Be someone’s George~

It wasn’t me. It really wasn’t me, although it could have been. Two places I wasn’t at today. One was at a funeral in Indiana. I kind of wanted to go. I thought very highly of the gentleman: He had helped me out years ago when I needed some advice. But it wasn’t me that was at the celebration service in Indiana.

It also wasn’t me standing in the medium on Hwy 63 in handcuffs. We just happened to come up on the scene too late to witness what happened. Four squad cars and policeman, a pair of handcuffs and an officer putting a gun in a zip lock baggie. It wasn’t me, although it could have been. Either one could have been me. I could have lived my life and went on to eternity. I could have been running from the law and met my match by being cornered at the corner of Hwy 63 and Hwy 14. Either situation has its challenges. If I am in the casket, my life is over. If I am standing in handcuffs, my life as I knew it is over.

There are some things I cannot control in life. As much as I would like to think I can control life, there are some things I just don’t have any power over. Death is one. When my time here is over, I won’t have an option. I do have a choice how to live the life I have here. That decision making process is how I have so far in my life avoided being in cuffs at the corner of a busy intersection. God gives me many moments in life to redeem myself. George, the man who passed, helped me do that many many years ago. As I think back on the man standing surrounded by officers, I wondered if he had someone in his life like George to help redeem his decision making process, would he have been in a different place in time at 1 p.m. today in Rochester?

George helped many people redeem their decision making process. It wasn’t just me. Later this afternoon I listened to the celebration service, live streamed from Indiana and was thankful that for one day many years ago, I called George. A few hundred miles later, we connected for a day and talked. When the one son talked about his driving, I could agree it was a bit different than the way I was used to. When they referred to the places he liked to eat, we ate at two of them that day. I seldom had two meals when I was on the road. I had two meals within 7 hours time spent with George.

What if we, would redeem someone’s decision making process and took the time to listen, to take to lunch, to listen, to take to supper and listen some more? That’s what George did for me. Listened, reworded, is this what you meant, have you looked at it this way, and by the end of the night, two meals, Wednesday night church and a sermon later, I had been blessed because George took the time to listen and cared about where I was in my life at that moment. What if that young man had a George? Perhaps he did. Perhaps he had opportunities to change the projection of his life? Perhaps he did, but just maybe he needed two meals, and a lot of questions?

Be a George to someone. There are plenty of people who just need a friend. George could have said when I called him and asked if we could talk, he was too busy. He could have said he was a preacher and had to study. He could have, but he didn’t. I had to make the phone call. I had to make the effort, but something I had seen in him, knew that he would be willing to be there. The rest would take care of itself. George called last year. We talked a couple times. An honor and a blessing to go back in the years of memories and enjoy catching up.

The young man at the corner of Hwy 63 and Hwy 14? I hope he has a George he can call to help him walk through some decisions he may be facing.