This past January here in the NorthWest, we experienced a very unusual cold snap, which literally shut down our society. Our airports closed, our major freeways in all directions closed, businesses and schools closed. Temperatures were in the single digits, and snow crusted over with a thick coating of freezing rain turned ice. It was treacherous just to go out and try to walk.

One of the single mothers we know (Roxanne) called and asked for some technical assistance. She and her son have been watching out for a man named Richard that often wanders around her neighborhood. He has an advanced case of Huntington's Disease, a muscular disease that has been progressively degenerating his body. The man can barely communicate, much less walk. It is all he can do to stand up. But walk he does, all over the neighborhood. It is his only opportunity to experience freedom. In all other aspects, the man is alert, and bright and intelligent. And he has quite a sense of humor.

Early this week, Roxanne had seen Richard out walking barefoot in the ice and cold, and called us. By the time I arrived, Roxanne had grabbed a blanket off her couch and run out to cover him. She gave him the shoes and socks off her feet, and helped him back to his trailer, where he lives by himself.

Richard's trailer is a small 8x12 foot trailer, which he lives in by himself. The trailer has no running water, no heat, a couple of broken windows, and has a grossly overpowering smell of human waste and urine (the broken toilet sits on the kitchen counter). It took us a couple of days working together, but we were finally able to get him into a permanent home where someone will be caring for him, seeing to his physical needs, yet also allowing him the freedom to roam about that he so desired.

There is so much more to this story, but I will confine myself to these two points: First is that love begins where we see the need, and do something about it. Second is that Roxanne acted out of compassion for the man when she herself has so little, and struggles desperately from month to month to provide for herself and her son.

Faith and love flow through us as God ministers to us His love and faithfulness. It's a river that can be easily stopped up, or allowed to flow with great power and abundance. And in this case, a greatly diseased man was saved from a desperate situation, because God's love and faith flowed through one person.