Twice in two days I’ve gotten stuck.

Twice in two days I’ve been in conversations and not known what to say.

Twice in two days I’ve been talking with people who came looking for money because of troubles. They come, of course, to a church because churches are where you go when you need money, when you can’t keep the phone on, when you can’t pay the electric bill or the rent or the food bill.

I talk and I suggest and I listen. A lot of listening.  I often help.

But twice in two days I’ve talked with people who think differently than I do. More simply. More desperately. More filled with loops.

Both of them talked about church being important, though neither attends much anywhere and neither attends our church. Both talk about God. Both  talk about needing to go to church. Both talked about prayer. Both wondered what God was doing, what God was putting them through.

Both couldn’t quite figure out what to say when I said, “tell me about Jesus.”

I know. It’s a disorienting question. I ask it often. I want to see what people who are talking about prayer and church and God think about Jesus.

I need to think through the next question, the next comment, the next sentence. I think that they are confused, not by the question, but by an uncertainty about what to say about Jesus.

Which I understand.

I should be telling them about healing. I should be telling them that the Kingdom is at hand. I could be explaining to them something about asking and seeking and knocking, and offering comfort and hope.

I end up offering them gasoline and money.

Those are important, but they don’t really help people understand why God isn’t listening. It seems.