Confessions: The We-Wu for July 28 - August 1, 2025

This was not a good week.

Granted, I’m writing this on a Tuesday, so it can only get better, right?

Forgive me if I press multiple Xs to doubt.

Monday morning was basically a Three Stooges impromptu show. We had a huge thunderstorm, and I was watching a dog, so I had to keep her company instead of getting around. Then my Zoom wasn’t working, then my computer just randomly shut down, and I was just tripping all over the place.

Granted, Monday afternoon was better. I was actually able to get some work done.

And then it was Tuesday.

Look, at a certain point, when things keep piling on top of you, you just have to take a walk. Do some deep breathing. Call your sister and get talked off a ledge.

Anyway…

This isn’t how I was going to start the blog this week. I was actually going to get really depressing on a totally different topic. Might as well…

Back in 2014, in my Year of Hell, one highlight that I’ve thought about a lot is my trip to Dallas for the Christian Leadership Alliance conference. It was one of my first introductions to the wider Church. I knew it in theory, but this was in practice. And Francis Chan was one of the keynote speakers.

Now, I may have talked about this before, but I have a rule of thumb when it comes to prominent evangelical figures. It can be a writer, motivational speaker, megachurch pastor, etc. Whatever they are, as soon as I know your name, I start the clock. Now, I don’t pay attention to this stuff. I am not a fad person - I am a hipster anti-fad. I don’t keep up with the latest Bible studies or Christian artists or evangelism tools. But if I know your name in the Christian sphere, you should know that the clock has started for you.

What’s the clock for? Counting how long it takes until you mess up. Because 99% of the Christian ‘celebrities’ I know have messed up. In big ways.

Francis Chan is one of the few people whose clock is still running.

See, at that conference in 2014, Francis Chan was speaking to the leadership of many Christian organizations. And he told them, point blank, to ‘fess up. He told them not to wait for the scandal to become public. He told them to go to their church boards, partners, whomever could hold them accountable and start owning up to their sins. Because if they didn’t, that sin that they thought was hidden would come out some day and destroy their ministry. And if they had any integrity or love for God left, they would get it out now before it could do more damage.

I was shocked. No one says that. They aren’t blatant about it, at least. And especially not with leadership. It’s funny, because we trust pastors to guide the church, but there are so few people who are asking how the pastor’s faith is progressing. For that matter, we don’t really ask each other. I guess because it feels awkward. Maybe, instead of saying “Hey, how’s it going?” I should start saying, “Hey, how’s your soul?”

I don’t know if I’m brave enough for that.

So why has this been on my mind? Because I was reminded, yet again, that humans are disappointing. I was reminded of this twice over, actually. And yeah, again, we know this intellectually. We can see it in politics and social media every day. But it’s different when it’s someone you know. It’s different when it’s someone you once had respect for. (Maybe that’s why I don’t like the fad people. It’s preemptive disappointment in their humanity.)

But I’m going to make this even more personal and depressing. Because if humans will disappoint you, and you’re a human, you are disappointing. I am disappointing. I have not met someone’s expectations of who I’m supposed to be as a person.

And no, you’re never going to meet everyone’s expectations. And someone else’s expectation may not even be correct. But if I’m not meeting God’s expectation? That’s a punch in the gut.

One of the reasons I’ve been thinking about this so much is that we are going through a series at church on flawed heroes. There are so many people in the Bible that we hold up as examples of heroes of the faith. Hebrews 11 is literally a role call of people who followed God’s call on their lives. And yet every single one of them also disappointed God. (Except maybe Abel. A case could be made.)

“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” Romans 6:1-2

I’m not saying to just keep sinning because there’s no possible way to be perfect. I’m saying

STOP

BEING

A

DISAPPOINTMENT

!!!!!

Or at least try. Try to be a little bit better each day. Think about your actions and comments before you put them out into the universe. Measure yourself against the spirit of the Word. If you’re sinning, even if it’s ‘minor’ or ‘not serious’ or whatever bullcrap term you give to it, confess. I’m not even going to make you tell your pastor, unless you’re in church leadership, in which case you should definitely talk to your immediate supervisor. Resign if you have to.

Stop torpedoing someone else’s faith journey because you’re fine with being a hypocrite.

And yeah, I’m talking to myself as much as I’m talking to you. I am well aware that I have disappointed many people in my life. Honestly, you’re probably one of them. And I am truly sorry for that. I hope my actions haven’t been a stumbling block in your life. If they have, I humbly apologize. It’s my greatest shame. And I’d like to talk about it.

But I’m trying to be better. Please ask me very pointed questions if you feel like I’m regressing.

So. We’ve established that people will disappoint.

You know who never disappoints? If you said Jesus, you are correct!

God keeps every promise. He wants the best for us. And he knows what that is. You just have to ask.

Well… now that we’ve all been fully flayed open…

My week has gotten better. It’s still not great. But in the midst of the emotional turmoil, I did manage to get some tasks done. I can elaborate on those if you’d like, but I’m probably just going to go eat some chocolate.

Your soul is not a small thing. But you should take care of it anyway.

Bye!