November 15th, 2020

​Today, Goff talks about the importance of making ourselves available. He says he doesn't schedule meetings on a calendar because he says he wants the people in his life to know they can have his attention anytime they need it. By the way - Goff gives his cellphone number out at the end of each of his books!!

You know, in Luke, there's a story of Jesus and his disciples traveling to the town of Jericho. On the way, a blind man cried out from the side of the road. Who knows, maybe it had been a long day, maybe Jesus was just ready to get where he was going, maybe he was like us when we're driving to a destination - we just want to get there. Whatever the case, this blind man was not a part of Jesus' plan.

What did he do? He had the blind man brought to him in the middle of his trip and he healed him. Jesus made himself available.

I have to confess, I struggle with this at times. To be honest, at lots of times.

I do a lot of trainings and talks around the state on childhood adversity. Often, these conversations open up old wounds in people. They help them understand the stories of their lives a little better. And - quite often - in the aftermath of those revelations, people want to talk with someone, which makes sense, because I spend a lot of time in these conversations talking about the power of allowing folks to tell their stories.

Invariably, I'll have someone, and sometimes a line of someones, waiting to talk to me after the training. Many of these trainings are done hours from home and when I'm done, I'm just ready to go home. So I confess - in my mind - there have been times when seeing people wanting to talk to me equals me not getting where I want to be as quickly as I want to get there.

There are times when I become mentally unavailable.

But you know, there's never been one of those conversations I regretted after the conversation happened. Every single time, I see some small or big wave of healing come over someone's face simply because someone made themselves available to hear them. To recognize them. To say you're valuable enough for me to be available to you.

I think in the future, when I see folks waiting, when I feel myself wanting to be home instead of wanting to be available, I'll simply ask myself - Keith, are you heading for home, or are you heading to Jericho?