Stopping in the Swirl--Part 2 (more interesting)

Stopping in the Swirl is an appropriate metaphor for me right now. I haven't blogged forever, so I tossed up that last post to update you all on how I and my family are.

Now, I want to tell you an awesome story...it happened this Tuesday as I was in the midst of my swirl...

She passed me as I was going to get more ice and Coke. I topped my cup off as the fizz settled and I headed back to my booth. After all, my other Egg McMuffin was waiting. I settled back into the booth and grabbed the morning paper. Oddly, she had seated herself at the next booth over, but not facing away from me. She was seated facing towards me...always awkward (servers in restaurants always seat single persons so that they aren't facing one another to avoid that odd feeling).

You all know that I study people. I noticed a sweatshirt emblazoned with "Osseo High School" on it, the orange familiar from the twins' days there. Not a ton of Osseo sweatshirts in the McDonald's in Dinkytown. Must be a U of M student who graduated from OSH. Maybe she knows the twins.

I kept reading, not wanting to be some obnoxious talking dude...uh...hold on...not wanting to be more of an obnoxious talking dude. Yeah. She fiddled with her phone. She wasn't eating, but was carrying a beat up box of Cocoa Puffs. Definitely sad about something.

10 minutes later, I asked if she went to OSH. Nope, her friend did. Doesn't know the twins. Talked a bit more and was able to tell that she was pretty upset. Borrow my phone? Sure. I then overhear her talking to her "grandma" about conflicts that she's having with a boy.

After the call, we chatted for another 10 minutes. From Maple Grove, not in school. Just kicked out of a school. Told her about Lisa being in treatment. She's been in treatment too--both for bipolar and addictions. Ouch. Addictions at this age?? I was guessing 20, but it's 17. She talked about her experiences in treatment.

Did you eat? No, but I'm OK. Let me get you something. Here's $10, get whatever you want, gotta get this call. She eats and we talk more. I feel weird, like a predator chatting up a pretty young thing. But, my motives are pure. I sensed tremendous pain in her and so I pushed deeper.

Are you with your family? No, couldn't live with my dad. Now with friends of the family. Really risky question: Did your dad abuse you a lot?? Not "did he abuse you" but "how often". Yikes, can I really ask that? She's lost and wanting to talk. Yeah, I'll ask. Yikes again: he abused me 2-3 times per week for over 40 months. No wonder you're chemically dependent and your psyche has been fractured.

I talk with her about legal aspects of what's going on in her life (no case worker assigned to her, sleeping at "grandma's house" but really not related to them, just expelled from school because she cut class once too often). Also she's about to be kicked out of the grandma's house and has nowhere to go. She's too scared to talk with the school or the grandma. She has no idea what to do next.

I also talk with her about God. I apologized for all the abuse she's been through.

How can I help? What if I go to the school with you to help you talk to them?? They'll talk to me, because I'll tell them that I'm your pastor. :-)

35 minutes after meeting her, I learned her name (let's call her Ann, not the real name). Ann and I went to her school (a sober high school) and went into the counseling office. We were there for 45 minutes or so. A plan was put together for her to get into a school again (possibly not this one). We all called the grandma on speakerphone and the conflict with her was resolved. She's got a place to live still, a plan for getting back to classes, and a bit of stability is restored.

Ann and I picked up Lisa from the appointment she had been at. We dropped Ann at "grandma's" in Maple Grove just after noon. Of all the things that she told me that morning, the most profound was this: "It's amazing that you bumped into me today? What are the odds??" I smiled and said...yeah, it is amazing.

Ann's got my number and vice versa. She's not been to church but she's wanting to come to The Journey.

So...in my swirl, I could have finished the newspaper, read for school, worked on a sermon or other church stuff, caught up on emails, made some phone calls...or could have been a friend and voice to someone who desperately needed to have some hope interjected into her life.

God's put at least one Ann in you life. Sitting across two booths, close enough to talk with. Yeah, I felt like others would think I was a lecher. Yeah, it took guts to drill into her pain. But it made a huge difference in her life. God touched her, through me.

Don't succumb to your swirl.