People change

People change.
We like to remember a certain circumstance or event and label someone based on their behavior or words at that time.
But I don't think that's fair...
People change (hopefully).


Dean told me the funniest story this evening. 
We had some good friends over, and we got talking about hockey - then the Jets - then the cost of tickets - which led to the good ol' days - then to back when Dean was living California and his family had season tix to the King's games.


"I got to go to the games whenever I wanted,"  he boasted.  Then amended that with, "Well, at least whenever my dad or uncle was working or didn't want the seats - then I could go whenever I wanted to."


Dean told us about a time when he caught the puck - these were the days before plexiglass and protective nets.
He was at the King's game in LA. He heard the slapshot, and in reflex ducked as the puck shot just past his head - but he forgot in that instant that a blind lady always sat right behind his seat.  He heard a thwack  and a wailing and people came rushing to help the woman behind him.


But this trauma happening behind Dean was all part of his peripheral memory - what was DEAN doing while all this was going on?  He was buried head first up to his shoulders behind his seat digging for the puck where he'd heard it roll after rebounding off of the blind lady's shins.


Only when he had jumped up victoriously and was waving the  puck and yelling "I got it!" (no doubt hoping to get a glimpse of himself on the jumbo-tron), did he become conscious of the damage done to the sight-impaired ticket holder one row back.


He sheepishly sat down - but did he offer the puck to the wounded fan who still didn't know what had hit her?
Well - he never exactly said, but I happen to know he has a King's game puck stashed in a box in the basement.  I'm just sayin'... 


But as I sat their laughing - really people, you should hear my husband tell a story (well, rather you should just watch his face while he tells a story) - you'd laugh too...
But as I was laughing I thought, "That's so NOT Dean." 


If I watched some 17 year old guy  completely tune out the painful cries of someone (blind, no less!) so that he could get a free hockey puck, I'd  think he was self-centered and unfeeling.  Who does that? 
Apparently my husband.


But I know him as kind, caring and protective.  He goes out of his way to help people whenever he can, and notices other's pain or difficulty.  He's not self-centered or unfeeling - quite the opposite.


People can change.
Sometimes we just need to give them time to grow up, but I think most of the time we underestimate the AMAZING work of Holy Spirit - when He's given a few years with a teachable spirit.