Drop the filter
Frank was a friend, and the pastor of a small Baptist church.
God made Frank with deep compassion for others. Zero fashion sense. And absolutely no filter.
If Frank thought it, he said it.
We used to have lunch when he was in town. One time he told me about regularly bumping into a Catholic bishop back home. It turns out the two of them made hospital visits on a similar schedule.
Frank had never known a stranger. Since he didn’t know much about Catholic stuff, he just called the bishop “pastor.” Every time their paths crossed at the hospital, Frank smiled and said “Hi, pastor.”
Frank told me that the first few times, the bishop was uncertain how to respond to him. But Frank just kept smiling and saying “Hi, pastor.” And as Frank became part of the bishop’s normal, the bishop warmed up to him and started smiling and saying “hi” back.
Until one day, the bishop wasn’t smiling.
So Frank asked if he was okay. The bishop stopped, and basically unraveled.
Frank told me that what came tumbling out of the bishop was an account of all of the different ways that people dealt with him. To some he was a manager, to others a fundraiser, to some an obstacle to overcome, to others a way to get what they wanted. The bishop went on until, on the verge of tears, he told Frank that he couldn’t remember the last time someone asked if he was okay.
I’m sure that passersby thought they were seeing a kindly bishop praying for an odd little man in a mismatched shirt and tie. But what was really going on, was exactly the opposite.
Today, take time to be a Frank.
Notice people. But notice them from God’s perspective – look past their outsides. Notice what’s going on, on their insides.
And when the Holy Spirit moves you to speak with them, to pray for them, to love them.
Drop the filter.
