Michael was missing for almost four weeks. Like millions, he exists at the margins and this Covid crazy was simply too much; too much went wrong with no one to help him, all relief agency minders working from home, and he just could’t handle his unbearable existence anymore. He walked out the door of his apartment one night without telling a soul and just drifted away.
When he missed a couple of services, I went looking for him, as I tend to do (ask around, haha). I’d been to his place a few times during the crisis to check on him but when I discovered that no one in his apartment complex had seen him in three weeks, my heart sank.
With help from the homeless community in Pontiac, some good shop owners, the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office, and Emery, we first spotted Michael last Friday and then found him Wednesday night after a week of searching. I was overjoyed. I’d put some important things I’d promised friends on hold to find him. He matters to me and to our church.
Michael and I visited his landlord Thursday, a very good man, and Michael should be back in his apartment next Wednesday. A lot else remains to be done to restore some semblance of togetherness for his life—a lot of logistics and resourcing—but he is resting well on our church campus tonight with all he needs because that is the kind of community we are.
We will do better by our brother, assist him more closely going forward, make sure he feels our support, and I repent for not being more diligent, but he said something on the way back from the landlord that felt like a window I’d been hoping might open for a long time.
I’ll remind you, this man slept under a concrete staircase for four weeks on Michigan’s hottest days this year and until Wednesday night had not had a shower or complete meal in a month (longer?). God help me.
He pointed out the front windshield at the blue sky as we were driving down M-59 and said: “Father, there’s a lot of pain in this world, a lot of people suffering right now, but no one suffers from bearing the weight of it it all like God.”
Photo: The staircase Michael lived under in July.
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