Judgement

“Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly.”  John 7:24

I take an aqua fit class almost every day, and the people in that class have become friends as well as acquaintances.  We tend to habitually group ourselves into our own end of the pool, and although, we welcome new people, sometimes we scrutinize them as well.

Enter “Don”, a strange gentleman who kept to himself, never spoke to others, and chewed gum like crazy!  We began to wonder if there was something wrong with him mentally – maybe the effects of a stroke, or a social disorder of some kind.  He was a loner in a “sea” of conversation and activity.  In the beginning I said “hello” everyday, but he only nodded his head in reply, so I quit speaking.

Slowly, he began to smile at us, say good morning, and eventually say a few words.  He must have talked to someone because he knew my name, Randy’s name, and our church background.  He began to ask me to ask Randy for his opinion on some Biblical questions.  I reported the answers during class, he nodded his head, and gave me the next question.

Last week during class, I watched as “Don” got out of the water, sat on the steps for a few minutes, then left to go to the dressing room.  No one went to see about him, and in a few minutes I saw him leave the club.  I couldn’t get the incident out of my mind.

He came back two days later, and while he was sitting on the steps of the pool, I went over and sat down beside him.  I asked, “When you left the other day, were you sick?”  He thought for minute, and then said, “I have cancer.  I take a shot every three months as treatment, but the side effects are brutal.  I have hot flashes, dizzy spells, and deep depression.  The other day, I was having a dizzy spell and needed to sit until it passed.” Then, he said, “Thank you for asking.”

In that moment, I knew that I had horribly misjudged another person.  I labeled him “strange” and “weird”, but he was really just a person dealing with his own problems in his own way.  Many of the “strange” days were depression days.  I did exactly what we as Christians are taught not to do. I had formed an opinion without bothering to know the person.  This was a Godly reminder for me!

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view – until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”             Harper Lee