Imperfect Weaknesses

I wrote in my blog on Friday, I wrote about how imperfect people were to blame for the collapse of marriages and that there was nothing wrong with the institution of marriage itself. I had cause to reflect on this later that evening. After much thought and reflection, it occurred to me that our imperfections affect all relationships. However, Christians seems to have a penchant for covering our imperfections with spirituality.

I had a friend who wanted me to help him incorporate a company. I helped him put in the name he wanted for the company and when the name came out I thought he would be pleased. He wasn’t. He complained about how that wasn’t the name he wanted. The name he wanted for his company for which he had drawn up a business plan was etched in stone and could not be changed even though the difference was an “S”. He made it out to somehow be my fault that the wrong name had come out. I pointed out that he had given me the name twice and that was the name he gave me both times. He refused to accept any blame saying that the second time I came to meet him for the name after I had lost the piece of paper he originally wrote the name on, I had put him under pressure by coming to his office. I put in the name again at extra cost to myself.

There were several problems along the way most of which I told him about as I tried to resolve them. These all added to the cost of incorporation but he never once thought of reimbursing me for the extra cost. I gave him the incorporation documents of Friday expecting nothing more than a “thank you”. I had initially not wanted to take the job because the money he was willing to pay was far less than I should have accepted, but I did it for him because we had started talking about the project and he had shared his dreams and I didn’t want it to be something “small” like money that wouldn’t let me do it. If we had talked about money first and I found out what he wanted to pay, I wouldn’t have done it. So when I gave him the documents, I was okay with the money thing because I had accepted. He accepted the documents and told me that he wasn’t happy with the fact that he was just receiving the documents as he was working with a time frame and I had made him run past the milestones he had set. In the end, I got the impression of someone who would never accept responsibility for his own mistakes and blame others. I got the impression of someone who liked control. If one were to ask, he would tell you he’s just someone who won’t take no for an answer and who doesn’t suffer fools gladly.

Another friend came to me and told me he would need my services and the services of my firm institute an action against people who were stealing his intellectual property. He had developed an application for the banking industry and had gotten all the banks to agree to use it. In the end he had to get the approval of a regulatory agency in charge of the industry and to get their approval, organised a presentation. They refused to give approval and he couldn’t go on. All the dreams of the millions he was going to make through the licensing the application to the banks went up in smoke. Now, he has found out that the regulatory body seems to have gotten someone else to develop the application based on his presentation and is forcing the banks to use the application. My concern with my friend was whether he was actually serious about me representing him in court. My friend owns a BlackBerry Z10. This is the same person who asked me to help him incorporate a company. He didn’t even give me the full amount for the work. I ended up adding my own money and I never got my fees. He also asked me to help register a patent for his application. The same application he now claims someone is ripping off. I gave him a bill and he never came back to me. The cost of registering the patent is less than the cost of a Z10. For me, he doesn’t have his priorities straight and he should expect to be ripped off when he’s not straight in his dealings with his friends. Jesus said do onto other as you want them to do unto you. He would probably give some excuse about how he probably thought I had forgotten about the money and forgiven him. I must confess that I haven’t really been disturbing him about the money. I find it embarrassing and in poor taste to go about asking people for money they owe me. I believe their sense of what is right should govern.

I’m not trying to bash friends or fellow Christians for the fun of it. It’s just that I noticed these imperfections and I believe these are the things we need to take to God to change. We’ve all heard the cliché about how God loves us the way we are but loves us too much for us to remain the same. It’s true. We need to take a good, hard look at ourselves in the mirror and understand our weaknesses and take them to God in prayer.

So, you might ask, what are my own weaknesses? I realised that I’m too laid back. I believe that whatever is mine or that I’m supposed to have will come to me naturally without much effort on my part because that is what God wants. I realise that that is wrong. There are things which if I want, I need to go out and fight for, trusting that with God on my side, I will get them.

So, what are your imperfections or weaknesses?