i used to see

this man walk shirtless down the alley early summer mornings, collecting cans. 

i saw him every day.

one time i invited him to dinner. 

he turned me down. 

but a year later, he was living at the boiler room, sober, full of home, talking a blue streak, praying daily. he still collected cans, but he gave the money to the boiler room. 

he was baptized in our church. baptized and cleansed. 

then he left home and became homeless.

between that time and now he has been in and out and in and out of sobriety and drunken stupors. he is nearly always injured when i see him. injured and still talking. always talking. 

tomorrow he is going to take the open bed they're offering him at turning point rehabilitation center. the interns have been relentless in calling turning point to see if there is a spot for him. and today, there was. tomorrow, there will be.

he is ready. and we'll send him with hope and prayers. 

because though we know nothing about working with addicts, really, we've seen enough to know that hope is a perennial. it has to be. that in the face of relapse after relapse, it's tempting to feel foolish and give up. and when you find yourself thinking your friend will never change, you find also that you've turned your back on God. 

so we hope this time. in God. 

in God we trust.

we do.

pray with us for dave?

::jenn::

Comments

[Susan]

I will be praying for Dave. I'm so thankful God doesn't give up on us, and you haven't given up on Dave.

You know everything you need to know about working with addicts, cause God has called you to this work, and he is enabling you to do it. We aren't much different than anybody else, we need Jesus desperately.

love you deep

[Kristin Safford]

although i don't know your friend, my heart goes out to anyone who is in the darkness, feeling so alone they drink to cope. We are all like that, lost, on the edge, and hoping in the Turning Point experience he can get an unobstructed view of God.