the tricky bits about hurting people

there are some really exciting things happening in my life right now
- some amazing moments with my children
- new verve and fun with carmel
- a great visit from one of my great friends from van, ryan
- some cool stuff with navpress that may facilitate getting the message of christ out in meaningful ways to the church

but there are also some crummy things going on

and it seems like the crummy things are the things that - typically - give me the urge to blog

but i have a little problem
because most crummy things in life have to do with people
and the things that are really crummy have to do with people who are close to us
maybe even close people who hurt us, either purposefully or inadvertently

and i just don't feel right about airing my dirty laundry on those topics

which is weird, because that really does seem to be most of what the blogosphere is

it's a place where it's ok to publicly air your grievances
to talk bad about people you don't agree with
or to flame the ones you hate

sadly,
loving jesus doesn't leave me open to the option of being publicly critical
even when others are critical of me
and this is hard for me - probably because i'm spiritually immature
but also because i tend to focus on the relational traps that these dynamics have laid for me in the past

at any rate
i thought if it's unethical for me to air my frustrations
maybe it'd at least be ok for me to air my frustrations about not being able to ethically air my frustrations

and i'm hoping this is an example to other christ-followers
to examine how they use this public venue
to be careful how we appraise one another's ministries
how we speak about other leaders and other followers
about the assumptions we make regarding the credibility of another's thoughts or passions

if we advocated for our beliefs as much as we deconstruct our opponents'
maybe we wouldn't have to be so embarrassed about our churches