Grown Men Cry

Hi, Darlene. I'm here to collect the rent...How are you all? I notice Dave and Carol aren't home. Is everything all right there?.....Well, things aren't going well. The law have been at their place a few times and last night I heard, "Sheriff's department. Freeze! And they took Dave away. Then yesterday three trucks came and took all of Carol's things out of the trailer. She has moved out....Crumbs! Dave phoned a couple of days ago and told me he had the rent. Now they are gone! Phooey!!!!....John and I go down to their trailer and look around. Noone there, for sure. We go inside to see what is what. Most of the stuff is gone, all that belonged to Carol. There is still a grandfather clock in the corner, bunkbeds for the boys in the second bedroom, lots of clothes in the master bedroom and in the living room on the sofa are....three study Bibles and a John MacArthur book....They must be Dave's. Carol took all that belonged to her. I can see that....Nothing wrong with Dave's brain - a smart guy, former marine turned tatoo artist!...We go outside and over to the trailer we want to paint....Then, a little later, up drives Carol with her two boys....Hi, there, Carol. What's up? How are you? ...Awful. I just want to crawl somewhere and hide...Things are bad, huh? What in the world happened with Dave?...Remember that time he got so angry? Dfax were called and they have become involved with our family. They have demanded the boys and I go for counselling. I don't know whether I have done something wrong, or whether the police came for Dave because I won't lay charges against him and Dfax is concerned...I don't know what has happened. I don't know why Dave is in jail...And they won't give me a lawyer because I haven't committed crime...I have just been talking with Dave's brother and he said Dave is howling in jail, all the other inmates are making fun of him because he won't stop...So what are you thinking, Carol? Do you want to keep the trailer another month, or are you going to go your separate ways?...And she pays the rent. She is committed to another month of trying to keep their marriage together...

And today She tells me Dave's mother, a policewoman, has paid Dave's bail and got him into a treatment program for depression...He should be out in a few days...Father, may we, and especially John, have opportunity to share the words of life with him. May he hear and understand. May he be given new life....

And yesterday I heard the sobs of another man on the other end of the socio-economic spectrum...