It’s easy to be sidetracked, especially in our world where novel ideas, theories, ideologies, activities, distractions, and lies pelt us 24/7. What is novel is not always what’s best or true. It may simply be the latest delusion. I need to live and love in a tradition that has not only spoken of wisdom but demonstrated it . . . not just months or years but centuries and millennia.

Sadly, I was years into my life and ministry before I ever cried out, “I am a fool.”

I lay on the floor, heaving beneath shelves of Jesus books, behind a desk on which an engraved ordination gift announced my job and name, “Pastor Zack.”

But being Christian and spiritually gifted doesn’t make one wise . . .

0ur friends did not need my thoughts or advice. There were professionals in their lives better equipped than I to provide that. What they needed was a safe place with faithful friends where they knew they were heard, appreciated, and cared for. They needed the gift of grace called listening.