someone may hit me with a hammer??

i sat down with a fellow texan today to talk about possibly doing a weekly bible study for a recovery center. the center has two campuses, one is for kids and youth with severe anger issues and non-compliance problems along with rehabilitation from abuse and tragedy. the other center is for adults who have been placed in their care because of serious drug addiction in the past or mentle illness or anger management problems.

we were talking about different ministry experiences i'd had in the past and what i liked to do blah blah blah... when the guy asked me a very interesting set of questions.

Q: how would you feel if someone hallucinated in the middle of your bible study?

a: umm... i would be confused, but i suppose i would move on if the person didn't need to be calmed down. is that the right answer?

Q: sure. and what if the adults had to take serious drugs to keep them from experiencing bouts of intense mental illness?

A: umm... man, i... i guess thats good. as long as the drugs are perscribed correctly, i mean, i don't know.

Q: and would you be okay if while you were teaching someone had to physically restrain a patient because he got violent... some people don't like that, but what if like... he wanted to hit you with a hammer?

A: what?

Q: well, i mean, some people don't like the idea of physically restraining clients or patients. they say it bothers them. would you be okay with that?

(seriously? would i be okay if someone stopped a guy from hitting me with a hammer?)

A: yes. i would be okay with that. in fact, i would feel the need myself to stop someone from trying to hurt me or someone else. is that going to happen?

GUY: good answer. i just wanted to make sure it wouldn't scare you if someone happened to lash out or something. some people just don't like that kind of thing...

ME: well yeah, i mean... not many people like that i guess... but is someone going to try to hit me with a hammer?

GUY: oh no. its cool. so do you want to come and see the center this week?

even looking at the conversation written out i laugh. i'm sure he was just exagerating with the hammer thing, but seriously? he said it in a "example" type of tone and all, but geez. all kidding aside, i'm excited about the possibilities of working with the Latte Center. from the hour long conversation we had today i imagine these guys and girls would have been some following Jesus everywhere he went. and i imagine when Jesus said "least of these" he was talking about people like this. people that've had a rough hand dealt to them or some at the end of the rope with little reason to hang on. i bet we have some great conversations about the life of Jesus.