A resurrection of sorts...

I saw him standing in the hall. Head hung low. Sunken eyes. Pale skin. He looked as though he was on the verge of collapse. I knew he had been sick for the past several days, bad enough to miss work. And for this guy, that is saying something. I figured he had been hit with a bad cold, or stomach flu, or something like that. I wasn't wrong. But there was more to the story...

"Continue with the story then!""Hey man, what are you doing out of the house? Shouldn't you be at home resting? You look like crap."

"Yeah, I just had to take care of a couple of things and then I'm gonna' head home..."

"Well, how are you feeling?"

...

"Not good bro."

...

He had been sick for a while. But it wasn't anything serious. The sickness wasn't the thing that had caused this friend of mine to look as though he was on the brink of death. He went on to tell me the details of the most recent events in his life, particularly what had transpired over the weekend with his father, who had recently been injured in a serious car accident.

This friend of mine had received a call over the weekend from his mother. She was at a stranger's house, a neighbor down the street. She had fled her home after her husband, my friend's father, "completely lost it". Over the past several months, he has lost his job, been in and out of the hospital, and had to mortgage his house to pay his medical bills. On this particular night, the father seemed to lose his mind and was destroying things around the house, threatening his wife, and threatening to take his own life. He told my friend's mom that he would burn down the house if she left.

My friend took his mother in, and headed over to try to talk some sense in to his ailing father. It did not go well. Heated words. More threats. And the father ultimately began hitting my friend, an ex-professional boxer. This old, ailing man was no physical threat for my friend who simply grabbed him and set him on the couch. But as my friend sat his father on the couch, he felt a biting pain on his arm. Literally. His father BIT him. Hard. Broke skin. Latched on ... would not let go.

How would that feel? Getting in to a physical altercation with your depressive, elderly father who is phsycially and mentally breaking down? Particularly after you have been caring for him for months on end.

My heart was crushed for my friend.

"Oh man. I am so sorry to hear that. I cannot even imagine. Listen... I want you to know that if there is anything I can do to help, I want to do it. Seriously."

"Thanks. But listen. It gets worse."

Ack... worse? Yes. It turns out that a close relative of my friend is a bad man. A known gang banger, murderous villain sort. The pitch-black sheep of the family.

"So I get a call from this guy and he says, 'Hey ... your dad called me. I hear that you went over and beat him up. Nobody gets away with that. You are gonna pay. You better watch your back. I'm sending people up your way.'"

Ok. This was sounding a little to Supranos-esque for me.

"What? Are you serious? I'm sure this is just somebody that is all fired up. He won't actually do anything would he?" (I mean, come on. We aren't on the playground anymore, ya know?)

Well, I don't want to bore you with the gory details here but suffice to say that the man making threats really WAS a bad man who could very well make good on what he was saying. My friend had already filed a police report. And now the look of death on his face was making a little more sense to me.

"Wow. What can I say man. Seriously, if you need anything, let me know."


I said goodbye, turned, and started on my way. As I left, I thought to myself, "Was that the best I can offer to him? This friend of mine who's family is crumbling around him, who's father is getting violent and threatening suicide, and my buddy who is now in fear for his life?"

I felt like I wanted to throw up. Then, I remembered, ... there was something more I could do. So I turned around and I did.

"Hey bro ... um ... can I pray with you?"

"(tears in his eyes) Sure. That would be great."

"Alright... lets pray.
God. You are such a mysterious God. We don't know what your plans are here. But ... God, I am just broken inside for my buddy. We just come before you, Lord, and lift our voices to you, asking that you cover my friend and his family. That you strengthen him and walk with him through whatever may come of all of this. God, it is our hope that this whole ugly mess can turn in to good. That my friend and all his family will look back at this in days to come and will find that it actually brought all of them closer together than ever before. ... Yes God. And God, I pray that I would know how to be a good friend during this time. And I hope that my friend would know in his heart that he can ask me for anything, and all that I have is his ... wether time or money or encouragement or just sharing a cup of coffee together. Please God, hear our cry. ...
We pray all of this in the name of the one in whom we hope, Jesus Christ.
Amen."

Each of us wiped our tears and then shared a warrior's embrace.

I realized at that moment that my faith is not as dead as I've thought.