Listening to People's Stories

A few stories I heard today:

Connor's House (connorshouse.org)
Today I went to donate blood at a nearby church where my brother (and his wife) used to attend worship. It was interesting that I gave blood on the same day I took communion. Think about it.

The person organizing the drive told me about her son who had died at 8 years old (in 2007) and so she started a ministry called connorshouse.org - They have these blood drives and also have a book sale to raise funds for books at hospitals so that children have books to read. It was a sad story about her son and all the time he spent in the hospital and all the care he needed at home, but I could see how God is using the family to help others. She told me she has a dream to have a house where these families can have a respite.

World War Two Veteran
The other story is one about our neighbor. He is an elderly Jewish man who has lived with his wife in this neighborhood for 50+ years. We neighbors around help them out with work around the yard and with shoveling snow in the winter and such. He stops over from time to time to talk. We were talking today while Ruth and I were cleaning the cars. He's been sick lately. He's loosing weight and the doctors are trying to find out why. His adult son is very ill and not able to care for himself. I listened to his story and offered to pray for him. We stopped and I prayed. After we were done, he said "Thanks. The last time someone personally prayed for me was in the war." He reminded me of the story of how his B-24 crew flew one weekend and it was the first time of all their missions that he did not fly with them. On Saturday night while returning to base from town he said there was a somber mood. He found out that 11 planes were lost that day and one was his crew. Then there was the part of the story I hadn't heard before. He told how he had to gather their belongings and pack them. He related how the feelings of guilt were a heavy load. It was around that time that Passover was occurring which he observed. The day after Passover that year was Easter. He said that a man brought him into the chapel and asked him to sit in the back and told him he didn't have to do anything, they would take care of it. That man then went to the front and prayed for him and the others.

It makes you wonder, doesn't it?
How many people just need to tell us their stories? How many people need us to just listen? How many people just need us to take the time to stop and pray with them right then and there?

What are your thoughts? Do you have a story to share? Please leave a comment. And, feel free to click on the link on my website to subscribe to email updates from my blog.