UUGGHH!!

You know that person that just tries to annoy you? Isn't there always one person who wants to push your buttons just to see if they can?

I could have responded in many ways. One response is to retaliate - to get down on the same level of relational prowess. I really wanted to do that. I wanted to trade barbs with him. I think I'm pretty witty. I could've taken him on and won! But that very attitude (just the wanting to do it) is a bad choice.

I could have ignored him. I usually ignore conflict. But that never resolves the problem and only leads to greater issues later - and even more discomfort. This guy had to be stopped. He was trying to distract the rest of the learners. I think he had two goals: to throw me off track and impress the others with his knowledge. The truth is, he is actually catching on pretty good and some others are struggling; he just wanted to entertain himself (mostly) and the others.

Or I could have exercised my authority as the trainer and forced him to fall in line. That's always a good idea!

WWJD? What would Jesus do? That's a great question that we should ask ourselves several times a day. I'm standing in the slow line at the branch bank. I'm getting a little frustrated. WWJD? I'm stuck in traffic because the nuts in the other cars don't know how to merge. WWJD? A friend asks me to do something I know is wrong. WWJD? There's a $5 bill on the table at the diner. It's the previous customer's tip. Nobody would see me take it. WWJD?

I have a friend who says WWJD is the wrong question to ask because Jesus wouldn't get into the messes we get into. But that's not the point. IF Jesus did get into this situation, what would he do? Yes, we can answer that question for any situation by applying what we know about Jesus' character. It's a great question.

So, Jesus is the teacher and someone is trying to distract him. WWJD? Sound familiar? It really happened and it's in the Bible. As he is teaching another teacher of the law says, "Excuse me, Jesus. Suppose a woman's husband dies and she marries his brother (a custom of the day). Then the brother dies so she marries another brother." This happens a few times. "Jesus, whose wife would she be in the resurrection?" The odd thing is that the questioner didn't believe in the resurrection anyway, he was just trying to distract Jesus and trip him up.

WWJD? He called the teacher on it. "You don't even believe in the resurrection! And it shows by the question you asked! The truth is that there is no marriage relationship in Heaven so she is the wife of none of them. Stop trying to distract me."

So how does that apply to my horrible experience? Always speak the truth and don't let people get away with tricks like that.

I am surprised that I actually stood up to him. I usually do the Forrest Gump thing and just run from my troubles and conflict. I'm trying to get better at it. I've been praying that God will help me be better at it. I guess today was an opportunity to get better at resolving conflict.

I still have a way to go. But I did better than I would have this time last year.