Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Inadequate...

In the game The Professor and I have been playing, you can meet all manner of people. From all over the world. My character has introduced me to some pretty amazing people. 

And some not so amazing. (Just wanted to throw that in there) 


Sometimes, you get random conversations going with random players and they stick with you. Or check up with you, or you them.


"Hey  how's it going!" 


"Congrats on turning 60!"


"Need a new weapon?"


"Make me some bling?"


"where is.... how do I...." Those kind of conversations.'


I struck up a conversation with someone several days ago. I don't remember what started it...excpept that we were in the same place at the same time.


I haven't really talked to him much since then..


Until today. I got an "IM" (Instant Message) from him... 


"i'm Dying."
 

It's a game. Sometimes you can stand there and watch your character die and not do much about it. So I was empathetic. I wrote back, "I'm sorry."


He said, "yeah, the infection has spread to my bones and I can't go to the dentist."


...


...


...


"Wait." I said, "What? You were serious? You weren't talking about in the game?"


He told me, "dead serious."


Words, at that point, were, literally pointless. What could I say? So I told him, "I'm so very sorry." 


I don't like platitudes. I didn't know what to say, so I didn't say anything.


Of course, my first thought was, where is he going when/if he dies? Is he pulling my leg? 


He told me that he planned to get high and die a decent death.


I called The Professor. I needed wisdom. Do I talk salvation with a player? over a chat window? 


How callous does that appear? 


We both agreed that it's doable - but has to be done carefully. 
I couldn't see him. He couldn't see me. That connection was important to have in that instance, i think..


Then I realized...I don't have to be there.


My words can change atmospheres.


So I spoke to the situation from where I was knowing God would respond. Knowing that God would send someone to him. Knowing that there would be a battle until an answer was found.

I felt very inadequate. 

There wasn't much else I could do - so It had to be enough... 

The woman with the oil had an inadequate supply that turned out to be more than enough. 
There's hope in that.



2 comments:

CrossView said...

Oh my! How very... awkward! Sounds like you handled it well!

TobyBo said...

I hope you were able to point him to Christ. God uses the most amazing methods sometimes!