A later start to the day, meet Jeff at 10:30am at the school. We are all going to a special place called the center that cares and trains people with mental illnesses. Once a month they have an outdoor barbeque and today is the day.
We are all getting pretty good at cooking hotdogs. So far on this trip we have cooked about 250 of them, today would be another 150 with same amount of hamburgers.
The setup and food was all taken care of by Jeff’s students and the center. We had the opportunity to serve the food. On the long table was condiments, trays of fruit, coolers of pop and bags of chips. Don’t tell anyone I had the best hotdog of the trip right there. Yumm.
The clients were out on the lawn eating, milling about. They had looked forward to this day for a couple of weeks. Most were interested in conversation. I was drawn to guy who I’ll call Bill.
Bill had the vibe of a biker and brawler and the conversation started with me saying, “Nice tattys.” He had a sleeve and a few random ones here and there. I probably could see only 50% of them. Conversation at first was mostly about the occasions and story behind each tattoo until we got to the cross ones. He hesitated a bit and began with, I don’t tell many about this, but when I was in the service, they gave us the wrong address and I killed the wrong people. Each cross on my arm is for one of them.
He said that was the beginning of his problems, he started to drink and use to mask the pain. He was eventually discharged because of his drinking and drug use even though he was special ops. He entered civilian life confused and hurt and continuing to mask the pain of what he had to do as a soldier. He is a big dude with a love for adrenaline, fighting was a daily occurrence. Biker scene, surfing and partying was his life. And it was taking him nowhere except down. He is now on disability, with mental health struggles. He hasn’t touched a drink in 10 years.
I could see myself in him. I resonated with him and his story and wanted to talk more. He was in a place that I couldn’t help him except to listen and care and be next to him for a bit. He talked about his hurt accumulated from churches that misunderstood him. We talked briefly about the power of the cross for forgiveness.
Jeff reminded us before we came to the center, that we are all a bit crazy, all a little damaged and disturbed and in that sense not much different than the people at the center. We can be the Christ presence for people and bring hope and value to them.
I’m sure glad we came that morning. Bill did all that for me.
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