Vulnerable

This weekend I saw a few guys in very vulnerable places. One was a guy on the side of the road at 6:45 in the morning. I would come to learn he was drunk. One guy, who I know, was lost in his thoughts at the coffee shop at about 9:30 the same morning. Both of these guys were obviously in vulnerable places and lost in one way or another.

As I reflected on these two men, I realized we are all more vulnerable than we want to admit. What I realized as I thought about that morning was that God uses vulnerable people to be real to other vulnerable people. Currently, I am still working through some of the vulnerable places in my own life. I still am working to make a marriage better and stronger. I am still trying to discern where God is leading me in terms of ministry and the future.

Why do we fear vulnerability? We have learned not to stop for the guy on the side of the road, because he MIGHT be a bad person. We cannot afford to be that vulnerable. We have learned not to get involved with the person who has that blank stare on their face, for helping them might take too long. Again we do not want to be that vulnerable. More so, I think we are all a bit afraid and know we are closer to that level of vulnerability than we want to admit. We are one bad night from being drunk on the side of the road. We are one bad day from being lost at the coffee shop. We are one step away from feeling helpless.

The truth of the matter is we are not totally vulnerable. This is not because we are strong, but because God is merciful. God is holding us in the palm of that mighty hand. God is tending to us even in the midst of lose and tragedy. Our hope is not that we will never be vulnerable. Our hope is that God will never leave us broken and alone.