Robert

Every Sunday in church, someone asks for prayers for the mentally ill.

So it was last Friday afternoon. The church office is closed, but Ed and I were there.  He’s the trustee Chair. Ed was waiting to meet a technician to work on the oven.  I happened to be wandering through the lobby.   A guy comes up to the door.  Our church is like many churches, people can’t just walk in you’ve got to be let in.

Since this is the technician I let the guy in. Clearly as soon as he comes in the door, he’s not the technician.  He’s filthy. He’s wearing rags. He’s about 6 foot eight and 150 pounds just a twig of a man.

And you can tell that something is not right.

He moves into the middle of the foyer, claiming his space.  He starts mumbling about calling a lawyer. Ed has something to do. He is meeting a technician.  My schedule is not pressed.  Since there are only two phones in the building, I take him back to my office and let him call a couple of lawyers.

What I experienced for the next 45 minutes was complete and total psychosis. His children were poisoned. His family was murdered by the Gambino family.  He’s been undercover for the FBI... on and on it went.  He talked nonstop.  Some of the most crazy talk that I’ve ever heard.

Someone turns in a prayer request every Sunday for families dealing with mental illness.
Clearly, Robert fits the bill.

I started to worry about how this encounter was going to end.  For the first time in my life, I opened my phone and brought up 911 in case I needed to call for help.

After a while, I carefully helped him understand that it was time to move on.  He stopped several times along the way to offer more babble.  Then he left slowly and awkwardly out into the world that he’s created for himself.

Please keep the mentally ill in your prayers.

We have so much to be thankful for.