Whose Life Is It Anyway?

I was watching a TV show the other night about this church and its youth pastor I think in Washington State.  It had the usual story line...nice, energetic, enthusiastic pastor with a bubbly, cute, outgoing wife.  The congregation loves this couple.  And then as my grandma would say when she got fired up about something
(and my Grandma never swore) this church went to "hell in a hand basket."  Literally.  I'm not here in this blog addition of LifeWorks to argue theology, who God is, and what He tells us to do.  I have my own convictions about those things as I'm sure you do.

In this true story, I am amazed, but not surprised at what occurs with this church.  The youth minister's wife ends up dying in a house fire while her minister husband got up early, turned on the space heater for his wife (hint hint) and goes duck hunting.  This guy is a slug.  To make a long story short he does the following with members of his own flock:
*He and the church secretary end up having one really weird relationship because God is "talking" to her!  She shares her revelations with the youth minister.  One being that his wife will die.  And then the two of them..well..you know.
*The youth minister convinces a married woman in the congregation to meet him at a local hotel for an ongoing sexual encounter. (Three weeks after his wife's death).  The purpose: To strengthen her 'trust' in God and show it.  uh..OK  She goes along with this line of baloney.  She and her still  husband have been in counseling now for years!
*Hold on for this one.  He has a sexual relationship with his now former mother-in-law after the death of her daughter, once the youth minister's wife!  Her reasoning and I use that word loosely, "to help fill a void in my life and his."  ICK!
*The minister has "closed door counseling sessions" with other women, who it should be noted, believe in this guy and do as they are told.  All after the tragic death of his wife.

You get the picture right?  Those of us who watch these goofballs always end up asking, "How could they fall for this?"  "What were they thinking?"  Honestly you watch these people who were educated, professionals, married, parents, "yadda yadda "as Seinfeld would say.  They look normal, talk normal, dress normal.

So why do people demonstrate such poor behavior?  Why do they commit such stupid acts?  Why do they make such mind numbing choices?  It's not that hard to figure out.

1.  Trust.  "To place confidence in somebody or in somebody's good qualities, especially fairness, truth, honor or ability.  The position of somebody who is expected by others to behave responsibly or honorably."
It was obvious in this story that the assumed trust that this congregation had in its minister was being exploited.  Yep...in his devious mind, the minister was taking advantage of these good people.  But then so did Bernie Madoff.  He made billions on his client's trust in him.  But you see in both cases it was 'blind trust'. People don't ask questions and thus you have 'blind trust'.
Nowhere should anyone be so naive as to be blind to someone abusing and being deceitful for their own gain.  
Any person put in a place of trust will welcome questions by others.  Its those who double-talk and avoid questions we should fear.  It's an automatic red flag!
2.  Accountable.  Responsible to somebody or to something.
You are accountable for you.  You have to live with yourself and the decisions you make.  Investigate don't assume.  Don't play the blame game when you didn't look deeper.  Often times assuming shows a real lack of effort on your part.  You think, "ah come on why wouldn't this person tell me the truth?"  SNAP...the trap has been tripped and you've been caught.
The bottom line is no matter who you listen to or choose to follow in your life, it's up to you to find the truth.  If you don't the consequences you may experience are all on you.  You are accountable for you!

Oh and the youth minister...God called him to prison until 2025.

In my next blog I'll give you a plan on how to keep you're life in balance and moving forward.  It's about choices...your choices for the life you're living.  Trust me.