Help Line

"Would you take care of this computer software problem? You seem to understand this stuff better than me," said Heidi, the office manager at Pulver Chiropractic, where I now work. It's a small business so everybody kind of chips in on everything. I like it that way; we function more like a family and less like machines.

Needless to say, I obliged, fully knowing that she could have done it but also happy to take something off her to-do list. I called the help line and waited on hold for about ten minutes.

A soft voice answered the phone and offered to help me. Debbie was her name. She was very kind and helpful. But my cell was running out of batteries* and I had to ask her to call us back on the land line. The phone rang. "San Diego, CA," read the caller ID when I picked it up. 

"Debbie, where are you?" 

"San Diego, in fact, I just moved here two months ago."

I learned that Debbie had just endured a nasty divorce and was advised to relocate for her own safety. She left all she knew and moved from Georgia all the way to a brand new city in California,
a "step of faith," as she put it. She said she knows God doesn't love divorce but that He wants her to be safe too. I asked her if she had found a church family out there. I thought of all of the loving people I know in San Diego who could help her feel welcome. I wanted so badly to take Rachel to go meet up with her and show her all of my favorite burrito stands, beaches, hikes, and ways to avoid traffic. I wanted to help her feel at home, included, comfortable in a new surrounding. She said she had found a church home that she really loved so far. She said it was hard to think about being all alone with the holidays coming up; and the church was going to have to be her family. By the sound of it, one family from the church had her over for Thanksgiving dinner! I am so thankful for the way God works in the church to bless and include, to welcome as family those without. 

We got back to fixing the computer together, but with a renewed friendship. Because of the way it worked out, I will be on the phone with her again tomorrow to fix another problem that came up. And I'm looking forward to it!

It's amazing that I pass so many people every day whose stories I never learn. They all have a story, and God is intimately involved in every single one, even the help line. 

*I swear Verizon designs cell phone batteries to malfunction after one year of working perfectly. Have they read too many Dilbert comic strips, or is this just some diabolical plan to secure renewed contracts?