I’m baaaaaack! MAN, it feels like FOREVER since we last chatted. Mainly ’cause the last few days have been a complete #whirlwind of travel + activity, and now I’m home after a long weekend that wasn’t the least bit relaxing but was the most fun basically ever. ICYMI, I was in Salt Lake City, Utah with my besties – Taylor, Amanda, + Chelsie (who lives there). It was the first time all four of us have actually ever met up together in person after what feels like forever of FaceTiming weekly (sometimes daily), so it was glorious, to say the least. I already miss them with all of my heart, but there’s something that does feel good about being back at my laptop in some sorta routine again. I’m a creature of habit, so it can hard + exhausting to be all outta whack for too long – but when it’s the best kinda outta whack, I absolutely cannot complain. I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat if all of my girls could be together in one place ASAP!
I had been meaning to write this post for awhile (specifically, since Easter), and it was on my calendar for today – and then something happened over the weekend that was such a powerful reminder of its truth that it was like that perfect bit of boomshakalaka to hopefully resonate all the more if y’all have experienced anything similar in your own lives.
More on this weekend to come (just WAIT until you see some of the pics we took – lowkey freaking out over here), but for today’s tidbit, one of the girls was experiencing a real jerk firsthand while we were all together. And she’s been dealing with this chick + her motley crew for years now. They once were “friends,” but she was never truly treated like a friend – she was treated moreso as the butt of all jokes and the laughing stock of the group, which is – of course – NO way to treat true friends. Especially when this happens in a friend group, it can be oh so hard – because if we’re not careful with the thoughts we then tell ourselves, it can soon become our perception of reality. That maybe the jerks are right – or maybe we’re not really worthy of good friends. Etc. etc. with the lies. SO. Let’s talk about the 8.33% rule.
Over Easter, my dad said something so friggin’ good that I had it bookmarked for the blog ever since.
We were talking about Jesus’ 12 disciples.
Specifically, Judas.
None of the 12 apostles were perfect men – and I think God did that very intentionally, for them to later serve as true human examples to all of us instead of as pious, unrelatable figures.
But Judas.
Judas was so far from perfect. I mean, he literally betrayed his friend, Jesus, and handed him over to DIE for Pete’s sake. (Actually, it wasn’t just for Pete’s sake – it was for all of our sakes, but that’s another story 😉 ).
Can you imagine that kind of betrayal?
We all have probably experienced betrayal at some point or another. Some worse than others (like handing someone over to literally die, not cool). But whenever it happens, it sucks.
Sometimes it’s not just betrayal, either – sometimes it’s just people being such a$$holes that we simply cannot comprehend why and/or how someone could even BE so clueless as to how to treat other human beings. And as if being crucified for someone else’s sins wasn’t enough, Jesus had to go through the betrayal of someone in his inner circle – one of his closest friends. Ouch.
This is where my dad’s genius shone through. He went on to make the connection that, if you think about it, Judas was the sucky outlier of the group. The really bad apple. The 1/12.
8.33%.
8.33% of Jesus’ disciples turned out to be not so good.
Everything in the Bible happened with intent. God doesn’t work without reason. So Judas happened for a reason, too. Maybe he happened to be that reminder that if Jesus couldn’t be without that one jerk in life, neither could we be without it – but our lives will still have purpose, goodness, + fruit all the while. If the Son of God couldn’t get away from an a$$hole friend, we can sure as heck expect to experience one or two of those in our own lives – and that’s OK.
Actually, if we think of our lives holistically, we can reasonably expect that 8.33% of the people we encounter will be of the crappy variety.
Whether we get more of the lot as kids in grade school through bullying, or whether we see more bullies as adults (because they exist, and they still suck) – in the end, if we total up the folks that we’ve met along the way, 8.33% of the crowd can reasonably fall under the “Judas” category, while the rest are better apples.
So while it might feel overwhelming if we happen to experience a few more at any one given time, it should hopefully serve as encouragement in the end that this is just the statistical norm that we all can expect to see in the end. Especially on those days when we’re just dealing with seemingly impossible people, and it can feel oh so discouraging + frustrating. Why, God? Because Jesus had a Judas.
Because we all have our Judases.
But God doesn’t give us more than we can handle.
If Jesus could handle 8.33% (and then some), He won’t give us more than HE can handle – and He definitely won’t give us more than we can handle, either.
Have you seen the 8.33% rule play out in your own life in dealing with your own Judas (or Judases)?
A Judas can be a pain in the you-know-where, but a Judas is not a dealbreaker. He can feel like a life ruiner, but he’s not a life ender (even for Jesus – He just keeps on living still!).
Do y’all like this kinda post??? It’s just been on my heart lately, so I hope it serves as some good kinda stuff for your week. 🙂