Seven Statements from the Cross • Week 2 • Friday
Just Show Up
Statement II — Luke 23:43 • Derek, mid-40s, faith community
The Setup
Derek is in his mid-40s. Four years ago he went through a depression that came on slowly and then all at once. He kept showing up to his community, kept performing the version of himself that people expected, and quietly came apart on the inside. He almost did not make it through that season. He is still here. Almost nobody in his faith community knows any of it.
The Crossroads Moment
There is a man in Derek’s community who has been showing up differently for the past month. Still present, still smiling, but sitting closer to the exit. Giving shorter answers. Eyes that have changed behind the expression on his face. Derek recognizes every single signal because they were his signals four years ago. He has two options. He can tell himself he is probably misreading it, that it is not his place, that the man will reach out if he needs something. Or he can do the thing nobody did for him at the worst point of his own life. He can just show up.
What Jesus Did
The thief did not have a polished prayer. He barely had language for what he needed. He said: remember me. And Jesus did not wait for a better moment or a cleaner opening. He turned toward the man and met him exactly where the words ran out. Ecclesiastes 4:10 says woe to the man who falls alone. Derek had fallen mostly alone. He had survived it but he did not have to. The question Statement Two puts to us every week is whether we will use what we survived to reach toward the person currently falling.
The Choice and Outcome
Derek pulls the man aside after the service ends. He does not lead with a program or a referral or a verse. He says: “I do not know exactly what you are carrying right now. But I know that look because I have worn it. I have been in a very dark place and I am still here. If you ever want to talk, I mean it — not as a thing you say but as something I actually mean.” The man nods and deflects in the way people do when they are not ready yet but desperately needed to hear exactly that. Three days later Derek’s phone rings. They talk for two hours. Derek does not fix anything. He just sits in it with the man and lets him know the dark is not the last word. That was the whole thing. That was enough.
The Lesson
The flesh waits for the right moment and the right words before reaching toward someone in the dark. The Spirit shows up before either of those things arrives, because the man falling alone cannot afford to wait for our confidence. Help others who are experiencing the same struggle — even when all we have to offer is the proof that we survived ours.
stumbleup.me • #StumbleUp • #SevenStatements • #ReachSideways
Leave a Reply