Love is the Answer.

On Monday around one o’clock, I was eating my lunch with my wife Tricia in the coffee bar area of our church's building. Someone came in with a Bible question. He wanted to know what the Bible has to say about some very serious problems his close friend is facing. My wife smiled at me, because she knows me. She knows I live for these moments.

I wish sometimes that I was better at making small talk. If you’ve ever asked me how I’m doing, you may have noticed that I don’t usually have much to say. I’m just not much of a casual chatter. But I love to analyze. I love to wax philosophical. Apparently, so does my new friend from Monday.

At the same time, it is extremely nerve-wracking to sit in front of someone who thinks you have the Answer. It seems to me that life is not that black and white all the time. But as we were chatting, I began to take solace in being unsure. I started thinking that this conversation is more about the search. More specifically, it is about the two of us searching together.

We may not find the answer, but we can look together. We can ask questions together.

Knowing that you do not know is a beautiful thing. It leads us deeper into wonder. And what is even more beautiful is feeling a sense of wonder in the company of your friends. We do not have the answer, but we have time for each other. We have time for conversation. We have time for big questions. We may sense that the Answer exists, but we also sense our own fallibility. The answer eludes us. We’re never sure that we’re sure, and this mystery draws us deeper and deeper into relationship.

When I am struggling, Christ does not always give me the answer. But he always gives me Himself. I am beginning to see that is the answer. I am often overwhelmed by the problems that people are facing around me, but His grace is enough. And his grace is revealed through the simple reality of his presence.

There is a paradigm I can follow. When people are searching for answers, search with them. Make space for them in your life. Be present, and wait for the presence of Christ to transform both of you. After all -- as Paul writes in his First Letter to that little Church in Corinth -- we only know a little bit, and even this will pass away in the end (1 Cor. 13).

But love never ends. Even when we don’t know the answer – or especially when we don’t know the answer – we can choose to love each other.

With love,

a young shepherd.