“Cone unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
The phone call came in to our church office yesterday afternoon. The caller was a man with a Polish last name (I could see the name on the Caller I.D.) I won’t use his real name here; I will call him “Fred”. Fred does not live in Framingham, but he does live in a community which borders Framingham. Fred initially wanted some information about our church.
“Well, it’s pretty small,” I told him.
“HOW small?” he pressed.
Usually when people learn how small and limited our church is they quickly start making excuses and hang up. Fred didn’t. I asked Fred how he happened to call our church. It seems an old friend of his from western Massachusetts attends and Assemblies of God church and gave him the information from our national church directory. Fred proceeded to talk and talk and talk and talk. The call quickly turned into a counseling session and I was the therapist. Ironically, counseling is the thing I LEAST like about pastoring. I usually do very little counseling, preferring to refer people to professional counseling centers.
Fred is an older, retired man. I asked his age, and was surprised to hear 68. I would have guessed he was at least 78. Obviously, I can’t break any confidences and I don’t want to give away who this man is, but he’s hard a difficult life and many serious problems. Usually, callers like Fred turn out to be “takers” and “users” but I did not sense that at all about him. Rather, he was a lonely and confused older man, at the end of his rope, desperately looking for someone to just listen and be a friend. Fred has both a Catholic and Lutheran background. He obviously has “religion up to his ears but does not have Christ in his heart” as the saying goes. Years ago, I would have done some “hard line witnessing” to him, forcing him to “pray the Sinner’s prayer”. I’ve long since learned that’s a very bad approach. It’s far better to just be a friend to someone; to LISTEN to them; and to try to offer help when you can. After Fred’s litany of problems, I did offer some suggestions. He was very grateful. You’d think I’d have given him a million dollars. I didn’t think I did much at all, but that’s how desperate this guy was.
The call went on for almost an hour. Will Fred ever come to our church? I don’t know, but I think he will. Will Fred be led into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ rather than just a religion? Again, I don’t know, but I think he will.
After I hung up, I found myself in a reflective mood. I really “didn’t have time” to talk to Fred, but I did it anyway. On Friday, I was a bit depressed. NOT severely depressed or anything like that....just more like in a “blue funk”. There are several frustrating personal problems I’m struggling with. There are some problems in the church that are a struggle. There’s one...no two families in the church right now with major personal problems. There are also some very needy people in our church. My wife and her friend spent hours trying to help one of those needy people this week, and I spent some time with another. Yesterday in prayer I told God there are some “impossible” problems in my personal life and in the church I pastor that really need fixing...that really need MIRACLES.
Then, Fred called.
Do you think God was trying to help me put things in perspective? ....maybe like the guy who was complaining that he had no shoes until he met a man with no feet?
It’s now around 20 hours later, but I’m still reflecting about that voice on the phone...
The phone call came in to our church office yesterday afternoon. The caller was a man with a Polish last name (I could see the name on the Caller I.D.) I won’t use his real name here; I will call him “Fred”. Fred does not live in Framingham, but he does live in a community which borders Framingham. Fred initially wanted some information about our church.
“Well, it’s pretty small,” I told him.
“HOW small?” he pressed.
Usually when people learn how small and limited our church is they quickly start making excuses and hang up. Fred didn’t. I asked Fred how he happened to call our church. It seems an old friend of his from western Massachusetts attends and Assemblies of God church and gave him the information from our national church directory. Fred proceeded to talk and talk and talk and talk. The call quickly turned into a counseling session and I was the therapist. Ironically, counseling is the thing I LEAST like about pastoring. I usually do very little counseling, preferring to refer people to professional counseling centers.
Fred is an older, retired man. I asked his age, and was surprised to hear 68. I would have guessed he was at least 78. Obviously, I can’t break any confidences and I don’t want to give away who this man is, but he’s hard a difficult life and many serious problems. Usually, callers like Fred turn out to be “takers” and “users” but I did not sense that at all about him. Rather, he was a lonely and confused older man, at the end of his rope, desperately looking for someone to just listen and be a friend. Fred has both a Catholic and Lutheran background. He obviously has “religion up to his ears but does not have Christ in his heart” as the saying goes. Years ago, I would have done some “hard line witnessing” to him, forcing him to “pray the Sinner’s prayer”. I’ve long since learned that’s a very bad approach. It’s far better to just be a friend to someone; to LISTEN to them; and to try to offer help when you can. After Fred’s litany of problems, I did offer some suggestions. He was very grateful. You’d think I’d have given him a million dollars. I didn’t think I did much at all, but that’s how desperate this guy was.
The call went on for almost an hour. Will Fred ever come to our church? I don’t know, but I think he will. Will Fred be led into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ rather than just a religion? Again, I don’t know, but I think he will.
After I hung up, I found myself in a reflective mood. I really “didn’t have time” to talk to Fred, but I did it anyway. On Friday, I was a bit depressed. NOT severely depressed or anything like that....just more like in a “blue funk”. There are several frustrating personal problems I’m struggling with. There are some problems in the church that are a struggle. There’s one...no two families in the church right now with major personal problems. There are also some very needy people in our church. My wife and her friend spent hours trying to help one of those needy people this week, and I spent some time with another. Yesterday in prayer I told God there are some “impossible” problems in my personal life and in the church I pastor that really need fixing...that really need MIRACLES.
Then, Fred called.
Do you think God was trying to help me put things in perspective? ....maybe like the guy who was complaining that he had no shoes until he met a man with no feet?
It’s now around 20 hours later, but I’m still reflecting about that voice on the phone...
2 comments:
wow...very interesting
who has no feet??
can i meet this footless man? maybe he should get them wooden feet people wear
Post a Comment