I had a message left on my answering machine the other day. Now that in itself is not unusual by any means, but the content was. You see, normally the messages I get are the usual “call me about such and such”, or “we need to meet about this”, or even one fellow who used to leave long messages about his encounters and conspiracies with various Hollywood stars including Sylvester Stallone and the like. More often than I like to admit there is a message of complaint either from one of our clients about another staff member, or from one of our donors about how they get too much mail from us.
But this was different. It started out with, “Hi Randy. I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart on behalf of my wife and me ….” Now, that got my attention! This particular couple has a drug-addicted son who because of his addiction ended up needing the services at the mission. As a result, I had several opportunities to speak with these parents, both on the phone and face to face. I witnessed their fear, confusion and utter despair as they spoke about their son and the way he was destroying his life. I also saw the deep brokenness that comes when a parent’s love is rejected. The hopelessness and continual questioning of “Did we do something wrong?” You see, addiction doesn’t just affect the addicted, but like tentacles on a Portuguese Man-of-War, it reaches out and stings those who are closest. But back to the message on my phone . . . The father told me that through the support of staff here at the Mission, their son had gotten into recovery, and is now back at his old job. But more importantly, he is reconciled to his parents.
Now they are the first to admit that it still may be a long road back, but at least they are now going in the right direction. Sometimes the job we do seems futile and endless. I wonder if we are really making a difference in these people’s lives? We did in this one, and that is what keeps me going.
Hanging with my papa,
Randy