I'm looking forward to relaxing in the jacuzzi, soaking away the residue of the day. But then I open my email and find three pleas for help.
A woman writes about her alcoholic brother who's in jail. He needs help. He has no money. No job or other resources. Can we help? I tell her we can and how to get him in.
A father writes from a distant state. His son is an addict who's stolen from him and his family over and over. He's "a good boy" but the family is tired of him and his drug use. He wonders if he buys him a bus ticket will we accept him. I tell him to send his son, that we have a lot of people just like him.
The last email is from an opiate and pill user who's fallen several times and injured herself so badly she's had more than one surgery. She likes to mix alcohol with the drugs. She says her life is "a shambles." I call her number but there's no answer. So I send an email and let her know we'll help.
So after a long day I have the privilege of being able to help. Messages like these remind me of the chaos I created in the lives of those around me. Of the pain I inflicted on others because of my self-centeredness.
So I close out my day in gratitude because God has allowed me to be an instrument of change.
