Being Present

The following anecdote from Alton Lee (with Dynamic Catholic) is a great example of being present to another:

A few years ago, I got a collect call from a jail. The lady calling said her name was Laura, and I had never met her before in my life. When she realized it was the wrong person, she halfheartedly asked me if I would bail her out.  Now, it would have been really easy for me to hang up, but I felt the Holy Spirit prompting, and instead asked her to tell me about her life. Over the next few weeks I would get these five-minute collect phone calls from Laura where I would learn about her life.

One day that I was praying about Laura, trying to discern if I should bail her out or not, she called me while I was praying, and I agreed to bail her out for $720. I never met Laura in real life, but I could tell that her life changed in a genuine way. She moved in with her sister, reconnected with her daughter, and she wrote this lovely note to my wife and I thanking us for bailing her out.  In the letter, she said, “That $720 cash was priceless. You've given me my life back. I was so lost and now I'm found.”

In Christ, Ken.