The other day I met Jackson. He is a brawny/husky built middle-aged guy who I had seen several days earlier down my street pushing a lawn mower with a dangling gas can.It’s obvious he’s hustling for a buck, looking for yards to mow. Cool. I’ve always thought that the best way to make quick money in the warm months was to have a mower and knock on the doors of houses with tall grass, offering a fair price. Who would turn you down?
Last week I was hanging out at Obi-Wan’s house when Jackson knocked and asked if he could mow. I told him sorry, but I took care of it so thanks for asking. I commented on his killer mower. He has a slightly older version of the one I recently bought a few months ago. I heart my Honda with the quad cut system. No, I am not a nerd.
After a few gabs and heroic tales of small engine repair, he went on his way. Obi-Wan and I noticed Jackson mowing across the street less than two minutes later.
Today I was mowing Obi-Wan’s back yard when I saw Jackson pushing his mower down the ally. We waved and he motioned to me so I killed the engine. Immediately I got an earful of his woes.
Jackson is madder than hell. Something about some medical problems that he can’t afford to do anything about, lost his job over it somehow, is owed $5200 over some work-related settlement, a lawyer is working him out of most of that cash by taking this case, and somehow can’t get surgery for a real long time because of the BS system.
And somewhere in the process he lost his car or something. He needed someone to vent to and I was the only human nearby.
All I could do was listen. I’m no fan of the system. Especially the US health system and it’s accompanying insurance nightmare industry. But I’m not a fan of embracing a victim identity either.
One of his needed surgeries is over a hernia. He showed me the egg-sized protrusion on top of his stomach. I’ve never seen one so obvious and bad. I asked permission to pray. So we prayed for a miracle, whether that be healing related or some kind of financial ordeal.
Jackson seemed to enjoy bitching about the jacked up system. I can relate. Complaining about things gives us some kind of release. Like maybe we have a mere ounce of control over our desperation. We can go down fighting.
I hate that desperate feeling. CEO – answer our prayer from today.
4 comments:
The same way Obi-Wan was able to get his hospital bills forgiven is the same way to help Jackson.
Just have him apply for "benevolence". He'll have to see a doctor who will say he has this problem and needs some sort of treatment (if he doesn't have this already) before he applies.
Then, the hospital will usually ask that he get an agreement with his doctor or whoever will be part of the treatment process, saying that they will waive their fees, too.
(once doctor's know you qualify for the hospital forebearance they will usually agree to do the same)
This is entirely doable, B. Entirely, and that's not even factoring in the abilities of our awesome CEO.
Thanks Leanne.
Actually, I mentioned Obi-Wan's story to him. But he seemed more interested in bitching and being a victim than hearing that something could actually be done.
Be he was more mad that he was fighting for a settlement when he could have been working all this time. Or something.
Interesting thought popped into my head reading the two previous posts. Do we limit God's power when we do not get over our own issues and make use of the ways we can help ourselves? Does being a jackass about a problem put you in a worse place spiritually than just being weak or poor of spirit? I know in my life there have been several times I have prayed and God knows others have for God to help me in things I could probably take some good steps towards helping myself...
Matt: good questions...
Yeah, I'm sorta convinced that if we're holding back in some area of our own problem, then it's probably going to be a while (if ever) when we experience some sort of miracle or something.
But who knows.
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