I grew up with two brothers. The three of us shared a bathroom that was like a locker-room. There were two stalls with a toilet and a shower in each. In the middle there was a big vanity that went all the way around the room with three sinks. In the mornings, I often found it difficult to wake up on time. After snoozing my alarm repeatedly, I would stumble into the bathroom bleary eyed, where my much-more-disciplined brother would be waiting, standing on the vanity, to jump out at me and scare me! It was awful. That’s not a fun way to wake up. I always thought my mornings would be much more peaceful once I moved out of that house. And they sort of were, until I got married.

My wife Janie loves to jump out and scare me. I don’t know if you’re the spouse who does the scaring, or the one who is constantly waiting to be startled anytime they walk into a dark room, but, on account of scaredy-cats everywhere, can we stop this? I seem to fall for this all the time, jumping like a frightened kitten. I’m expecting to walk into the bathroom, not a haunted house!

Have you ever had an experience when you had to experience blind trust?

When I was in college, my brother, my parents and I took a trip to Hawaii with some other families. We were actually on a mission trip, really suffering for Jesus. One afternoon we went to a beach at Waimea Bay. When we arrived, I quickly noticed people jumping off the large rock jutting out of the ocean. I immediately thought two things: (1) “I don’t want to do this” and (2) “I’m going to have to do this.” In addition to not really appreciating the thrill of jumping off something tall, I also don’t do too well with peer pressure.

When you look at other people, what do you see? How do you sum them up? You may judge them based on the things they have, their lifestyle, or even their appearance. Maybe you estimate them by the way they treat you. Often we think about the position that people have as the sum of their past - what they've been given, what they can afford, or what they've earned.

As we judge the world this way, we begin to think of ourselves in the same way. We fill our arms with our accomplishments, trying to carry all the success we've achieved. We grow proud. We think what we're holding is impressive. And to some people, it is! But their impressions stack up to nothing. In the end, they will not matter.

As we begin thinking that other people think highly of us, we expect God to do the same.