Words Put Us Back Together

One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

—Proverbs 18:24

After my last week at my job in Grand Rapids, I made homemade macaroni and cheese and roasted vegetables for our house church, and after dinner, they asked me how I was doing. I was brimming over with anger and confusion and fear, wild with emotion. I was barely comprehensible, running from one fear to the next. I felt embarrassed about not being able to move forward more quickly, and about being a wreck, and about the tears that were all over my face.

At one point, Joe interrupted me. “You can feel however you want to feel right now. Except one thing. I keep hearing you say that you’re embarrassed. I want you to stop saying that. You can feel angry, betrayed, whatever. But I don’t think you have anything to be embarrassed about. And I’ll never be embarrassed to be your friend.”

I felt like I had been ground to dust, and those words started to put me back together. During a time when I had nothing to give but venom and tears, this small circle of people were the words and fragrance and presence of God in unmistakable ways.