What do you know?

"You are acquainted with all my ways"

Psalm 139:3

Alex Karras died today.  Did you know him?  You probably knew of him.  He played professional football in the 1960's, for the Detroit Lions.

After he played football, he became an actor.  That's probably all most people know him for ~ playing football and acting.

I don't think I ever saw him in any of his movies, but I remember the sitcom he was in with his wife.   And I remember one of the guest-starring roles he had in another sitcom.

And I know he was a husband and father.  I knew he was a husband because the woman who played his wife in the sitcom was his wife in real life, too.  So probably a lot of people knew that, too.

But he was so much more than the sum of those parts.  He was complex, diverse and in some ways, unexpected.  There were things that made him laugh, and things that made him cry.  He had hobbies and interests; weaknesses and strengths.  He was admired by friends, and tolerated by those who didn't see the world the way he did.

How do I know all that?  I really don't.  I never met the man.

But I knew someone who knew him.  One of his closest friends.  I was privileged to know a man named John, who played football with Karras.  John went to my church, and I am close with his widow, his daughter, and his step-daughter.  I knew him for only a few years before he died in 2009.  But in that time, I came to know how thoughtful, wise and interesting he was.  I saw him treat everyone he encountered with kindness and respect.  He was a big man ~ being a former pro football player ~ but he was gentle and humble.  And he played a very convincing Simon Peter for the children of our church. 

If you look up John on the internet, you won't find out any of that.  I know how there was much more to John than what a stranger would know about him, and yet I know there was much more to him than I knew. 

And because I know there was more to John, I know there was more to Alex Karras, too.

And I know there's more to you than meets the eye.  Just as there's more to me.  Daughter, sister, friend, co-worker, wife, daughter-in-law, sister-in-law, mother, aunt, teacher, writer, blogger...  I like color and I dislike crickets in my house.  I like to cook but I dislike baking.  Autumn is my favorite season, and summer is my least favorite.

What about you?

Every once in awhile I realize how incredibly foolish it is for us to judge others.  Only God knows all there is to each of us; all the events and people that have gone before us, to make us who we are.  And only God knows what we are capable of becoming.  And that's something we don't even know about ourselves. 

Rest in His knowledge of you.  Remind yourself, when you come to a conclusion about someone else, that there's much you don't know.  And take heart, when you start to realize how far you have to go in your own life.  His knowledge, His patience and His love are limitless.   He knows you fully, and loves you completely.  And that's all you need to know.

~ "Search me, O God, and know my heart;

Try me and know my anxieties;

And see if there is any wicked way in me,

and Lead me in the way everlasting" ~

Psalm 139:23-24