The Church

A friend of mine is going through an extremely hard time right now. Truthfully, he's had a hard life, in my opinion, but right now is an especially difficult time to have his circumstances.

He and I get along really well. Always have. We have a few things in common, namely that we are both emotionally-driven males and we both are very uncomfortable with small talk. Within seconds, it seems, we go from "heyhowyadoin" to talking about our deepest wounds, fears, and struggles. And, like with several of my friends, it is that way whether we just talked the other day or it's been months since our last conversation. I love that.

We spent several hours together on Saturday night. My wife and kids were out and about, and he had no place else to go, so it was a good fit.

There are a couple specific realities in his life that are every bit as painful as anything I've ever experienced. To be truthful, his current realities are probably more painful than anything I've ever experienced. One of the situations is absolutely not caused by his actions. One of the situations is arguably caused by his actions, though certainly not fully.

We agreed that God is allowing these realities to exist in his life, whether he is guilty or not. He asked the valid question, "why is God allowing me to hurt this bad?"

Dang. That's a good question. I wish I had a good answer. I wish I could give him words that numbed the pain. I wish I could step in and do something, do anything, that would give him some solace, some refuge from these storms that inflict pain upon him night and day.

But I can't. All I can do is just be there. I can sit with him and try to make the lonliness of an idle Saturday night a little less lonely. I can sit with him and try to make the uncomfortable silence of a quiet Saturday night a little less uncomfortable.

I am the church, and this is my job. This is my responsibility. It is an honor to be entrusted with this. It is hard, but it is right.