Building, Banking or Burning Trust

I have witnessed this following scene happening many times this year already.

The young bride stands at the altar of the church with her handsome young groom. Her bouquet is trembling as tears run down her face. He is uncomfortable in his rented suit but he has a big grin on his face as he is standing beside her. They are getting married today. Wow! Who would have believed this would happen to them?

Both are in their mid twenties and both are making a huge change in their lives – moving from the independent and very much single life to one of interdependency on each other. From this moment on they are making a commitment that is stating to all of their guests present that they will trust each other forever. Wow what a statement to make in a world that quakes because of non-trust.

In recent days I have officiated at a number of funerals where the departure of a spouse has taken place. At all the funerals there was reference to the days of old when the couple was young and vibrant. There were accounts given of the marriage they had lived and loved through. In two the instances the couples were married for more than 53 years. That is more than 19,345 days – or 464,280 hours – or 27,856,800 minutes – and finally 1,671,408,000 seconds of life together.

This September 9th Alida and I will celebrate our 1,261,440,000 seconds together at 10:30 AM. Or to put it another way for 1,261,440,000 seconds we have trusted each other with everything. For that long we have loved each other continually. For me that is worth a dollar for every second. We are rich – really, really, really filthy rich. Our relational bank account is filled with TRUST.

We, however, are dinosaurs in our world of 2007. We will be like the people I am conducting funerals for these days. Married to the end and filled with many billions of memories. But we are dinosaurs because we are so different from the world around us.

Time magazine for this next week has a photo of Diana, Princess of Wales, and Princess of everyone’s heart. The headline is “Why Diana Mattered”, A subtitle gives “Plus: Prince Charles’ predicament”. It has been 10 years since she passed away in the horrific automobile crash on that fateful night in a Paris tunnel.

From a fairy tale wedding, that almost everyone witnessed, through to a nightmare marriage that most would discover later. Even though they may have been among some of the wealthiest people in the world they were tragically broke in their Bank of Trust. It would only become a world wide story after the long and agonizing funeral days.

Prince Charlie was a jerk and had been cheating on her regularly throughout their marriage with our next possible “Queen-to-be” – a possible “Consort” I think they have worded the position to be. But Diana on the other hand was in a car racing from the horrible paparazzi while she was with her new boy friend, lover, speculated husband to be. Talk about Tabloid Trash – Wow!

Few people I know would trust either of them as a marriage partner. Banking Trust with this class of people would not be possible.

Lest you think that I am bashing Royalty I have to state here bluntly – I am not. I am observing a dearth of Trust. The British Common Wealth and the British People trusted their king or queen. Now they try to trust their King or Queen. It is odd to say the least.

Now skip across our Canadian – USA Border and take a look at the USA President (Their King for a Season) – President George W. Bush. Then cut to any community and ask the question how many people Trust him? It is far less than when they elected him to this ultimate high office that is just under God Himself. The comedy is that a whole line up Presidential Wannabeees are strutting their stuff to try to get elected in their next biggie.

The question is in America – “Who do you trust the least among this present line up of ‘amazing’ people?” Then when you pick that least trusted you can choose the second least trusted and move up to the next least trusted higher up the ladder. When in fact you(or they) don’t trust any of the ‘amazing’ people.

Oops – don’t forget Canada. Have you looked at the recent slate of ‘Canadian Amazing’ people. Which politician in our country do you trust the least and then move up the ladder of least trust worthy to select our number one… who is left is the one that we may have least amount of trusting the least. Confusing aint it? – but that is why so many will not even vote because ‘they all are a bunch of jerks that you can’t Trust’.

Now for a pastor to call politicians and kings and queens jerks – is off the wall. All I am doing is telling it like it is… Stephen Harper is placed along with the rest in most people’s mindset. This week as he met with the US President along with the Mexican President – hundreds of people screamed their lack of Trust. And nobody Trusted the angry protestors outside the compound of the high level meetings. RCMP Officers were everywhere – likely even walking among the protestors with video cameras poised.

You and I live in a world of non-trust.

Come back to the wedding… and the young Bride and Groom…
Here they stand in their elegance and finery. Getting married – saying the “I dos..” and the “I wills…” Promising to stay committed until death separates them.

Well behind the scenes – I can tell the rest of the story. Like many other couples that I have performed the marriage for they have had their struggles. They both have dated and re-dated many people – people that they couldn’t trust. In some cases they have let their morality slip a whole lot. Now they stand in front of their guests and say “This is it – he or she is the only one for me – from now on! I trust this one the most!” Okay….

Out of the marriages that I have performed over the past five years about half are not together any longer. They couldn’t trust each other any more. In some cases they found someone that they could trust more than the one that they married.
Now – what about their kids? Do you think that they will Trust well? Do you imagine with me a great and “Trustworthiness” from their lives in years to come?

Read the rest of the story about Princess Diana’s and Prince Charles’ lineage and…..

If Only…
I am a dinosaur for sure. I believe that a day may come when we may build Trust back again – into every area of our life.

I believe that we can rebuild Trust. I believe that we can start again and make it right this time. If only we can put the tuff stuff of the past away – we can survive and rebuild.

There was a time when the Children of Israel were completely broken. No one trusted anyone. Their sin had been great and the enemy had taken everything from them. Their precious city was completely in ruin. A guy by the name of Nehemiah came on the scene and people trusted him… then began to trust each other… then they began to trust God. The city was rebuilt and their world cam back together again. There was Trust in their whole world.

If only… we could catch a bit of Nehemiah’s spirit and times… If only.

Finally… Today you will either Build, Bank or Burn Trust. You have a choice. What will you do with these next 24 hours?

~ Pastor Murray Lincoln ~

Check out Nehemiah’s story here…. BibleGateway.com