My brother once told me a story about his coworker who attended a seminar in Mexico: he ate something that really disagreed with his system & got a case of the Tijuana trots. He was so sick, but still determined to catch his flight back to the States. Thinking he’d already passed everything & couldn’t possibly have anything left in his system, he crawled out of the cab to await his flight.
It wasn’t a commercial jet; it was a little two-prop plane that held about 12 very tightly compacted passengers. As he waddled across the tarmac, his stomach lurched & he let go of what he hoped was only a gas bubble, thankful to still be out in the open. I’ll let you take the story from there… Suffice it to say, you don’t want to be that guy!
Yet, a similar thing happens in church on a fairly regular basis. We get offended by one thing or another. We don’t mean to hurt others; actually, we often think we’re helping. But when what we think ought to happen doesn’t (or vice versa), our otherwise loving, affable, gentle personality is ready to go nuclear on a brother or sister. I would venture to say that such explosions are the leading cause of pastors leaving the ministry & people leaving churches. Suffice it to say, you don’t want to be the guy or gal responsible for that!