“Let brotherly love continue.” — Hebrews 13:1
Every morning before work I like to sit in the clouds. I mean, I sit in the men’s steam room at my gym.
You hear amazing things in the clouds of steam: men’s voices bragging or complaining about work; bragging or complaining about their wives; bragging or complaining about their children. There’s something therapeutic in sitting in a room where you can barely see your hand in front of your face, like sitting in white darkness and sounding off about life.
Today there were just three of us, three dim, fleshy outlines. Perhaps because he felt comfortably anonymous, the man on my left suddenly said, “I haven’t had a drink in over a week.”
I sat wondering what I was supposed to say to this, or if I was supposed to say anything at all, when the man on my right volunteered, “I haven’t had a drink in five years.”
“How do you do it?” the man on my left asked softly. “It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever tried. But I know if I keep drinking I’m gonna lose everything. I saw my dad go through it, saw him lose it all. Still, I want to drink.”
Then the man with five years of sobriety told an amazing story of how his life was nearly destroyed by alcohol. He talked about his recovery, the faith that he had found and the life that he rebuilt. His voice flowed with gratitude. When he had finished, he asked the man on my left which way he was going when he left the gym. “Uptown,” the man replied. “I’ll walk with you,” the man said. “Maybe we’ll grab a cup of coffee.”
With that they were gone. Later, as I dressed in the locker room, I wondered who they were. But I couldn’t tell, and it didn’t matter. What did matter is that I had seen God working in a most unusual place, as is so often the case.
Make me ever vigilant, God, for signs of You at work.
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