My Roomate Jon

What better night to write an entry on here than the night I need to wake up at seven in the morning to write an essay that I’m not prepared for? Well, I’ll admit, I’m more prepared for this one that I am for the next three I have. God’s been working on me a lot lately, on a few things. One thing specifically is the fact that I think way too much. My roommate Jon always tells me that he thinks and analyzes things way too much also. He does and so do I. It wasn’t until then that I started to realize that I think and analyze things way too much also. In fact, I think I do a lot more than Jon does. That’s what I love about Jon, he’s so open with me and he’s so honest about his shortcomings and his weaknesses. It’s funny though because the one’s that he admits and shares with me are all the ones I deal with myself. Most cases I probably deal with it more than he does or worse, yet he always has no problem admitting them to me, I always find a need to hide mine. I grew up in the church though; I’m great at justifying and hiding things and giving all the right answers to make it look like I’m always on cloud nine. Just in the middle of me writing this Jon came in here and asked me to pray with him; I did. I find that his honesty and his ability to admit his weakness is something that I wish I had, it’s a characteristic I wish I was better at. Paul was the same way, he said that he was the chief of sinners; he knew that in his weakness is when Christ is strong in him.

Jon is one of my roommates for those of you that don’t know. He lived with me for a month in Sarnia and came straight here with me in Toronto; it’s been such a blast getting to know him. To be honest, it’s a relief being around someone who isn’t afraid to be himself. It’s a breath of fresh air to be around someone who is honest about himself. If I struggle with insecurity in any form, which we all do, I will be the last person to reveal that to anyone. I’ve always been the guy that is confident and doesn’t struggle with self image at all. I’m great at only revealing the parts of myself that are good, and hiding the parts that are bad, afraid that people will condemn me for it (which they will a lot of times). Jon is awesome. He honestly cares about people, he cares about his relationship with God and he cares about doing the right thing. He gets frustrated when he isn’t doing it to the best of his ability and he never has a problem admitting this to me. I never admit these things to him or to anyone for that matter. My pride holds me back. Wow, I wish I was like that. I really do try to be honest, and I try to be open about my weakness, but my pride blinds me from seeing them. I wish I could see them all, but sometimes I can’t see any, then I know there is something wrong.

I don’t say any of this to point out Jon’s weaknesses because frankly I never shared any of them. I point out Jon to show you how God uses weakness to be strong and encourage others. Maybe that’s how God comes through in our weaknesses, by encouraging others through them that they aren’t alone and that God doesn’t need your strength to accomplish anything through us or to give us worth. Jon, thank-you for being transparent with me and allowing yourself to be known. It is that quality of yours that challenges me. It is that quality that should challenge us all to stop being fake and be real to the people around us. We should stop trying to hide our shortcomings and realize that we are perfect and blameless in the eyes of God. By giving up trying to become something we are not we allow God us to mold us into what we are supposed to become.