St. Michael the Archangel Fraternity at 122 West Smith St, Apt. D, Hicksville, OH 43526 US - Another Place, Another Time
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Another Place, Another Time |
About a year ago a young man wrote to me and was full of questions. He shared his tragedy with me and I was so honored to be trusted enough to be a part of this story. Both his parents had been killed in a car accident when he was 5 and he is currently being raised by relatives who don't care much for him. Over the last year we have shared .many things. I have shared with him the tragedy of Alzheimer's and he has shared so much with me. Last week he wrote and told me that he was going with some friends on a campout and that he wouldn't be writing for a while. I told him to have a good time and to write and share his trip with me when he returned. About two or three days later, I got a letter from a friend of his telling me that he had been in a bad car accident. Ken had been sitting in the back seat when a drunk rammed their car, specifically the gas tank. One of the adults had pulled Ken from the car and saved his life. He was in the hospital and the first thing he wanted was for me to know he had been in the accident and was going to be all right. And all this from a bunch of words typed into a computer! When his friend wrote and told me this I was really stunned. He was worried that I should know...so I could pray for him! Ken had been burned but the worse part was to his face. Doctors had originally thought that they could fix it without scarring but when they did surgery the skin underneath was so badly burned that he will have scars for the rest of his life. What more was this young man, in fact a senior in high school, to go through in
This morning Ken got home from the hospital and the first thing he wanted to do was write me! He wrote that he was taking one day at a time and that he had a psychologist who was going to help him get through this. I wrote and told him the following: "Suffering is certainly a mystery but there is some good in going through a certain amount. I think big things disappear when we suffer and the little things are pushed to the forefront. It's the little things in life Ken that have meaning...not the big things."
I've never met Ken but I know him in my heart. Isn't that the way our Lord wants us to know and love? It has to come from our heart and when it does we'll know our Lord in person some day...as I will Ken. In another place and another time.
David Grimes, SFO