“When you are helping someone in grief, don’t say ‘call me if you need anything.’ Instead, tell them how you are going to help them.”

I think I’ve probably written about that somewhere. I know that I’ve said it often. And, of course, you don’t tell them how you are going to overwhelm them. You say things like, “I’ll be mowing your lawn for the next month.” Or, “I’ll store the 47 casseroles you got in my freezer until you need them.”

Or, like this.

Hey Jon

You’re running ragged…I’m stuck at home. Funny how this works.

Two things. First, the “email” link in your blog actually isn’t an email address…it links to your website. Thought you might want to edit that.

Second, would a guest blog be useful?

If a guest blog would help, I’m happy to take a run at it. If not, feel free to use the idea – or not.

Either way…love to you and Nancy. Be safe.

Rich Dixon

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There’s an internet cliché about friends: likes are nice but they can’t help you move a refrigerator down the stairs. Of course, I’d never call Rich for that anyway. But when I got that email March 24, 2020, it was an offer of refrigerator-moving proportions.

I was showing up in the hospital three days a week, Rich and Becky were staying home in Colorado, and there was a pandemic rolling in. Of course I accepted the offer. And since then until this week, you’ve seen a post a week from Rich. They usually show up on Wednesdays, they are always 300 words (unlike mine), and they always push us past simplistic understandings of God’s love into deep observations wrapped in simple, clear words.

It’s the kind of clear teaching you’d expect from a retired middle school math teacher who has thought often about how to show God’s love beyond physical constraints. (And who, with Becky, is behind the annual Front Range Freedom Ride), Those weekly posts have given me a little space to breath in a challenging year, and have allowed me (and challenged me) to rest in God.

With the monthly Friday posts from Paul Merrill, also from Colorado, you’ve had good words to read even when I couldn’t find many.

Rich is taking a couple weeks off. Paul will be here on Friday.

But remember, you can help people in deep ways even if you aren’t close enough to move a refrigerator. You can move their heart and give them words.

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Browse through Rich’s posts and Paul’s. And in the photo above, Paul’s on the left, Rich on the right.