Be a Fellow Man

They dress the wound of my people as thought it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace. Jeremiah 6:14 NIV

I’ve sat down and started on this article/rant/whatever twice already. And deleted everything. Cause it sucked. Things started going in a direction that was self-indulgent and whiny. Please, if I’m ever whiny, kick my ass.

I met a woman a couple of days ago. Ginger and I were buying a dresser from her, a piece for my wife’s business. At first, this lady frustrated me a little. We drove an hour to get there; it was that kind of piece, according to my wife. And when we show up this lady says the dresser is at her storage facility, which is just across the street. So we get in our truck, and she gets in hers…and we sit, waiting.

Is she going to drive? What is she doing?, Oh, there she goes, she’s backing out now. Oh, wait, now she’s rolling her window down and talking with a neighbor…

Finally, after another fiasco at the gate to the storage place, which was not her but some dude in front of her who couldn’t remember his gate code, we pull in and get to moving stuff around so I can get the dresser out and loaded in my truck.

While I was securing the dresser and mirror that came with it, I listened as her and my wife talked back and forth. Come to find out, this lady, a burdened woman, has a husband who is a veteran and is currently paralyzed on one side of his body due to some strokes. She was at the VA with him earlier in the day.

The reason that she is selling the dresser, and a lot of other stuff, is because they are moving to the East Coast to be closer to their children due to the issues with his health. And this lady is having to handle most of this all on her own, until one son arrives later this month to help finish up. Oh, and both of her boys are in the Army, just like their old man, one a Green Beret, the other 82nd Airborne. Bad asses, both of them. But I’m sure this mom has spent some days and nights worried out of her mind for both of them.

I mentioned my frustration earlier; now, I feel honored just to meet her. She’s a hero, and she doesn’t even know it.

Right as I finish up securing the load, she’s telling my wife the story of how for days nothing that she’d listed was selling. Then, in the last two days, everything is selling, and she’s praising God for the blessing. Cause money is tight, and they’ve struggled to pay their rent and without the help of their boys they wouldn’t be able to move to where they are so the family can all rally around and support them.

I instantly move close, ask her what her name is and her husband. After she tells me, I ask if I may pray for her, and when she says yes, I take her by her hand and pray for healing, provision, a safe and trouble free move, and His blessing on them both and their boys. I’d have offered money, but if you’ve read my last post, you’d know that we are currently not doing much better, so prayer it is, which is probably worth more than our money anyway.

We part ways shortly after, she thanks me for the prayer and seems a little shaken by it. Like, shaken in that “I can’t believe a stranger just prayed for me and I’m not sure how to process it” way. She’s a Christian, and I’m the first to pray with her through this whole ordeal. She’s married to a vet, has two sons currently serving, and I’m the first to pray with her through this whole ordeal. Their current landlord is pushing them to move out as soon as possible, and I’m the first to pray with her through this whole ordeal.

This is BS. And it is sadly the state of affairs in our culture, both inside of and outside of the church.



This has to change.

Listen to me; we have got to start taking care of each other. Doesn’t matter if we know each other, if you’re a Christian, or if I am, or whatever. We are people. You are my fellow man, and hopefully either currently are, or soon will be, my brother or sister in Christ. If we don’t take care of each other, even with prayer and a friendly hand on a shoulder, or take a stressed out, fearful mom and wife by the hand and offer a prayer, then we are dead.

Take people’s hearts seriously, as you would want your own to be handled. One of the best quotes I ever heard was an admonishment to be kind cause everyone is fighting a hard battle. We have all had to fight. We’ve all lost some, and won some, and lost again, receiving wound after wound after wound. Take the wounds that we all bear seriously, be sorrowful at what happened to you and each other. And offer to pray with each other, for healing and blessing and whatever the need is, regardless of where. No advice, just prayer and hugs, and compassion. How many times have you heard someone say that just knowing someone cared saved their life that day, helped lift them, kept them going? Come on.

The government is not going to take care of us: while it should care for our vets, it's not supposed to take care of you or I. And you sadly cannot count on “someone else” coming along either. Cause damn, we are all cowards now, too afraid to offend anyone.

Cut it out. Get some spine. Grow a pair. And show some love. You’ll save the world.

Be blessed, be strong…Jason.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

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