Note: On Tuesdays and some Sundays, you can find me at Your Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.
I think of St. Paul as a whirlwind or tornado, storming through towns, attempting to set people on fire with the Good News, not always being as tactful or diplomatic as he could have been because that wasn’t his nature and besides: There. Just. Wasn’t. 
Time. There just wasn’t. There was always another town on the horizon, more evangelization to be done, more people to be met, more strategies to be planned.
And then, as he writes Timothy, he was alone at his first defense. The winds of his life stilled to nothingness. All those souls he had brought to the Kingdom were nowhere to be found. Surely, in the moment, he had to have been hurt, puzzled, angry. But in retrospect, as he writes, the Lord was there and He was sufficient. Indeed, Paul even asks forgiveness for those who deserted him.
At my first defense no one came to my support, but all deserted me. May it not be counted against them! But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. (2 Timothy 4:16-17, NRSVCE)
We all are deserted often, sometimes intentionally, sometimes not. Yes, there are people in this world who want to set us up only to see us publicly humiliated or embarrassed. There are people in this world who run away from the first sign of conflict, fearful of what might happen if they’re not on the winning side. But mostly, I think, people desert us unintentionally. They have their own stuff going on, and as for our stuff: There. Just. Wasn’t. Time. Just as sometimes for the stuff they really needed us to do: There. Just. Wasn’t. Time. As they forgive us, let us forgive them. As He forgives us, let us forgive them—and ourselves.
