Handling disappointment when leaders let us down

A friend of mine was recently trying out Christian internet dating. To give a bit of information and profile (no ‘just swipe’ based on looks), the fellas were required to list at least one ‘Christian hero’. In a valiant attempt to avoid the predictable answer of ‘Jesus’, one creative chap had put ‘early David’. We both laughed but the answer left a strange taste in my mouth. It was of course the word ‘early’. ’Early’ meant  the David of Sunday School, the Goliath defeating, friend of Jonathan, the warrior that friends would put their lives on the line for. It meant the heroic King, full of integrity, a man after God’s heart. Not the sordid despot who takes another man’s wife, conceives a child and then conspires to murder a true hero to cover up his own failings. Not that David, not ‘late’ David.

Many decades ago, I went to university. Like many young people I found the experience a bit overwhelming. Away from home, with many choices that had to be made with little support. Away from the youth group that had nurtured me effectively, and facing many moral choices. I wasn’t floundering but it was tough. In the midst of this I discovered the University chaplain. He was simply the most Christ-like person I had ever met. As I worked through positions of leadership within the University Christian Union he was always there, a rock, available, wise and with insights I could not have thought of. He was one of the last people I said ‘goodbye’ to as I left, wanting to truly acknowledge just what a powerful influence he had been on my spiritual growth.