We Are His Arms

To not divulge confidentiality and to not bring attention to the individuals the names of the individuals in the following post have been changed and in some cases their gender too.

Recently I asked a church member if they had heard from another church member.  This church member, Jamie, has not been at church in a while. Jamie is recently divorced.  The ex-spouse does not want to attend church and thus the children do not either.  The church member I spoke with told me that he had not had much contact with Jamie in the past few weeks. Church member, Charlie, sent me a text message expressing their appreciation that I had made an effort to maintain contact with them (I thought my contact was very minimal) and that I was the only one from church who had. Charlie is going through a divorce and because this is the church that was attended with the spouse Charlie does not feel as though he belongs:  He feels left out.  Church member, Kacey, called me sobbing.  Kacey doesn't know what to do and the pain from the recent divorce is too much to bear.  Kacey doesn't want to go on.  As I clarified what exactly that meant, it meant exactly what I thought. Kacey no longer wanted to live.

I know these examples concern divorce but there are numerous others.  A teenager hasn't been to Sunday School in a month but not a single person calls, emails, or even sends a Facebook message to find out why.  Another teenager is starving herself but no one notices.  They think she is wearing big clothes.  Or maybe she isn't hungry.  The teenager's own parent doesn't think there is a problem.  The kid just needs to make them self eat.

These are all real situations with one thing in common.  They fall through the cracks.  No one notices they are not there.  They aren't eating.  They wished they were dead.  Who is taking the time to contact these people.  Should we step back and say it isn't our business or we are too busy or someone else will take care of it?  Or the spiritual answer that they should be confident in who they are in Christ they don't need people to call them.  If they need help they will call someone.  Are we so consumed with our own lives that we simply cannot see that there are other people who need us?  Aren't we suppose to be the extension of Christ?  Are we being that to all of those around us?  Or to just those within our very small circle? 

I heard about someone who committed suicide.  I wonder how things may have been for this person if those around him had taken the time to find out what was going on when this person first stopped coming to things. Maybe if he had known that people knew he wasn't there and missed him and cared enough about him to find out what was going on in his life, well maybe his life would have not ended the way it did.

I frequently think that we are so busy with what we think our agenda is for God that we completely miss what God's agenda is for us.  Look around you.  Who have you not seen in a while?  Who is not as joyful or talkative as they used to be.  Who is acting different than they used? Pray for them and ask God what He would have you do.  Bring the extension of Christ.