He cried
A friend celebrated his 55th birthday yesterday. He had a heart bypass some years ago and acquired a flesh-eating infection at the hospital and now suffers from CHF (Congestive heart failure). He sued the hospital and won, he bought a house and a big one, a big house where he lives ALONE.
When he talks, you can tell he has breathing difficulty and when he laughs, I worry he’d choke and stop breathing BUT he still manages to crack a joke now and then and make me laugh.
My birthday gift is a painting I did of his church but it’s arriving late. Yesterday, I and his other friends gathered at a room at yahoo to give him our warmest greetings. I sang him a birthday song that I didn’t think was even touchy at all, in the hope to cheer and encourage him but I wasn’t prepared for what he gave us back.
HE CRIED and we were all touched (touched that we’re healthier but fails to appreciate that). In between tears his words of appreciation overflowed. He was just overwhelmed by the strangers that took time out to spend time with him online, the only friends and family he knows. You see, Rocco never married, don’t have kids and is, himself an only child and he lives Alone. So any company, to him, is a blessing.
In private conversations he’d ask me what he can do for me in return and I tell him, there’s nothing I want except that in the short time that he still has, he finds joy in the Lord, and in the friendship I offer though I can’t give more than that. That may my genuine love and concern for him (a stranger I’ll never meet or really know) spurn his love for God more and strengthen his faith that even though he’s going through this seemingly endless road of suffering, he’s NOT ALONE, God is watching over and sending comfort, using people to reach him. And I’m honored to be one of them.
As we are a blessing to him, he is a blessing to us, reminding me that when I give unselfishly, I get back more than I’ve given in return.
To God be all the glory!
When he talks, you can tell he has breathing difficulty and when he laughs, I worry he’d choke and stop breathing BUT he still manages to crack a joke now and then and make me laugh.
My birthday gift is a painting I did of his church but it’s arriving late. Yesterday, I and his other friends gathered at a room at yahoo to give him our warmest greetings. I sang him a birthday song that I didn’t think was even touchy at all, in the hope to cheer and encourage him but I wasn’t prepared for what he gave us back.
HE CRIED and we were all touched (touched that we’re healthier but fails to appreciate that). In between tears his words of appreciation overflowed. He was just overwhelmed by the strangers that took time out to spend time with him online, the only friends and family he knows. You see, Rocco never married, don’t have kids and is, himself an only child and he lives Alone. So any company, to him, is a blessing.
In private conversations he’d ask me what he can do for me in return and I tell him, there’s nothing I want except that in the short time that he still has, he finds joy in the Lord, and in the friendship I offer though I can’t give more than that. That may my genuine love and concern for him (a stranger I’ll never meet or really know) spurn his love for God more and strengthen his faith that even though he’s going through this seemingly endless road of suffering, he’s NOT ALONE, God is watching over and sending comfort, using people to reach him. And I’m honored to be one of them.
As we are a blessing to him, he is a blessing to us, reminding me that when I give unselfishly, I get back more than I’ve given in return.
To God be all the glory!
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