Like many of you I’ve been unable to escape the constant media attention given to the Tiger Woods scandal. Does it seem ironic to anyone else that the media is giving Tiger such a hard time for living out the lifestyle they portray on almost every single television show they air?

But to be honest, my problem isn’t with the media outlets. They’re just doing what they do. Feeding ratings.

My problem isn’t with the sponsors who are either ditching Tiger or standing beside him. They’re just doing what they do. Making money.

My problem is with the millions of Christians (including myself) who have jumped right in and used this as an opportunity to throw stones.

I thought my friend, Mike Foster, wrote an absolutely amazing blog post on this topic a couple days ago. I couldn’t agree more with his suggestions (#3 alone I will never forget).

As People of the Second Chance, here are a few of my suggestions:

1. You have so many words that you can share in a day. Decide whether they will be about blessing or cursing someone.

2. When someone is caught in a scandal, I visualize two buckets that I can fill. I can add to the “Shame Bucket” or the “Second Chance Bucket.” Sometimes my first/easy/fun/human nature response is to fill the “Shame Bucket” so I have to work harder not to do that.

3. For all you online peeps…write your articles, blogs, tweets, and comments as if the person in crisis (and their family) were reading it. Why? Because they do! And the jokes, snarky comments, sloppy facts and flippant remarks hurt people. Instead, devote your computer keyboard to the restoration of people.

4. Refuse to participate in the gossip session around the water cooler. Or better yet, jump in and turn the conversation towards grace and second chances. BTW, just plan on being called a “buzz kill” and not invited back to any more social functions.

5. Realize we are either part of the judgment problem or the grace solution. But we can’t be both. So choose wisely.

What are your thoughts?