The other day I met with a friend that I had not seen in years. His life had taken a turn for the worse, for him more worse than ever before. Let me explain.

Although not a vagabond, he would change jobs many times a year. He had a good work ethic, arriving early before work, never late. Clean, pressed, and ready to do what was required. For a while his life would improve. As finances allowed he would re-acquire life’s necessities and then bam, he would hit the “glass ceiling” and lose everything. This was a cycle I had seen for over a decade.

Before losing track of him this last time we would have long conversations about life and its many seasons. He would say that he hoped that…. And I would correct him and say that he needed Faith not Hope. Explaining that his lack of faith would create self-fulfilling prophecies, meaning he “knew” that his life would only get so good then, bam it would self-correct to where he believed it should be.

In addition, he felt that he was being punished for being a ‘bad person” hoping that someday his penance would be paid in full. Although honestly I could not determine for what act or reason why he had these thoughts.

This recent meeting was even sadder. Currently he was days out of recovery from quadruple bypass heart surgery, living in his car with his brown bag of meds and food stamps at his side. He had lost his job as a driver, his apartment, and furniture was gone. Even his dog, which I believe was his guardian angel, had been given away. I personally believe that his heart attack was a broken heart attack.