to hang out with my little brother. He
is now 12 years old and attending the same middle school I was kicked out of
when I was in 8th grade. My brother asked me many questions about
why I was kicked out. I tried to avoid the details, but I owed him an
explanation, so I told him I made poor choices and hurt another student. It was
a bad choice and I have learned from it. He didn’t want to settle for that, but
he had to until we decided to go get donuts.
We went to a
local donut shop and we were laughing together while placing our order. All of
a sudden the guy serving me says “Hey, you look familiar?” I looked at him
trying to place his face in my memory, then he said “You remind me of one of my
buddies. Uhm...” He said their name and I said “No, but my last name is
Benavides.” That’s when it went south for me.
“That’s it!” he
said, “Bobby Benavides! What are you up to now?” I shared I was a youth pastor
in West Virginia and I was in visiting. He responded with “Wow! That’s a long
way from picking on me in school isn’t it?” Ouch! To top it off, he shared he
was still friends with the individual I hurt, which got me kicked out of
school. How do I respond to that? How do I explain this to my brother who looks
up to me for who I am now? I was staring failure right in the face!
I looked at the
guy and all I could say was “I’m sorry.” That was all I could say? Really?!
Then he did something really cool and said “No worries” and some other stuff
and gave me a free donut. “I’m sorry” was enough after all. Then, the
inevitable came when my brother asked “Bro, what was that all about?” I
proceeded to explain sometimes we make mistakes. In fact, the mistake wasn’t
that I picked on this kid, because in reality I never did, all I did was fight
his friend. My mistake with him was hanging out with other kids that did pick
on him and not doing anything about it. I was marked in his memory as someone
who was a bully.
The teaching
moment came for my brother, for me, and hopefully for you as you finish this
(if you have gotten this far) when I said this: Think about your current
actions today before you make them. It has been 13 years since I graduated high
school and this has stuck with this guy ever since. In 13 years, I pray we have
left a positive mark on lives instead of marks we have to apologize for later.
Looking failure
in the face isn’t pretty, but sometimes it is necessary for us to teach and be
taught. I am just glad that I am renewed by Christ and my failures are used to
bring glory to his name. He has made me who I am and my failures don’t define
me. Christ does!
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