I missed it.  so for post 10005 10006 I give you an inspirational event that occured last night.

I was selling a fellow arfkommer a flashlight.  He happens to be a LEO and he said before the weekend that he had to stay in a certain area for most of the weekend as he was posted there and had to be ready if called yada yada.  So I say no problem, we'll find some time later.  

Come Sunday and I call him and I say gimme directions to you and we'll meet (I'm still kinda new to VA roads)  He gives me directions to a place about half an hour away from me, I drive there and wait.  I'm sitting in this parking lot and all of a sudden I realize I'm in a hospital parking lot and the name of the hospital is familiar.  A couple of moments later I realize that a senior member of my congregation who's been undergoing chemotherapy had a final surgery to remove whatever cancer he was fighting and he's recovering at that very hospital.  

Previously, other congregants had gone to visit him, but they've lived here for decades and I'm relatively new and was unsure if it was proper for me to go visit him.  We shmooze alot and have alot to talk about together but I wasn't sure it was right.  Let me digress here to say that it's a HUGE mitzvah (positive commandment) to visit the sick, cheer them up, etc.  Not just a good deed, but a REALLY good deed.  I met the arfkommer, sold him the light, and sat there wondering what to do.  

(if you don't like religion, stop reading here ) )

I figured on the one hand was the relatively weak argument that I didn't feel I knew him well enough to visit him in his weakened condition.  On the other I thought that I could've met the arfkommer a million other times and places, and G-d led me to this place for a reason and it would be really really stupid for me to leave and not visit.

So I park again, call the hospital, get his room number, and walk in to find his wife and sister there and all three were overjoyed to see me though not surprised at all, like they expected me. The women had to go to dinner, so I hung out with him for a couple hours and it was amazing.  In the end I stayed for almost four hours and I don't know who was happier - me or him.  It was truly an uplifting experience.

Religious jews - and I'm sure religious non-jews as well! - believe in something that I can roughly translate into 'divine orchestration' (hashgachah pratis), the notion that there's no such thing as coincidence, everything happens for a reason, every opportunity is given by G-d,  etc.  My point is that not only did the fellow arfkommer play a huge role in this - in that G-d provided me with that sale and made it convenient at that time, and put that arfkommer on call just then and there just to get me to the hospital - but it could be that all my hours spent surfing arfkom, even my interest in black rifles, were provided for me simply to arrange that one meeting so that I could fulfill that one mitzvah and cheer up one guy in pretty bad shape.  

I don't mean to sound conceited, but it could be that arfkom was created just to effect events like this one, and others that I see on teh team forum with members helping others out on a pretty regular basis.

My point is something like: maybe this forum is about  more than guns and means alot to many people, myself included.

IT was a real eye-opening moment for me when I left.  I was amazed at what had transpired and it made me view my 10000 posts in a different light, as in I didn't waste the 18 months I've spent here just oogling rifles and blowing money on them - but it was all part of a plan.  The whole retroactive introspection experience made my ride home really interesting.....  Made me think of everyone who had a part in getting me to that point where I was able to do what I did.  In many ways, the arfkommer I sold the light to, the guys who got me into guns, the guys who got me into arfkom - they are all receiving some of the reward from that mitzvah now.   Mind boggling, huh?

Thank you arfkom.  

good stuff. Glad you got to cheer him/you up!

Nice story.
Sean

It was just a coincidence.

I don't believe in coincidence. Everything happens for a reason. You start to see that as you get older, how strange everything comes full circle.


- rem

Waiting for details on your f'd up life.    I need to make myself feel better.  

Quoted: Waiting for details on your f'd up life.    I need to make myself feel better.

I'll be drinking heavily later tonight, maybe I'll do some drunk posting.

Religion or not, it is the best thing you can do is visit a cancer patient every day.  It is so uplifting to them, that they make their day around seeing you.  I made it a point to visit my friend every day when he was diagnosed.  After he was gone his wife revealed that he didn't want to get out of bed or do anything, except for the fact that he knew I would come by every day.  I hope I made a difference, and I think I did.

Good for you, and plan another visit.  It helps with the healing, or at least helps the pain be more bearable.  

Quoted: Religion or not, it is the best thing you can do is visit a cancer patient every day.  It is so uplifting to them, that they make their day around seeing you.  I made it a point to visit my friend every day when he was diagnosed.  After he was gone his wife revealed that he didn't want to get out of bed or do anything, except for the fact that he knew I would come by every day.  I hope I made a difference, and I think I did. Good for you, and plan another visit.  It helps with the healing, or at least helps the pain be more bearable.

Thank G-d he's out tomorrow.  Preliminary word is all clear, but not 100% sure yet.  Seriously considerring going with my Rabbi when he makes his rounds to similar patients around the area.  At the risk of sounding selfish, I felt 'good' for the first time in at at least three years (since my twin nephews were born) when I left.

Gratuitous nephew pic.  He moves too fast for conventional cameras:

Visit at home, take some soup, do some yard work, anything can help.

That's a great way to justify buying guns!

Quoted: That's a great way to justify buying guns!

great avatar!

Good on you Chapperjoe!  I too, do not believe in coincidence, everything does happen for a reason.

--VT

To long to read, best wishes.

It's okay to say God.  Moments like those bring perspective to our lives.  They are also invaluable for lifting the spirits of those who are sick or recovering.  Everyone wins.  Go serve lunch in a soup kitchen once in a while to enhance your perspective.  Good for you, and good on you!

Blake

He works in ways we could never fathom. Thanks for the great read, and Bless you.

I wouldn't be able to get out of bed in the morning if I didn't know
God was going to make it interesting that day.

Good on you chapperjoe for keeping your eyes open.

GM

Good job CJoe. Sometimes it difficult to understand the meaning behind such happenings but the result usually answers the question. You made a fellow human feel better about his situation and in return God gave you a feeling of purpose and peace.

Everyone should be so blessed.

You?  Good karma.

Well done and well written.

Religion is more "what you do" and less what you think.

Quoted: It's okay to say God.  Moments like those bring perspective to our lives.  They are also invaluable for lifting the spirits of those who are sick or recovering.  Everyone wins.  Go serve lunch in a soup kitchen once in a while to enhance your perspective.  Good for you, and good on you! Blake

Not if youre a HEEEEEEEB.

Jew or non-Jew. it's no coincidence. God makes things happen..... keep listening...