I was talking with one of the residents here at the Grants Pass Gospel Rescue Mission the other day and feel it was significant and meaningful enough to share with you all. To give a little background, this resident is 57 years old, has some mobility issues which cause him to use a wheelchair at times, and needs to be able to sit down after standing or walking for extended periods. However, he has not let that hold him back from fully participating in the Mission programs, including his housekeeping work assignment. He also enjoys helping in the kitchen after his normal work duties are completed. He has an infectious smile and laugh that often echoes around the Mission’s hallways.
As we were talking, he shared that he was very upset and depressed. He shared that a few days ago he was helping in the kitchen, and they had made a big pot of spaghetti for dinner. He went to stir the spaghetti and because of the issues with his health he could not even mix the spaghetti without a large amount of pain. He was embarrassed and had to have another kitchen worker do it for him. He told me, “I felt completely useless, I couldn’t even stir the spaghetti.” I instantly felt sympathy for him, and encouraged him, reminding him of the good things he has going on in his life. He was not useless and might need to start getting a little more creative to find ways to be useful.
What he said stuck in my mind. He was unable to perform a simple routine task, and it made him feel like a complete failure in every area of his life. I think we often do this to ourselves in our spiritual walk. God will give us a simple routine task, and we will blow it and fail miserably. We then take that shortcoming and start to universally apply that failure to other areas of our walk until we feel worthless. Praise God for His patience and love! He doesn’t give up on us because we “can’t stir the spaghetti.” He still uses us, and He is still using this resident-he is my inspiration for this article and will hopefully be an inspiration to you as you read it.
By: Bobby Galli, Men’s Coordinator