There was a middle-aged gentleman that recently moved into our apartment complex. We’d see him walking his dog and we felt like we should invite him over for dinner. We didn’t really know why other than he always seemed alone and we assumed the holidays might be difficult for him. Last night was the only night we had available before we leave again for the holidays. So we asked him over and he happily accepted.
Within the first 10 minutes of our conversation, we learned that he is only 49 years old and that the doctors have only given him 1 to 6 months to live. My heart went out to him. He was keeping a good attitude and had a surprisingly good outlook on life despite his difficult situation. He lives alone with his dog because 20 years ago his wife left him after he got sick. He has hospice care and can’t work, so he just stays home with his dog most of the time. The bright spot is that his 22-year-old daughter still comes by to visit him fairly regularly.
I was so glad that I had taken the time to deviate from our usual routine to reach out to him. I was able to share how God miraculously healed me as a child, talked with him about Jesus and offered to give him a ride to Victory with us every week. It ends up that he was one of the first responders the night that pastor Billy Joe and Sharon’s house burned down. He met pastor Sharon that night after the fire and I think either gave John or Paul some oxygen. His memory was a little foggy but he remembers the night. Now I’m hoping we can return the favor by the members of Victory being the first responders for his soul. I was able to pray for healing for him and I believe something happened in his body. I was also able to begin an ongoing friendship with him. He wants to go to church, but just always felt awkward going by himself when he didn’t know anyone. I’m hoping he will join us next Monday.
There are hurting people all around us every day. Be willing to stop and take stock of your surroundings, past the tunnel vision of your daily routine, and take that spontaneous step of reaching out to a stranger. You may change their eternity. Once we reach the end of our lives our job, the type of car we drove, the size of our house, or the number of Instagram followers we had is all going to be utterly meaningless. The only thing that’s going to matter is how many of those spontaneous moments focused on reaching others did we create.
Pray for Gavin!
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