“He Still Has Some Issues To Work Out”

He leans over to me all quiet-like in church and says, “He still has some issues to work out.”

I want to tell this guy, “So do you.  So do I.  We all do, bro.”

He says in a sly whisper, “He really just needs Jesus.”

So do you.  So do I.  We all do.

So finally I just say it.

“You know, everyone has some kind of deal.  You think it’s hard to put up with this guy because he does whatever annoys you.  But someone else thinks you’re hard to put up with because you do a bunch of annoying things that you don’t think are annoying, and if you don’t think so, then you must be God.  And everyone is just secretly keeping secrets about each other and telling everyone else like it’s cool to know all these secrets, but really they’re just preferences.  They’re your problems, not his.  And no one sinned against you.  No one did anything wrong except what’s happening right now.  So maybe you should talk to this guy and be real with him, or else you’ll be saying the same thing about me and the next guy and you’ll be alone and old and sorry.  I love you man, and probably no one else does because they haven’t told you this.  You need Jesus as much as I do as much as that guy as much as everybody.”

He blinked.

He said okay.

We shook hands.

I hope he works that out.

— J