Somebody's got a case of the Mondays

My employment label is part-time. Yet I work Monday-Friday.

Mondays I am at Scheu Plumbing, which is conveniently located in the backyard of the Scheu family home in Chino. I come in in the mid-morning sometime, and I work until my work is done. My work consists of processing payroll, generating certified payroll reports, entering accounts payable invoices, paying accounts payable invoices, filing, and preparing preliminary notices. It's all pretty cut and dry, which is nice, because I know when my work is done. I have a definitive answer and checklist.

But on days like today, when I get a Flipside related call about a woman in need, the superhero in me is not as quick to respond. I'm not at Flipside right now, I'm alone, in a dirty and cluttered machine-shop-turned-office, and to be honest, my cell phone ringing is a distraction.

So me that's at Flipside is more compassionate, more quick to respond and go the extra 5,280 feet to help someone out. And the me that's at Scheu Plumbing really wants to respond and do something, but there's just not much that I can do. Maybe I come off as a bit bitter, uncaring. But really, I just don't know what to say or do. I don't have an extra $57. If I did, maybe I would have just given it. Or maybe from hearing these stories over and over and the warnings that go along with them, maybe I would just say "I'm sorry."

How is it that people let things like this happen? She had to know yesterday that she would not have the money she needed today. If she already had in mind this idea of calling a church, why didn't she go to one yesterday?

I wonder what Jesus would do in these situations. We so quickly say that he would do whatever was needed, but maybe the real need is something that we're not quite hitting upon. And maybe that's the need he would address.