Life Experiences Lead To Greater Life Experiences

I have an old friend, Fred, who has be a hero to me for a very long time. The kind of guy you want your daughter to married. Good looking, fun, athletic, loves God, loves others, and is purposeful.

Fred lost his wife a few years ago. It broke my heart when I heard about it. Things like that shouldn't happen to people like Fred, but when they do there is always a reason, so after reading this e-mail from Fred I knew i must share it with all. It's content didn't surprise me.

From: Fred Davis /fdavisff@embarqmail.com>
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 2010 18:15:23 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Life's lesson

Today on the way home I stopped by the supermarket to pick up a few items needed for the house for the rest of the week. As I was putting them in my Jeep I was approached by a man who said that he used to work there and had lost 50 pounds due to chemotherapy. He did look rather thin, and my heart went out to him because I know the effect that chemotherapy had on my wife Vickie as she went through chemotherapy 3 years ago. He finally came out and said that he was hungry and I knew that he needed a few bucks to get something to eat. I always keep a $5 bill in my glove compartment in case I see a homeless person on the side of the road that has a sign saying "Homeless and Hungry" (etc.). Who knows, they might be, but it's not for me to judge. So I gave the guy the $5 and went on my way not knowing whether he was truly hungry or just wanted to buy some beer.The point is if he was truly out of work due to the hard economic times and being on chemotherapy he reverted back to where he felt comfortable - at the place where "he used to work". Quite often we do that - revert back to a place or situation where at one time we felt comfortable. I know that since my wife passed away I've never felt more comfortable than when I go to the gym and work out or play racquetball because growing up I was so into sports that is where I felt the most comfortable. If we ingrain ourselves to revert back to our true comfort (in my case it's the scriptures that I learned as a youth) then we feel comfortable in times of crisis. Please don't misinterpret this as bragging but rather as a confession what I've relied on the past several years to get me through the nights, weeks and months of tough times since Vickie passed away. My hope and prayer is that through this maybe someone can take comfort in the fact the we all resort back to what truly makes us feel comfortable and secure - and for those of us who are Christians it's the fact that no matter what, everything is meant for a purpose (even though we can't see or don't know why) as expressed in Romans 8:28.

Fred


Thanks Fred!