An Unscheduled Work Stoppage

In Sunday School the other day we were looking at the book of Hebrews. We've been going over it for several weeks now and were finally on the last chapter. We focused on the first three verses of chapter 13. The are as follows:

1. Keep on loving each other as brothers. 2. Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. 3. Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.

I'm not going to go into a big long dissertation about all we talked about during our class but there are a few things that stuck out from the discussion. I was "bothered" by the part of entertaining strangers. I always have felt guilty for not doing enough things like stopping and helping stranded people on the side of the road or picking up hitchhikers. We talked about that and other thoughts people had regarding the topic. Then one of the guys in class said something that really stuck with me. He basically brought up the point that any time that we are gracious to strangers, are empathetic to others problems and plights, are willing to treat others with kindness in a public setting, or really perform any other act of decency, then we are "entertaining strangers" in the spirit of what the Hebrews writer was getting at. What a brilliant notion. I had never thought of it like that before. I couldn't wait to try that out. Little did I know that my opportunity would come just two days later.

Today on the way to a lunch meeting my boss got a call from a guy that used to work with us a few years ago and a few companies ago. He said that he wanted to come by our office and let my boss look over a list of things and a resume for a job he was applying for. That seems benign enough, except this guy can get you wrapped up in an hour conversation about a twenty second topic. My wife would say I'm guilty of that as well. Anyway, I digress. So all I could think about was how the productivity of my afternoon was completely shot and I was sure to get absolutely nothing done with him in the office. The guy showed up at our place at 1 o'clock and didn't leave until right at 5. And needless to say, I got NOTHING done. But I am so glad I didn't. When this guy came in he began to tell us what he had been doing since he lost his job in Florida a few months ago. For the next few hours my boss and I sat and listened to him tell us how he has been helping clean up his parents house three days a week at a time because his mother has pretty severe Alzheimer's disease. Her house is literally covered in piles of stuff that ranges from wedding china to old Subway wrappers all intermingled because she doesn't remember what is what or where it goes. My friend sat and got choked up as he told about how his mother had been taken from him and how she can't remember anything that has happened recently. At other times he sat and sobbed almost uncontrollably as he told us of his emotional roller coaster where there were times when his mom would do things so strange that he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Today he did both. Not only was this guy dealing with not having a job anymore, but now he was going back and forth to his parents house in Augusta, GA several times a week, sleeping on the floor in utter filth because he couldn't get to the furniture or the beds because of all the "projects" that his poor mother was working on. All I could do was try and walk him through his broken thoughts and stories as the emotions poured out from him and do my dead level best to "entertain" this burdened soul for a few hours. When the day had come to an end, I hadn't gotten any work done, but hopefully I had provided a little comfort and much needed companionship. And like verse 3 says, "I will remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners..." And I will remember my friend in my prayers as he continues to face his "prison" located somewhere in Augusta, GA that looks at lot like his childhood home.