Everything I Need

I sat talking to a man who was just a bit older than myself. We were talking about his life and his circumstance. The progression of his cancer and the natural outcome of a life lived too hard and too fast, left him a shell of his former self and the look of someone much older than his years.

As we talked about his current circumstance, he looked me directly in the eyes and said, "I have everything I need."  I looked around at his cabin, which was literally falling down around us, floor sinking so much that everything tilted toward the center, mold on the walls, cobwebs as big as hammocks; furniture old, worn and covered with grime built up over years of neglect.

I didn't see anything beyond a working TV, several packs of cigarettes and a stock pile of beer in cans, that would have any market value. But he did. He had a roof (of sorts) over his head, his cigarettes and a beer when he was of a mind. He could watch TV or take a nap, and step out on the porch once in a while. His life is reduced to something very small but his needs have shrunk with them.

His faced-paced life as a drummer in a traveling band was just a faint memory. What he thought as high-life had brought him down very low in life, but he reset his expectations and has been coming to grips with what his choices have led him to. He would rather things be different but he accepts what is with acknowledgement that his life is of his own making.

But more than that, he has been awakening to his place before God and that his future is not in his hands, that God is not done with him even though it would appear otherwise given his current state of affairs. He believes his time on this earth is about over but his life is still in God's hands.

Something else he has come to see is that all the stuff he used to have and all the high-life he used to live aren't things of value. He has a really good friend, not quite as broken as he, who comes by daily and sits with him and tries to help where possible.

He is discovering that all that really matters is faith in God and the fact that he has a true friend who cares for him regardless of his circumstance. He knows that he doesn't have much as the world counts riches but he believes himself to have plenty.

My friend is learning the truth of Matthew 6:19-21,  “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."  Jus' Say'n.