Few people have fallen as far as quickly as Tiger Woods has the last couple of weeks.
What started as a simple car accident has grown and morphed to the point that Tiger has lost endorsements and has taken an indefinite leave of absence from the sport which he has come to completely dominate over the last several years.
America is absolutely obsessed with the fall of major celebrities, and the press coverage centered on this issue since it happened has been overwhelming. Much of the coverage has focused on how surprising this whole turn of events has been—how we apparently didn’t know Woods like we thought we did.
And I admit that I was a little surprised myself, especially as the number of women who came forward claiming relationships with Woods continued to grow. After all, it’s one thing for a person to commit a one-time indiscretion (apparently, this is the new term for adultery—the basic problem with cheating on your spouse is that it’s not very discrete), and another thing for someone to carry on several extra-marital affairs at the same time.
So Tiger Woods let us down (and more importantly, let his family down) in a very public and painful way.
But I think the story of Woods serves to illustrate a very important point—people always let us down. If you know someone long enough, they’ll disappoint you in some way. Hopefully it won’t be in as painful of a way has Tiger has disappointed his family, but it always happens. Given time, people will always disappoint us, because people are imperfect, and they make mistakes.
Don’t put too much faith in other people. That’s not to say that we shouldn’t put any faith in people or that we should avoid relationships which require us to trust one another. Instead, realize that other people mess up just like you do, and be open to forgiveness when (not if) they disappoint you.
And put your true faith in the One who never lets us down, and is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13.8).
