CSI and Relationships, Part 2

Warrick has the tendency like some of us to try to internalize all his struggles and usually ends up spiraling out of control because he has no healthy vent for the angst he feels. Having just been separated (divorced?) from his wife, he's experiencing all kinds of emotional pain, on top of which he's had a bad day at work. In order to "stay on top of his job" Warrick starks popping pills to keep alert. Enter Nick, who noting that Warrick has also been downing pills so he can sleep through the night, seizes the pills and discards them in the trash, prompting a near heated moment between the CSIs (friends?). Warrick tells Nick to mind his own business but the latter refuses to back down and let Warrick handle his problems in his own way. It's really fairly riveting because of their near fight but also because Nick becomes very emotional (nearly tearing up) and because Warrick finally recognizes that Nick is right and essentially admits his need for help.

What strikes me about this encounter is how true to life this episode is. Many of us do try to cope with problems--or bury them--by turning to addictive agents (chemical or otherwise); we resist calling out for help, even to the point of lashing out at those who come to our aid. Strangely enough we have an acute awareness of our problems, which cause us to turn to all kinds of "cures," but we are extremely upset when someone else, even (especially?) friends, acknowledge our problem and need as Nick does Warrick's. In fact, our actions seem to suggest that we don't really want friends to be the sort that know the deepest recesses of our hearts.

Also interesting to me here is Nick's involvement both because of what he does and what it demonstrates about his character. First, he doesn't care how Warrick wants (on a superficial level?) him to respond, but rather how Warrick needs him as a friend to respond. Nick realizes that real love should compel him to reach beyond the sort of help that the drugs provide--insofar as they really act only to temporarily dull and distract from the pain--and intervene in illuminating the real problem. (Granted, Nick really only shows Warrick that he has a problem and needs to avoid the abusive relief that the medication might provide, and he doesn't go much beyond this; but this is, after all, only television, so what can we expect.) Second, we see that what at times seem to be a character flaw in Nick--his annoying habit of empathizing with those involved in cases he's investigating--here shines forth in a heroic way. He is relentless in his concern for Warrick even up to a willingness to come to blows.

As a Christian committed to Jesus Christ, I have to ask myself whether I've forged friendships with others seeking to walk the same path of obedience that are equally committed as Nick and Warrick's is, as illustrated in this episode. What does this even look like? Being bound to Christ in my estimation also means being bound to others who are also bound to him. This involves us in a mutual commitment to seeing God's kingdom evinced in our lives and sometimes, perhaps under only very specific circumstances, this might require that we intervene in very uncomfortable ways--and possibly against our brother/sister's desires--out of love. I'm not sure that I either engage my Christian friends with such accountability or allow myself to be thus engaged. How is such a relationship forged, I wonder, and what biblical principles invigorate it?