My Neighbor (Part one)

Do not say to your neighbor, "Go, and come back, And tomorrow I will give it," When you have it with you. (Proverbs 3:28)

For the past several weeks our pastor has been preaching a series about prayer. At the beginning of the series we were asked to write down several names and commit to pray for them during the upcoming weeks. I made my list, I've been consistent in prayer and patient in my expectation, waiting to see God work in the lives and situation of the people on my list.
Well, apparently I omitted a name from my list, and was reminded by a phone call one morning. As I listened to the one sided conversation I got the feeling that I was going to be asked something and I already knew what my response would be.........NO. After the phone call and my wife explained the situation, it's one that been going on for sometime. The person on the other end of the line, we'll call him Joe, was in need of a place to stay. Apparently he'd worn out his welcome in another place or the person(s) who used him for cheep labor no longer had need of his services. My knee-jerk reaction was: I didn't want to get involved. You see Joe is an alcoholic of long standing, more than twenty years. He's a bright individual but has never lived up to his potential. He's had good jobs, making good money but sooner or later the drinking invariably robs him of everything. I recall seven or eight years ago, when it looked like he would be moving to this area, not to make the move thinking that a change of location would solve his problems. I tried to convince him to get some help and take whatever steps necessary to take care of the situation there. Of course that didn't happen and he made the move to the Land of Oz and continued doing the same old stuff.
There's a song by Bobby Womack called, Harry Hippie, and part of the lyric reads: "I'd like to help a man when he's down, but I can't help ya Harry if you wanna sleep on the ground. Sorry Harry, you're too much weight to carry around."

There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death. (Proverbs 14:12)