Lynn’s Story

Lynn is a grandmother at the age of 42; she lives in her home with her daughter, her granddaughter and her daughter’s boy friend. When I went to the door to inspect the job I was met by Lynn and she looked at me and exclaimed” OH NO”, I looked be hind me to see what was wrong and saw nothing so I went on with the inspection. Lynn showed me how the ceiling was damaged from a constant leaking roof and the floor of the bath that was rotted out. In fact the floor was so bad that the 2 year old grandson had fallen through the floor near the shower but even worse was the floor around the commode it was so bad that you could not sit on the commode but had to straddle it.

Finally at the end of the inspection Lynn asked me if I didn’t remember her and I apologized by I did recognize her face but could not remember from where. She said that she was the person who wrongly blamed me of stealing material off another job that we did for another agency. She then asked if we would still help her. I told her certainly we would, after all wasn’t it just a mistake? On the last day of the project I was working alone it was raining and I was standing at the back of my truck cutting up ridge cap and Lynn came out to talk. She started out with small talk but quickly got to heart of her questions. She asked if I thought she was a bad person and I told her no. She then asked if I thought the way she lived made God angry with her. I told her no, but that the Lord was probably weeping over the truth that he had so much better for her. I also indicated that we all do things that get in the way of the Lord’s greatest blessing for us and that he sent Christ as the greatest demonstration of the Love he has for us. We ended our time together with her wanting to know where I go to church. The next time I saw Lynn she indicated that they were looking for a church for her children and grandchildren.

It is my prayer that we were able to demonstrate to Lynn and her family that even when we are wrongly accused and differ greatly about the things people do that we are still able to affirm the value of the individual. But even more importantly that we affirm their value to the Lord.