Rob's Urinal Confessional

God works in mysterious way and in mysterious times. Rob tells his story here. I've included it below.

It reminds me of a Waterdeep lyric.
"In the gas station bathroom by the condom machine, I heard the word of the Lord. He said take off your shoes, this is holy ground too. you know I came for the sick and the bored.

Most every night at church there are several meetings going on at the same time in different parts of our buildings. Often at least one of those meetings will be a group from the community around us, such as scouts or AA.

I generally make it a policy to get to church half hour or so early for my meetings. That way I can hang out and chat with people I might not otherwise have a chance to meet.

That’s what I did last night. I talked with a few folks, and then decided to make a quick stop in the men’s room before going to my meeting. There was a young man in there who I had not met before; as it turned out, it was his first time at the church.

“Are you a father?” he asked, seeing my collar.

“Yes,” I answered.

“So do you hear confessions and all?”

“Yes.” Surmising from the heavy smell of his breath which meeting he was here to attend, I added, “I often hear confessions for people in AA as part of their fifth step.”

“So will you hear mine?” he asked with some desperation.

“Sure,” I said. Before I could add "Would you like to go to my office?" he launched right in. And so, feeling rather awkward but not wanting to interupt, I heard my first confession offered while standing in the men’s room.

As it turned out, he didn’t have much to confess. Mostly what he did was just pour out his pain, which was considerable. When he was through, I prayed for him and we went to our respective meetings.

I have said it before but I’ll say it again. These are suffering times. People are hurting in a way right now in a way that I have not seen in my lifetime (other than in our relief work following Katrina). Pay attention. You never know who—or where—someone might need a little help.