Today, a 62-year-old homeless man sobbed on the phone to me. His dad died a few months ago and his estranged family, who lives 45 minutes away, needed his signatures to finalize Estate documents. So they met him early this morning where he’d slept all night…a gas station parking lot.
When the family arrived, they also gave my friend some old family pictures of him with his deceased parents.
He sat in his car overwhelmed with emotion. And the beer in his system only amplified it all. He’d called me last night asking for help. So I arranged for him to come work around Renovation Community’s building today, wash clothes, eat, and take a shower.
But he called to say he couldn’t come. Too much pain.
And…he called to cry. He called me because, to be honest, he doesn’t have many people he can call.
Most have grown tired of his dysfunctional ways. Understandably, his own family has little patience for him.
Even I have become increasingly strict with him, enforcing healthy boundaries on ways I will and won’t help. He needs much more than I can give.
But I could give him a few minutes on the phone. I could give him some sympathetic words on why it’s ok for an old Blue Collar Veteran to sob over a recently-deceased parent. And I could sincerely pray for him before the call ended.
A few minutes of my time. A few kind words. Prayer. Not much, but more than many others have given him. You can give that to someone, too.
Hurting people fill our world. Find them.
Stay in relationship with them. You can’t always give them what they request or need. But you can be patient with them. You can listen to them. And you can pray with them.
It’s not at all easy, but it is incredibly simple. Live such a life of steady kindness that they know who to call when they’re overwhelmed with pain.
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).