{"id":1204,"date":"2011-06-26T12:49:38","date_gmt":"2011-06-26T19:49:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jonandlayne.com\/?p=1204"},"modified":"2011-06-26T12:49:38","modified_gmt":"2011-06-26T19:49:38","slug":"standing-there","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jonandlayne.com\/standing-there\/","title":{"rendered":"Standing There"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Jon Post<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

It seems like I\u2019ve been \u201cdoing something\u201d for a while now. Layne and I have been pretty busy over the last couple months and I\u2019ve felt like I\u2019ve lost some of my time for something else. Something very African and very much a part of what Layne and I try to do in our ministry.<\/p>\n

Just standing there.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s funny, but as an American, I have learned that it is not an acceptable part of my culture to be around people or next to someone and just stand there. We have to be doing something, we have to be talking about something, we must have a purpose. Being here I\u2019ve learned that those things don\u2019t necessarily translate to the culture I\u2019m in now.<\/p>\n

As I\u2019ve rushed around doing something on a nearly continuous basis (or at least felt like I have) for the last couple months, I\u2019ve missed some opportunities to stop\u2026<\/p>\n

And just stand there.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t honestly know who coined the phrase \u201cDon\u2019t just stand there, do something<\/em><\/strong>!\u201d but whoever it was I don\u2019t think they have ever been next to a man dying on a bed who has not had a face to smile at him for 6 months. I don\u2019t think they\u2019ve ever sat beside a mother whose son has just lost his 2-year battle with a sickness that rotted flesh from bone and ripped breath from lungs. That phrase really makes no sense in such a context.<\/p>\n

When faced with such powerlessness\u2026 I think one of the most encouraging suggestions is:<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t just do something, stand there<\/strong>!\u201d<\/p>\n

Just stand there. Just hold a hand. Just weep with them. Don\u2019t say anything, don\u2019t try to fix what cannot be mended with words or service\u2026 just stand there.<\/p>\n

A tragically troubled man, who served God and loved people named Henri Nouwen once said,<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not healing, not curing, and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I miss those times.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t want to forget that Christ can be found, Christ can be known, Christ can be seen\u2026<\/p>\n

By just standing there.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Jon Post It seems like I\u2019ve been \u201cdoing something\u201d for a while now. Layne and I have been pretty busy over the last couple months and I\u2019ve felt like I\u2019ve lost some of my time for something else. Something very African and very much a part of what Layne and I try to do…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,10,6,15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonandlayne.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1204"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonandlayne.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonandlayne.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonandlayne.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonandlayne.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1204"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/jonandlayne.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1207,"href":"https:\/\/jonandlayne.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1204\/revisions\/1207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonandlayne.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonandlayne.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonandlayne.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}