Harsh!

That is a word a lot of people are afraid, no terrified, of being labeled as. We worry so much about telling people what they need to hear will "drive them away" that we don't instill the importance, the urgency, the necessity of it. I must admit, at work I am known for being harsh. When my boss wants to do something dumb, I will flat out tell him so. I remind him that keeping him from doing dumb things is what he is paying me for. Of course my timing isn't always the best - I might say something right in front of the whole group in my eagerness to stop wrong thinking dead in its tracks - but having done this so many times now people have started to actually listen to what I have to say! In fact they will "ask for trouble" by putting forward an idea and then top it off with "before anyone says anything, what do you think Randy?" which I think is meant to get my opinion out of the way from the get go. There is usually no other person who will upset the apple cart by then. Everyone is so polite, so very professional, and sometimes they look back and say wow I can't believe we even considered doing that, and thank me. Ok I have no style but I mean well and more times than not it was the right time to speak up.

The thing is, this is such a delicate matter sometimes and it is so easy to seem harsh. Consider someone that is doing something sinful and you may love them to death and feel such horrid frustration. You want to shout the warning "YOU ARE THROWING YOUR SOUL AWAY AND GOING TO HELL IN A HANDBASKET!" but that would be unkindly. That would drive people away. That would cause weak Christians to take offense. Better to have a whole bunch of touchy, feeble, I think I am all right but I am only kidding myself people warming the pews. I mean God only counts heads, right? Better to be here than to face the harsh reality of the shame of being lost and being forced to actually do something about it, to make a change. Whoops did I say that?

Of course, we could look at the other side of this coin.

Last week Deniese and I noted in the new that NY City government folks were giving away a large, color laminated pamphlet. It was freely available in lots of places and had to do with the topic of heroin. That's the drug, not the bird. This all sounds good, but the document didn't have one word of shame on you for doing drugs in it. Nope, it was an instruction manual - how to safely put the needle in you. Where to get clean needles. How to find a vein so you don't hurt yourself or make that ugly bruising. It was even published on the city web site, which they have since removed and are, themselves, a little shamed about. But tell a drug user he's "bad" for using drugs? Never!

What's next - instructions on how to blow your head off with a pistol and avoid those unsightly powder burns on your hands? Are you kidding me?

Yes, I am harsh. I am not really so proud of it as it may seem here, I am just stating that is how I am. I wish I had more patience and seasoned talk. I do kick myself and work on it. Sometimes though we need some harshness. I want someone to help me get to heaven, and if that means pointing out shameful things so be it. It's not right to grab people and shake them and say "Repent, sinner!" but we shouldn't be so "kindly" that our sweet talk and winks and nods encourage someone to walk right over the obvious cliff in front of them. As sweet as we are, when they fall over the cliff and hit the bottom it won't be soft and forgiving. Reality, unfortunately, is eventually final. It is impartial. And can be one other thing that is difficult for some people to accept.

Harsh.

Randy