Unexpected Ministry Opportunities

Sometimes we get ministry opportunities in ways we're not expecting.

Recently while writing a magazine piece, I sent off a couple hundred old family slides to be scanned. Some of them were of me and Liz. She was Wife #2 (of 4) and we were married for three years. A young woman (I'll call her Susan) sent e-mail and asked what happened to Elizabeth and me. Why did we divorce?

The question really got me thinking. I didn't exactly know why. I wrote back:

“Liz and I loved each other dearly. Look at the looks in our eyes in those pictures! Even after we split up, we loved each other. We even got together and spent the night together once. It was lovely. I love her now. Always have. So why did we split?

“Dern! I don't know. We just couldn't get along. But that's not really a good reason if you love someone, is it? Neither of us was abusive. No drunken rages. No vicious arguments. We just couldn't get along.

“So why did Liz and I split?

“I guess 'cause I was an a**hole.”

And I clicked “Send” and didn't think too much about it. But Susan e-mailed me right back:

“Have you ever helped someone and not known it? You did today. I won't go into details, but through your experiences, you've opened my eyes to what's going on presently in my life and changed the perspective immensely. Thanks for being open with me.”

And it was so nice of Susan to say so!

And a dear friend from my former job let me know that her father just died. He'd had lung cancer.

I wrote her back and all I said was: “You did everything right.”

After Lois died, someone said that to me and it meant more than all the inane “She's in a better place” horsecrap. Or “She's sitting in the arms of Jesus.”

Yeah, yeah, I know. But death isn't about the dead, you know. I mean, they're out of the loop! It's about those of us left. We're the ones who are hurting.

Next time someone around you has a death of someone dear, just hug them and say, “You're going to be fine. You did everything right.”

Even if they didn't. Lie a little! It wouldn't kill you.