Just to put your mind at ease, I want to inform you that at the request of the Elders, the Cornerstone Security Team along with representation from our historical archives department have completed a thorough search of my home and have not found any classified documents from past board or Elder meetings. They did find a few old sermons that they rightfully determined should never see the light of day and were put into the process que for disposing. They also found a few Ohio State posters that they tried to shred, but were mercifully rescued at the last minute since they were determined to be beyond the scope of the requested search.
Yes, of course I made that all up, but this classified document issue is more than a wee bit embarrassing, isn’t it? Let me summarize. A former president had classified documents in his home that he was not permitted to have. A current president had classified documents in another office and home that he was not permitted to have. A former vice-president had classified documents in his home that he was not permitted to have. I am guessing that there are a bunch of people right now going through old papers and that we have not heard the last of this. That is a strange consolation: knowing that tomorrow another failure will take the unwanted attention from you.
Those representing the former vice-president are saying that his situation is different than the current president’s and those representing the current president are saying that his situation is different than the former president’s and those representing the former president are saying that he just won his own golf tournament. But the truth is, it all sort of goes into the same blender and just looks like a really big mess. It is easy to say, all politicians are corrupt. But they aren’t. There are some good ones. This past November we had one Cornerstone member elected to a local school board and another elected to the State House of Representatives.
So, therein is our challenge. You have family members and co-workers who have seen and heard about the drip-drip-drip of failures and inconsistencies in the Christian community. We would like to say that we are not like them, or our situation is not quite like that, but for many of the people that we are seeking to share Christ with, it all goes into same blender and looks like a mess. But don’t lose hope. They may be tempted to dismiss all Christians as _____ (insert derogatory term), but at the same time, they know you. Your grace under fire, your hope through difficulty, your humility when wronged, your love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control remain as an apologetic that God loves to leverage for gospel good.
Press on pilgrim. There are big stories way beyond our ability to influence, but there are the little ones that God has given us to be part of. Your faithfulness matters. It really does.