Don't Despair. . . . or He took his life, they could not take his pride.

This is one of the most tragic stories I've heard in a while:

so sad

He was obviously overwhelmed by the loss of his job. I wonder if he had anywhere to go, family to stay with, others he could ask for help, etc. . . .

I find many times we let sad or hard situations lead to despair in us, emotionally. There is definitely a time to mourn, but as Christians, "we are not like those who have no hope". There is a way to mourn, a way to lament that honors Christ (we see that in the Psalms) and a way that doesn't. I was struck by the quote, that after she lost her job as well, this man's wife suggested they should commit suicide. . . wow

I think that mourning vs. despair is counter-intuitive. It actually takes a humble heart and the death of pride to mourn without despairing. To despair and seem hopeless and bitter in a situation is to look for the answers in yourself, and of course, . .come up empty (thus the despair). To overreact in despair is to look for attention from others, or look to "feel" a certain level of depression that fills a hole (yes, it is rather addicting, and I do think we too often grieve to be seen by others)

To mourn rightly is to pour out your heart to Christ and ultimately ask him "why?" because you recognize that He holds all things together and keeps the universe spinning. If done in a humble way, it's actually honoring to Christ that you would seek to find the answers in Him, and find the restoration of all things in Him (perhaps, not always in this life). To be sad and devasted before the Lord, if done in humility, shows that we're trusting Him in a sense.

Well, I guess I broke the "long blog" rule, sorry :) About the title. . .I'm going to have to ask Bono about that lyric one day when I meet him on the other side. I've never understood how(even though the song is about MLK) it goes with one of my favorite songs, (Pride)"In the name of Love". I switched the verbage around, because I really do feel like the story linked above, and many like it are a result of our pride in how we deal with disappointment.

Aaron