Before we left for vacation to Kauai, friends who are retired Navy recommended their favorite dinner spot on the garden isle.  We drove from Barking Sands Base clear around the island for the Alaskan Crab Legs at the Paradise Grill in Princeville! My wife and I have been cooking everyday at the condo and enjoying it so far. But yesterday, Angela and I decided since we are only about ½ mile from the lauded grill it should be a worthy venture for dinner.

Saturday night we could see people lined up out the door to get into the surfboard decored facility. But tonight on this cool (read 74 degrees), rainy (read intermittent monsoons) evening window seats were readily accessible.  While we chatted over dinner I watched with some interest a young boy about seven puffing his chest in an effort to persuade his mothers confidence.

While I couldnt understand the words, it was clear they werent from around these parts. Still the exchange of body language couldnt be mistaken.  Young Coly was proudly boasting, I know how, trust me, I can do it. Mom, I can see where to go, its right over there . . .  somewhere. Not unaware of the partial bluff, but warily convinced, the seven year old received Moms commission to escort his younger brother the few yards it was from the table to the little boys room.

I watched with the gleeful pride of one older brother to another as this budding apprentice assumed one more rite of passage as the firstborn . . . leading his younger sibling.  Commission in tow, the confident young authority came to an abrupt and puzzled halt. Coly stared blankly at the sign that read Kane above the entry door.

Pressure continued to increase as little brother begins wiggling unsure why he is seemingly no longer on the way to promised relief. The lure of a mission accomplished and a pulsating fear of cooties wrestle for control of the next step as little brother is now dancing in place.

By now I am thinking there was no way this young trooper was going to risk strolling into the Ladies room by accident.  With some admitted twisted pleasure I watch the seconds tick slowly by.  Forty five tortured seconds of contemplation ticked off. You can see Colys mind racing. Face Mom with a failed commission - admittedly not ready for the promotion in rank, or potentially venture into embarrassment. 

The big decision is visibly looming overhead. The urgency in tow is still increasing.  I am about to leave my dinner and help when the once proud leader turns painfully from the door.

It was Colys desire to be grown up that put him at risk. It is a risk every one of us must take on our journey in life. Without it we will not become what we are intended. Just as it was Colys pride in being the big shot big brother, that put him at risk, it was his admitted inability to see Men in Kane that relieved him of guilt in his mothers eyes.

In John 9:40-41 Jesus says something similar to the Pharisees. These men are prideful in their knowledge, self assured as they puff their chests assuming all watching will acknowledge their pronounced opinions aptly demonstrate their ability to see life as it should be.  Pharisees think, We are guiltless and quite vindicated in judging others in how they should think, live and act. With distain they ask Jesus, Are we also blind?

Jesus said to them, If you were blind you would have no guilt, but now that you say, We see, your guilt remains. Competency, knowledge, maturity are all great. It is their cousin "pride" that breeds foolish guilt. It was the Pharisees pride that kept them from admitting their own blindness that rendered them guilty.

When Coly stood before the Kane sign his pride challenged him to cover up his ignorance and press on. But courageously Coly turned to face the fear of not being as ready and able as he wanted his Mom to believe. It was a healthy pride that placed Coly at risk with Mom. It was a healthy sense of humility that rendered him guilty free.

Jesus suggests that guilt is relative. Guilt is relative to our pride. Guilt is relative to our admission of blindness the maturity/ability to admit that what we see my not be all there is to see. Let me ask something personal, Does that thought come easy for you?  Did you quickly adjust it to say Well yeah, some times. You may not have. Admittedly some of us struggle more with, What should be obvious, to other people than others.

In Jesus suggestion that guilt is relative to what we see and what we claim to see is a proposal. The offer is to walk more humbly before one another than our nature beckons. While we are only accountable for what we can see, it is when we claim to see the most clearly we may in fact be the most blind and in fact incur the most guilt.  

By the way Angela ordered the crab legs. My blinding pride couldnt see a way for Alaskan cuisine in a Hawaiian paradise. I stuck to the local fish which was relatively good. Also if you think I had your puffy and prideful chest in mind while writing this you may be right! But also know your pride only bothers me so much because God uses it to remind me of my own blindness thats annoying.  Next time I may be courageous enough to humble myself and order the crab legs from Alaska.