God’s Work Requires Much Patience

Today’s reading: John 17:1-5

For as long as I can remember, I’ve tended to befriend people the rest of the world would rather ignore.

My current bunch of friends includes a schizophrenic man who has great talent as a mechanic. He has helped me fix my Chevy Suburban several times, and he has done some outstanding emergency work for other friends whose vehicles were stranded in very inconvenient spots.  But he has been unemployed for years. One of his former employers told me that his schizophrenia was just too much of a business liability.

“My customers just didn’t feel comfortable when they heard him yelling curse words, and racial ephitets, to himself as he was working on their vehicles,” the man said. ” I tried giving him a place to work where no customers would hear him. But my other employees could still hear him, and even they weren’t very comfortable. And, of course, I couldn’t keep him out of the bathroom and the lunchroom. (He) was a great employee. But I just couldn’t keep him on the crew. Too many other people were afraid of him.”

I have another friend who bakes amazingly tasty pastries for friends in his own kitchen, but, for similar reasons, he can’t hold a job in a commercial bakery — or convince anyone to give him money to start his own business.

Despite their talents, both of these men live meagerly these days with much assistance from government and charities. They are always on the verge of homelessness. I find it frustrating that the world’s bias against mental illness and other eccentricities keeps them from achieving what I see as their God given potential.

And I have many other friends in similar circumstances. (My father is the one who earns the most of my attention these days. He has Aspberger’s syndrome, and his occasionally bizarre behavior has caused many problems over the years — despite his great talent for teaching, writing, and even business.)

For several years now, I’ve realized God is calling me to help these friends achieve their own callings.  I have a vague notion, growing clearer every day, that I will one day set up a “cooperative” organization whose goal will be to put these people to commercially valuable work despite their quirks.

But I have no experience with anything like that, and I have very limited means myself. (I sometimes think I understand how Noah must have felt.) So I just have to remain patient — and committed.  Today’s reading helps with that.

“I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do.” (Verse 4)

Since the idea for this new group comes from God, I know He will provide the way for me to carry it to fruition. My job is to simply stay atune to His path and, eventually, He will lead me to a glorious finish.

Thanks be to God for the many under-appreciated talents of my friends. May I stay true to His plan for putting them to glorious use.