I happened to be in our local Emergency Room last night when I spotted a friend who had been brought in for treatment.
(Yes, I hang out in the ER – but only because my wife works there)
I went over to talk to this friend (who I’ll call Bob, to protect his identity) to find out what he was in for and if I could help in any way.
Bob told me this:
I have no reason left to live.
Bob’s reasons for feeling like there was nothing left but to ‘go home,’ as he put it, were quite compelling and certainly would have made life seem bleak for most people, were they in the same boat as him.
I didn’t try to give him any ‘wonder-cure’ answers because there is only one wonder-cure for people in his position – the grace of God. So I went straight to the top and talked to the creator of the universe for him, right there in the ER hallway.
I’ve been praying for him regularly ever since and truly believe that God can pull him up out of the mire he is currently in. Something occurred to me though, as I have been thinking him sitting there all alone in the ER:
This is where the Church is.
The Church isn’t just the happy people
This blog is about rediscovering the Church, rediscovering who they are, where they are and how they’ve been gifted by God. Yesterday I rediscovered that we often somehow forget that the Church, our brothers and sisters in Christ are to be found in ER’s, mental hospitals, nursing homes, AA meetings, rehab centers, under bridges and in a million other undesirable places.
It’s convenient for us to forget or ignore that our family is a broken, hurting family. We gloss over the pain with easy-to-say statements about God making us whole and fixing all our our problems and so often ignore the fact that God doesn’t always do everything instantly, he takes the time to teach us and build us and he gives us responsibility to care for and help our family as they growing, learn and are refined and tested.
There’s a possibility that our family will be one member less today because Bob could end up taking his own life. Yet there he is, silently falling apart alone, tears running down his face as a 100 Million prayer warriors pray for the lost while they unknowingly lose one of their own.
How many others are there out there right now hurting, collapsing and dying while the very family they were reborn into rejects and ignores them for being ‘dirty’ or ‘back sliders’ or ‘sinners’?
How many Christians are out there alone and lost because no-one’s ever taken the time to get to know them and care?
How many ‘Bob’s’ will die today without us lifting a hand or a prayer to help them?
How many?
awesome message , awesome reminder!! thanks Peter.
I posted a coment where'd it go??
anyways it just simpley said
Awesome message. Awesome reminder.
I'll pray for Bob. we may not know his true identity and really thats not whats important but God KNOWS and thats what is 🙂
Thanks, Erin.
Intense Debate decided your original comment was spam. I guess it was hungry 🙂
How many?
Too many.
Aye!
Too often the Bobs in our churches are not seen, noticed or looked for. Stumbling across Bob in the ER is another example that they often suffer in secret. What it's going to take to find the Bob's is more than opening your eyes, but building relationships so you'll know when others are hurting. Community.
Thanks for the reminder.
It's so easy in 'church' to gravitate toward the people who are 'respectable' (in many churches, the middle-class white folk) and inadvertently shun everyone else.
Likewise, it's easy to distance yourself from people when they start hurting… why do we do that?
ow. thank you for this. i've been the forgotten one. it always amazes me when someone remembers. always.
There are two many forgotten ones – and I'm sorry that you were (or are) one of them.
We need to all be more purposeful in seeking out the forgotten ones!
How many? Way too many for sure.Praying that I take this to heart and look closer at those around me
and ask the Father for insight on how to minister to them. Thanks for reminding us.
Blessings,
Jya
Thanks, Jya 🙂
Praying for Bob, and all the Bobs out there. I believe God led you to him at that moment. Be sure to follow up with him as soon as you can. Sit down with him and listen. Let him lay it all out on you. And pray, pray, pray.
This is one battle ground I haven’t yet faced, but I know it’s out there. Thank you for being there to minister to him the best you can.
It was definitely divine intervention. We were at the ER taking a birthday cake to one of the nurses and my wife suggested I stay in the car with the baby while she ran in and delivered the cake.
For some reason I decided I wanted to go in – and I'm so glad I did.
Privacy and Confidentiality laws mean that my wife can't tell me about any of her patients unless they expressly give her permission to do so, but I get the feeling she's seen 'Bob' in there a couple of times recently.
Um….I thought you said you didn't have anything to write about. This was wonderful. You were there for Bob, and I can't help but think that was a Divine intervention.
Wow, Pete, powerful stuff. I love the '100 million prayer warriors' paragraph ('love' in the sense of 'was deeply moved and challenged by').
It prompted me to get in touch with someone in my church who was fearful of being made homeless tomorrow. I told her I'd pray for her and ask around to see if I could help, but never quite got round to it. She's fine, but disgruntled with the church because apparently I'm not the only one who didn't help in her time of need.
This is part of a pattern, and not entirely my responsibility, but I could have done more than I did. I'm taking these things as a gentle nudge from God and trying to learn the lesson.
Thanks!
To paraphrase something my little brother used to say 'You're a well done person'!!
Thanks Jen.
… and I must say, you're a proper living person!
"Yet there he is, silently falling apart alone, tears running down his face as a 100 Million prayer warriors pray for the lost while they unknowingly lose one of their own."
This is my favorite post by you so far, sir. Gives me inspiration to step out of my comfort box and help someone today.
Thanks, Duane
Very challenging post Peter! Lots to think about here!
I appreciate you stopping by and commenting, Kevin!
Peter, I've never seen a time when so many believers are being as discouraged as people who don't have Jesus.
I'm convinced we're reaching the very end because of how strenuously the enemy is attacking Christians with the message that our lives aren't valuable or that we are impotent. We need to stand together. We need to remain grateful for the Lord's blessings, because in seeing those blessings our eyes are taken from our troubles, no matter how bad they are.
We are a family. We need to uphold one another. I hope you know that even if I'm not commenting on your blog every post, or even reading every word of every post, I know that you see and feel the struggles, Peter.
Neither you nor I nor Bob nor is alone.
I have lived it….a wounded, wormy, frightened sheep crouching out in the far field, dying in despair… while the under-shepherds are at the "sale barn". Seems bringing new ones in is more exiting than the day to day tending of the ones already there….
If we as a church would "tend the flock".. the flock would be healthy enough to multiply itself.
Sadly, too many of God's sheep just fade away out in the back 40 because no one will seek, find, mend, nourish, and restore…..too much work–or, maybe, we think once you're "IN" –God does all that —supernaturally, I guess??? On my farm it takes my legs, my arms and my eyes to feed my sheep. While feeding them I notice if one has a bloody spot or is too skinny or stands off aways…I go find out why and fix it …that's what a shepherd is supposed to do. Jesus said" Feed my sheep". I have been that wormy sheep and barely made it. back….me and my little ones.
I pray I wont let one die out there alone if I can help it. Thanks for reminding me of my assignment today.
wormy ~ I'm with you. There is a time and place for evangelism. But to what kind of sheepfold are we bringing new members? The Great Commission isn't all about the excitement of giving birth. It's about nurturing and discipling and sacrificing for the flock. Jesus said, "Go and make disciples …" —not go and make converts.