When a Brother Falls...

I have a friend that I've grown very close to over the course of my trial. His situation in life is similar to mine, he took on some of the very same goals as I did, and we both generally formed a brotherhood over the course of the past 5 months. About a month ago he started to crawl into a shell and push his friends away. As we are both in similar situations, I saw this as a bad sign, but he would not talk to me, wouldn't return calls (I felt like an ex-girlfriend or something), and he canceled times when we were supposed to hang out. I started to feel rejected as a friend, as if I'd done something wrong. I started to feel left again...the way I felt when my wife and I separated. So I started to protect myself and called him to let him know I would know longer attend a mutual engagement that we both took part in. He told me he expected that, asked how I was, and told me nothing more. We hung up.

Immediately I felt convicted to call him back, and when I did call him back something good happened. He came forward and expressed that he had fallen away in the past month. That he was not walking with the Lord and he didn't know how to get himself to get back. He shared himself for an hour, and it wound up opening up a door that was closing. I was able to be there for my brother when he fell. I know the Lord is working with him in his dark hour, and I'm thankful that God enabled me to be sensitive enough for my friend to be ready to help. So as I close, the question I have for you is when a brother or sister falls, are you ready and willing to help pick them up? I pray that when the opportunity comes again, that I'll answer the call...again.