Dan: I don't have any problems

The business at which Dan has been employed for several years closed a few weeks ago and he has been unable to find another job. Since he was living from week to week, it didn’t take long for his funds to run out and two weeks ago he found himself broke and homeless for the first time in his life.

For a man of sixty years who has never been in this predicament and hasn’t developed the skills to survive on the street, Dan seemed remarkably unbothered by it. When I asked him how he was handling his situation with such serenity, he simply said, "I’m right in the palm of God’s hand. God will take care of me. In fact," he said, "I think God has a purpose in having me right where he as me right now. He has a purpose in everything, you know." (Who’s preaching to who here?)

Dan went on to say, "I am learning things here on the street I could never have learned anywhere else." When I asked him what he had learned thus far, he said, "The first thing I have learned is that I don’t really have any problems. I see people out here whose lives are ruined and they don’t know what to do. I see mothers--sometimes with little children--who don’t have any way to provide food and shelter for their little ones. I’m sixty years old and have never been sick a day in my life. I am able to carry all my belongings in these bags that must weigh 50 or 60 pounds. No sir!" he said, "I don’t have any problems!"

I left Dan today with a renewed awareness that it’s not problems that define our lives, it’s perspective. Romans 8:28 - "And we know that in all things, God’s works to the good of those who love him and who are the called according to his purpose for them."

I’m praying for Dan–that I will be more like him.