Pleasant Surprises

Yesterday I spent most of the morning at a Social Security Office trying to get my dad’s Medicare sorted out. I am a little frustrated with how the system works and how you get down to the real facts to answer important questions about care for seniors. As I will say to most that there are never any coincidences in life or accidents. So after I talk to the initial person I find out that I was going down the wrong path to get my dad’s Medicare fixed.

I end up waiting for about thirty minutes in a large waiting area where they have windows where some staff helps you or you go into the back room, which obviously are little cubicles where you get help. Eventually my dad’s name is called and I end up with a middle aged Hispanic gentleman by the name of Victor. As we begin our work I start sharing with him what I do and he allows me to have a little window into his work, which is mostly with welfare recipients. He shares how he has raised his daughter’s son and what are some experiences for him in the real world. So I begin to share what we are doing with our youth, neighborhood and seniors.

As we talk I ask what church he attends and he mentions one of the larger churches in Mesa. As we are begin talking about his grandson he blurts out that he doesn’t believe in God. He goes on to mention his experiences in Vietnam and how that had hardened him to the church and his ability to believe. So this began a great intro to talking about why we had been connected for helping my dad. He was very open to listening and talking about his present church experience. He was definitely looking for a real friendship to help him understand the gospel. He made an interesting comment that his grandson just recently told him he didn’t believe in God but in evolution instead. So for the next 20 minutes we talked about life issues, God, church and helping people.

I invited Victor and his grandson to our painting project on Saturday. I hope he will come. Never the less I will see Victor again because of his interest in helping my dad’s situation. So each day I end up with new contacts and opportunities to talk with others the work we are doing and the gospel.