ice

The always wise Pa Ingalls once said.  "Everything evens out in life.  The rich man gets his ice in the summer and the poor man gets his ice in the winter."  I keep wondering about that after two unique visits, two very different lives, in one morning, on one Oncology wing hall.

Bruce is in room 5.  He invites me in and boisterously engages in conversation.  I ask him how long he has lived here, and soon he tells me that he has been homeless for many years.  He happened to be visiting an aquaintance who worked at a nearby hotel when he suffered a seizure.  While in the emergency room he learned that he had cancer.  He is enjoying some stability with a sure bed and meals while he is here.  He talked about how hard it is not to know what the future holds and how we have the chance each day to be grateful for what we have.  I tell him I am struggling with that too. He admits to being scared.  I know that feeling.  He jumps at the offer of prayer.

Paul is in room 8.  He waves me in but is not very chattery.  I learn that he is the retired president of a large company in this area.  I ask about how long he has lived here, and he tells me about retiring after years of being president of a large local company.  His only time away was a military stint in Europe and overseas vacation travel.  I ask if he got to sight see at all in Europe and he mentions visiting the Castle Chillon in Switzerland in 1945 that I had visited in 1998.  We compare notes.  He lets his guard down and soon is talking about living with a terminal diagnoisis and how his faith commuinity is help sustaining him.  He says he is weary.  I know that feeling.  He lets me pray for him.

President, Homeless, Chaplain.  As different as three people can be.  Yet not really so different at all.  All under this same roof on this same day with our challenges.

In Blue Like Jazz, Donald Miller writes about our common ground.  "I can't explain how freeing that was, to realize that if I met Jesus, He would like me. ...I kept identifying with the people He loved, which was really good, because they were all the broken people, you know? The kind of people who are tired of life and want to be done with it, or they are desperate people, people who are outcasts or pagans."

This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus?  Matthew 5:45