On November 8, 2018 I felt like I officially "launched" into what God was asking me to do. It was my first presentation about empathizing with and loving those from hard places through the Church. Present was my future boss, Chris Combs, Executive Director of Coalition of Care.
2 years later to the day (I just uncovered this), November 8, 2020, I sent one of my biggest cheerleaders and strongest advocates a letter of "see you later". My friend Ron was dying and passed away soon after. Ron has a testimony like none of I've heard face-to-face. I have wept and nearly flung a computer out of a 3rd story window over his story. His testimony has taken me to my knees and made me sick to my stomach. I won't share it now. He wants his story told and sometime in the future his community of friends will honor his wishes. In fact, he verbalized this on a Facebook post on November 8th. November 8th... often, if we notice, I think God speaks to us in dates.
This is a short excerpt from my letter to Ron that he'd want me to share:
"...Now, Ron, it feels like that moment was the beginning of our true mentorship and collaborative work… the mission we were commissioned to do in partnership. That day, you took your lit torch, and lit mine.
From then on, I felt entrusted to your stories of survival in both the past and the present. While space and time separated us, I have felt tethered to your hopes, strength, and mission for the people, and especially children, of this world. You have helped to open my eyes to different angles of reality, you took my hand and guided me deeper into the recesses of suffering and distrust. You showed me how pain, spiritual distance from God, wreaks havoc on the individual and the collective. And in so doing, challenged me to find the authenticity and integrity of Christ in individuals, and as individuals join in friendship, that friendship becomes the trusted collective, the real Church
...I believe God anointed our friendship. I believe he was preparing me to work in the intersection between child welfare and the church through your story. I believe God was warning me of dark corners of the world disguised as the church… and illuminating how the real church, Christ’s body on earth, is Plan A and there is no Plan B."
I lived on the other side of a duplex from Ron for about 2 years. We would sit and talk on the front porch over coffee. He would guide and mentor me as I connected with kids I cared deeply about. One kid in particular was 3 years old when he was being held in his dad's arms when his dad was shot. This same kid would see and hear things that weren't there. And one night he called me crying and hyperventilating because he just watched his mom OD and flat-line and he wasn't sure if she was coming back. We never really talked about God, but on that night he asked me to pray with him over the phone for his mom, his heart, his past, and his future. She did end up coming back after 2-minutes of no heart beat. I don't share to sensationalize. I share because people go through really hard things and with the excess capacity we have to love, we are invited to love children like this. They truly need us.
Ron would resonate, cringe, and encourage the fight in me to fight for that kid. Ron's dark beginnings include multiple attempts at taking his life by his family before the age of 8. He was weekly raped from age 5-6 by a Baptist minister while the minister's wife would sing "onward Christian soldiers" downstairs, knowing fully-well what was going on. This could be the most hypocritical moments of existence. When he told his mom the truth his mom slapped him across the face and told him not to lie.
If you can get through reading this past paragraph of 93 words then maybe we can all lean in a little closer to hear the calls of the millions of other children around the globe who are caught in similar dark places. They are yelling "medic, medic" on the battlefield of life, caught in the cross-fire waiting for someone to hear them, guide them to safety, and nurse them back to health.
In Fact, 5 children die every single day in the US, on average, due to abuse and neglect.
Father and mother are nouns and verbs. We are invited to link arms for the children caught in hell and literally love the hell right out of the them. We can protect them from death and mother/father them into the LIFE we know as Abundant Life. That is Ron's Legacy. Let his torch now light yours so that 5 small flames aren't snuffed out today...or tomorrow...or the next day.
If we begin by taking one small next step, and then another, left-foot, right-foot, we will wind up in a place we've always wanted to be - intimately journeying with God and others to help heal hearts through God's trustable Love. We Live in the Greatest Love Story amidst the Fiercest War. We are invited into an army to bring More Life, Love, and Freedom to ourselves and others. As we go, we are transformed into warrior sons and daughters with weapons of Love at the ready. With the endless energy-supply of God at our back we can pour out our lives in the form of time, talent, and treasure. And in return we will know what it meant when God said you'll Gain your life when you lose it. For me, I want to truly live- linked together with other alive, oriented and settled soldiers- venturing into dark corners to bring Light that rescues and heals... with nothing to hide, nothing to prove, and nothing to fear.
Wooooooo... I'm a bit fired up here. Ya feel it? Let it. That's Ron's way. "Good, keep them talking... keep them feeling..." He once advised me as we were discussing a kiddo's healing path. Keep feeling for these kiddos when you're finished reading.
Thank you Ron. You allowed Jesus to pass the torch to you. You lit the way for me and have since passed on your light. You have inspired us with your resilience and your longing for the peace and the Love that we can all provide through God who fills us with true and deep Belovedness.
And Thank you... whoever you are that reads this, for whatever way you allowed this brief encounter to transform and soften your heart to the cries and wailings of children. I pray you hear them more clearly and reach out to father/mother our kids into health. Let it shine.
Let's Do This.
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A final note: to those who had the privilege to know Ron. Please know that I've never written about Ron and have been hesitant to do so. I don't want to write anything that would dishonor him or his message. And as I write, I realize more that it is in fact a dishonor to not share a bit of his story. He wants to be used so people can know that personal Love that healed parts of his fractured heart. If you want to talk further about Ron and ways we can honor him, please, let's connect.
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