Is it real, or is it ..

Charles Swindoll once said, "Life is 1 percent reality and 99 percent perception."

Whether he was quoting someone else at the time, I have no idea. What I do know is that his supposition has proven to be true, time and again, at least in my experience.

Our brief time in Wichita was at once a time of dismal failure and of vital self-discovery. I'm not entirely where today's story fits, perhaps it fits in both categories.

We hadn't been in Wichita long and were taking any jobs the employment office had to offer, including temporary positions -- whatever it took to keep fuel in the car, food on the table and the $20 per week rental paid on a one-room cabin in a sleazy corner of town.

Making arrangements with a gentleman for a couple of days work at an agreed upon wage, the work was accomplished and left unpaid. Empty promises were repeatedly proffered and finally, it was deemed necessary to pay the gentleman a visit at his home. Perhaps, if he saw us face-to-face, he would recognize and fulfill his responsibility. He had ceased to take phone calls and seemed to be doing his level best to renege on his end of the deal.

It was a cold November night, and since there is safety in numbers, we all piled into the Volkswagen, and using the address provided in the phone book, drove to a middle-class neighborhood. As a group, we took our positions on the front porch and rang the bell.

Soon enough the man in question appeared and we pressed upon him our dire need for him to make good on at least part of his promised wages for the work completed. He said, "Wait right there," and turning, opened the coat closet door directly behind him. As he turned, eight eyes opened wide in astonishment while eight legs began a frantic back pedal to get off the porch. Not stopping to look back, we jumped back into the car and beat a hasty retreat. Looking in the rearview mirror as we pulled away, I saw that he had followed us into the street and was shaking a shotgun in the air.

Turning the corner and moving far beyond his reach, indignation soon took the place of fear, and we immediately sought out the nearest police station to report this madman with a gun.

Statements were taken, officers dispatched to the address, and soon enough we found ourselves back on the road, still with no money and with little satisfaction from local law enforcement.

Apparently, the officers explained, the reason the man pulled the shotgun was that he was afraid. Of us.

We were incredulous. Why would he be afraid of us? We never uttered a single threatening word. We walked up to his door open-handed and obviously unarmed.

With the passing of many years, my vision has improved. Time and experience have allowed me to see things from his perspective that night. He opens the door on a dark winter evening to four young people, three of them strapping young men. This is a problem. He owes one of these young men money. Money he either cannot or will not pay. (I'm going with cannot, giving him the full benefit of the doubt.) True, no threatening words have been spoken, but the perception of danger is keen. There are three of them and only one of him and he remembers in his near-panic, the shotgun he keeps against intruders ...

Wichita taught us many lessons. This one was vital.

Most certainly, if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it must be duck. Or, maybe not.

The same can be said of our faith. Often, what we say we believe seems in direct opposition to the perception others have of our lives. Our protestations of innocence that night had little influence on the outcome. We looked like thugs, therefore ...

Take care, therefore, not to give a wrong impression, even unintentionally, as we did that evening. Because, although rare, sometimes reality is far different from perception. And what we perceive in a moment's time is, for all intents and purposes, that moment's reality and it can bring life-changing or even life-ending consequences.

Small wonder, then, that Paul was so adamant in his exhortations to the church at Ephesus.

"But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these things are improper for the God's holy people...

"Be very careful, therefore, how you live -- not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil." Ephesians 5:3, 15, 16 (NIV)