An old bible student got in touch with me a couple days ago. Like me, he has a history with addiction and apparently relapsed for a month. He has since reclaimed a month of sobriety but in the process of the whole mess he lost his job, his car and will be evicted from his apartment Monday. He seems to be in relative good spirits. He’s taking responsibility for his relapse and associated problems. His daughter is coming to pick him up and take him to stay with her out of town.
He asked for food in the meantime. Oh my goodness my heart sank. We went straight to the grocery store and loaded up. I know better than to give someone in relapse-mode any money so I gave him $10 anyways for bus fare and told him I’d check in on him every day until he leaves.
We had a nice time talking though. I told him I went through a period of discovery about my own religious faith and apologized for trying to shove it down his throat. He laughed and assured me that he didn’t swallow that much of it anyways and he really enjoyed my company. He was sorry that I vanished after the study ended. I didn’t tell him that I had to stop associating with him because I was pure and he was… not.
I went there to offer support to the guy, which he needed, sure. But I ended up spending most of the conversation trying to explain my error and apologizing. After the evening was over, I was the one thanking him for reassuring me that I was going to be okay.
I think he’ll be okay too.