I have this friend who was homeless for a long time, moved out of state who is now doing well with housing and meetings and all. I haven’t heard from for a while, but he called me the other day. I saw his name on the caller ID, but I was busy, so I let it go. He called me again about an hour later, and I was in a meeting and so I let it go. I knew that he just wanted to chat my ear off, so I didn’t worry about it. But then he called me again and again, each time I was in the midst of something else.
He literally called me for days. I thought he might be boasting that Obama got elected (whom he was supporting), and didn’t worry too much about it.
Finally, yesterday, I got around to calling him back. He said, almost immediately, “Steve are you okay?”
I told him I was fine and asked why.
“The other day I had a dream about you. You were in your large chair and crying. I wouldn’t have thought about it, but the next night I had exactly the same dream. I think that if I have a repeated dream, then it’s something to be concerned about, so I started calling you. Are you sure you’re okay? When you didn’t call back, I thought there must be something wrong.”
I said, “I’m really tired, as usual, but I’m okay.”
And then I felt ashamed because I thought he was calling to use up what little energy I had, but in reality he was calling to minister to me. Eventually, if you give and give, people will give back, not because they want to pay back but because they really care.
It’s good to know I have friends who care.
