Hope from the Leper Colony

This article relates how three friends have walked with failure. More importantly, how we answer loss and where we find hope.

Welcome to the leper colony.

Unlike our brothers with physical leprosy, we can hide for a time among the general population. That is until the discussion moves past the weather or sports. Then things get uncomfortable. It is inevitable. "You lost your house? That's horrible" "How are you going to turn your business around?" "Why is it taking you so long to get this back on track?" "What's your plan for the future?" We will be revealed as failures. Worse still, as men without a plan to fix it. We are in unknown country: we don't know what we are doing. What we did before no longer works.

"I am somebody I never wanted to be", confided my friend. He had been a husband, father, homeowner and business owner. A man in control and with a plan. A modest benefactor.

He lost his business. Then he lost his house. After that, his wife left with his children. He feels like a pariah, a man disfigured with failure, whom people avoid. They're afraid that whatever caught him will catch them. We both confessed that in past years, we judged people who found themselves entangled in these very circumstances. We were wise, condescending and professionally distant with these lesser brothers. That would never happen to us. We were smart, driven, men of faith and integrity.

He now owns a patient and humble compassion for people who fail. A heart that is sensitive from being broken and still healing. Still not in control.

Another comrade in the colony, owns a luxury item business. His mortgages and monthly expenses are crushing. The sales for his enterprise have plummeted. Even after the economy recovers, he wonders how soon the demand for his product will return. He has cut and cut and cut. Many of his toys won't sell on a market flooded with boats, RVs and vehicles. All that's left to do is pull the plug. But even if he walks away, then what? What he has done successfully, prosperously for decades doesn't work. In his early 50s, what will pay his bills in this new country? How will he define himself in the second half of his life?

Like the rest of us, he wrestles with his pride. How did he not see this coming? He should have known. Why wasn't he better prepared? Maybe he never was in control. He confronts his own ideals of ownership and success. Was it really worth it to own all that stuff? Did he actually enjoy it or was the real joy in just owning it?

The final member of the trifecta owns a dwindling remodeling business. Sales crashed by 80% in a single year for the 20-year old business. He laid off half off his staff, men he personally trained and encouraged. Whose families he knew. Then more lay-offs. He is now down to a single employee. He scans his caller ID to avoid collector calls. He and his wife don't wrestle any longer with the location of their next anniversary trip; there are no long discussions about the charity they want to support. Rather, whether to pay the mortgage or to buy groceries. How to keep the IRS at bay for another month.

He learned to ask for help. "I used to be the one who wrote the check to get things done", he shared. "I have found out that I have awesome friends. They have fed me, given me a place to sleep and to shower".

"Where's the hope? Is this a bad joke?" you're screaming. "Have these guys done themselves a harm? Have the authorities taken away their knives and shoe laces?"

They chose hope. They are very much alive. But very much changed. And still very much in the colony. They are not through, nor is there an end in sight. But these three continue to stand.

They believe that Jesus loves them and cares about what they are feeling. That everything will work out for their good, even though they don't have dates, times and a plan. They ask God for anything and are thankful for everything. They see answered prayer, and see God's hand in the people around them who care. The greatest discovery, that as members of the leper colony, lepers listen to them. No longer pillars of the community, they are now routinely used by God to encourage others.

They have chosen hope over facts. Peace over control. Purpose over vision.

The leper colony is the divine incubator. For an unimaginably, suprisingly vibrant future.