Frank Frisch: ‘God hath not promised skies always blue’

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12:32 PM Thursday, December 31, 2009

When I got the phone call on May 15, 1979, I was in shock. My brother had committed suicide. He was down on his luck and had problems with his work, but none of us thought that it would come to that.

His memorial card read: “God hath not promised skies always blue, flower-strewn pathways ... sun without rain, joy without sorrow, peace without pain. But God has promised strength for the day, rest for labor, light for the way ... help from above, unfailing sympathy and undying love. ...”

My brother’s life was never the same after his 18-month-old son drowned in a neighbor’s pond and he had to pull him from the pond and try mouth-to-mouth resuscitation without success. Tragedy can alter a man’s thinking for life.

Rick McCrabb’s recent column about 13-year-old Seth Bair donating his birthday money, lunch-money leftovers, and spare change to purchase food for Hope House, the homeless shelter, does put many of us to shame.

With the failing economy, foreclosures and unemployment, any one of us could be homeless. Some of us are just one paycheck away from being homeless.

Recently, I spoke with an 80-something-year-old man who said that he had once been a hobo who rode the rails, unable to find a place to call home. Jokingly, he said to me: “If you live north of Central Avenue your ZIP code is 45042. If you live south of Central, your ZIP code is 45044. What is your ZIP code if you are homeless and live under the bridge?”

I asked him where he lives now. He said, “Let’s just say that I’m ‘at large’.”

It’s really wonderful what some area churches do for folks who are down and out for whatever reason.

Butch Miller of Middletown told me that his Breiel Boulevard Church of God group does service projects for the homeless and needy families in Middletown every year. Here’s what he said:

“On Thanksgiving, we give all the dinner fixings (turkey) for several families. At Christmas, We do dinner fixings (ham) for several families, plus our people take names from a Christmas tree and buy gifts for members of the families.

“Our group, along with a group of kids from Central Academy in Middletown, put together more than 150 lunch bags for the homeless.

“(On Christmas Eve) we loaded everything up in the church bus and drove around the streets of Middletown, stopping and asking if they would like to have a sack lunch. Following that, we went to several motel complexes around the city and knocked on the doors, asking the same about the lunch bags. It took us (almost) three hours.

“We are always way more blessed than the blessings we try to give.”

Generosity is everywhere. According to an Associated Press report, 15 homeless people in Colorado Springs were inside for Christmas, thanks to a mysterious donor who paid for their motel rooms.

Employees at the Express Inn say the woman walked in Dec. 22 and paid for four rooms for a week. She insisted they be given to homeless men and women camping along Fountain Creek. The total came to $640.

Experts say more veterans are suffering from post-traumatic stress and serious brain injuries than in previous conflicts. That has veterans’ aid agencies working overtime to see to it that the men and women who have served their country so ably can return to civilian life with the same dignity and respect they earned in uniform.

I’ve always heard that God works in mysterious ways. I wonder if there might be one person whose life may have been saved because of the efforts of these kind-hearted individuals.

There could be a man who, like my brother, was contemplating suicide ... but changed his mind because someone cared enough to show him God’s love and gave that person strength for the day, rest for labor, light for the way, help from above, unfailing sympathy and undying love.

I hope so.

Frank Frisch is a retired Middletown resident.

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