Life Lessons Part 6

After leaving the Jehovah's Witnesses (see Life Lessons Part 5), I became the object of scandal and cruel gossip. After all, I was the golden boy that made his mother and family proud. It was hard not living up to their expectations. It was something I had done all my life and I didn’t know any different. The shunning and sometimes unnecessary rudeness hurt deeply. I often questioned my decision to leave the Witnesses and wondered whether I should have done something different. It was easy for me to question my actions, especially with all the criticism.

Then someone shared a response to criticism from Abraham Lincoln.

“I do the very best I know how, the very best I can, and mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out right, what is said against me won’t amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference.”

What have I learned? I can only do what my heart tells me is right. The apostle Paul said, I also do my best to maintain always a blameless conscience before God and men. Acts 24:16 In the end, I, too, have to obey my conscience and live with the consequences. I hope to accept what is true even if it contradicts what I currently believe.

And what might the consequences be? Certainly criticism is one piece of it. These words were found written on the wall of Mother Teresa’s home for children in Calcutta:

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway. If you are honest and sincere, people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway. What you spend year after year creating, others would destroy overnight. Create anyway. If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway. Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway. In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.

Looking back at my life, I see times when I was confronted with great risk. It was risky to leave the Witnesses. I had so much to lose. There was so much uncertainty and so much I didn’t know. With the Witnesses, I knew exactly where I stood. All questions were answered. There was only black and white. Outside, there were only shades of gray. To leave meant losing all that I knew and loved. To search for truth was a big risk. And yet, I did it.

When I was 38, I started an electrical contracting firm. It was very risky and it almost failed before it got off the ground. I worked hard but promised work was not coming. I had put in all my savings, and then began to take cash advances on my credit cards. By the fourth month, there was still no income. Should I max out my credit cards to keep things afloat, or cut my losses and get out? And yet, I did it.

Or there was the time when Creekside was considering leasing our current building. There was a huge risk there. It would mean losing the use of the middle school and relying on the Chinese church. They could refuse to renew our lease, or increase the rent. Then where would we be? We could decide that we didn’t like it, and then need to find another locale. That would be a disaster. The decision to lease the church was an immense risk. And yet, we did it.

I know why.

“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.” -Theodore Roosevelt

What have I learned? If it is searching for Truth, running a business or leasing a church, I would rather go out in a ball of fire than with a whimper. Little is learned from success; much is learned from failure. Based on that, I have learned a lot.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Prov. 3:5