Unpacking Ron’s Baggage

Recently an unexpected firestorm ensued when I wrote about my friend Ron’s woeful dating life. Some people said Ron was clearly shallow and judgmental. Others blamed him for pointing out the baggage of the women he’s dated, while seeming oblivious to his own issues. One woman even prophesied that Ron was too picky to ever  find a new wife.

Ouch!

Ron has been surprised by the negative reactions. He’s really a nice guy, after all, and not used to all this criticism.

As you might imagine, Ron has been rather irritated at me as well. His only explanation for people’s criticism is that I must have portrayed him in an unfair and unflattering light.

“The truth will set you free, brother!” I told him jokingly, paraphrasing the words of Jesus in John 8:32.

But time will tell whether Ron can truly handle  the truth.

Fortunately, my blog has also resulted in some helpful suggestions. Someone offered to launch a #PrayForRon campaign on social media. Another idea was to start a GoFundMe initiative to reimburse Ron for all the money he’s wasted on bad dates. And several people requested that I keep everyone posted on Ron’s ongoing dating saga.

With predictions from some of his critics that there’s no hope for him, Ron gets discouraged at times. Often I try to lift his spirits by pointing him to the promises of Scripture. “Even deplorable people like you found hope in the Lord!” I tease.

One of the Bible passages I’ve shown Ron is Lamentations 3:18, where the prophet Jeremiah said despondently one day, “My strength and my hope have perished from the Lord.”  For any of us, some days are like that!

But everything changed for Jeremiah a few verses later when he remembered God’s faithfulness:

This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I hope in Him!” (vs. 21-34).

So there’s hope for Ron. And if there’s hope for someone as shallow and picky as him, there’s certainly hope for YOU as well! No matter what you may be going through today, God’s power and goodness are bigger than your pickiness and your problems.

Isn’t that good news?

P.S. Ron says he’s open to additional suggestions on how to solve his dating impasse. Please feel free to send them my way. #PrayForRon

3 thoughts on “Unpacking Ron’s Baggage

  1. First of all, those people that were judging Ron were being quite judgmental themselves – especially without really knowing the poor man.

    Ron was being very honest with himself about what situations he could handle and what he couldn’t. He was careful not to jump into a relationship, knowing there were major challenges right up front that he could not handle. That’s called “paying attention to the red flags.” Why set yourself up for failure? If more people were that smart/careful, maybe there would be a few less divorces.

    Also, as I recall, Ron stated his own shortcomings, too.

    I dare say that some of his critics, if put in the same situations, might have some of the same thoughts/reactions.

    Praying for Ron!

  2. I am glad to hear Ron did try look at himself to see he also are carrying around some baggage. God wants happiness for all his children but before finding a wife Ron would ready need to truly find himself. There are a lot of woman out there and unfortunately the ones that are catching Ron’s eye are not the type of people that are suited for him has he ever thought of that, why do you keep picking these people that you feel have a lot of baggage you’re not finding your soulmate because of the type of people that are catching your eye is it physical. Or is God trying to tell you something that you need to address your own baggage before you start looking at other people look at the beam in your eye before you start taking the splinter out your brother’s eye.

    He may be a good guy but he may have some areas he need to address so that when God is ready to send the person his way he’s open to see her. She will be the one that suits him fine will have some of the same likes it won’t be so much of the past dramas. They may talk about some of the stuff that they went through in their pass but it will be the past everybody has one.

    Good luck to Ron and carry your best friend, father, helper with you when you meet these women God the Father.

Leave a Reply to Melinda Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.