"People Be Trippin' No Matter Their Religion"

A catchy phrase created to lift the weight of a burdensome day with laughter yet still holding an undeniable fact accountable for its truth.

We are not people who walk in or by perfection - we trip. Not over rocks or uneven ground but by our own shoe-lace. You know, the one we knew we should have tied but justified not to. Our own humanity brings us to the ground.

Bruised knees and scraped elbows testify of a common and perpetual problem: no matter our age, maturity, or position of power, we are all a strange concoction of skin, bones, and inevitable failure. Enduring hope requires this realization otherwise we seek a people or place that won’t defeat us only to discover ourselves haunted by disappointment.

Many leave the Church for all of its political pollution and inauthenticity, disgusted by the behavioral reality of a people who claim to spread good news. We thought that surely here in the house of God would we find people who could heal us of our pain with a love so sweet we’d not remember the bitter taste of disappointment’s name upon our soul’s lips.

We are wrong.

Christian or not, we are still humans plagued with inabilities. Though God calls us to walk in a manner of humility, gentleness, patience, and love, we do not. We try, but we also fail – a lifetime of unlearning things that accidentally molded us, while becoming what we were always intended to be.

The time in-between is where you and I will meet - walking, falling, getting back up, and hopefully apologizing to anyone we carelessly or unknowingly took down with us. This is no excuse for purposefully poor behavior, but an admission of a lack only God can fill. For only when we admit and accept this of ourselves will we feel empowered to lay down our weapons of self-defense, release each other from the same strict expectation of perfection, and humble ourselves as brothers and sisters in need of a Savior.

Jesus. The only perfect we will ever have, who is always there - bandaids, ice packs, and a vision of a more beautiful tomorrow in hand.