Have You Been There?

So I get into this elevator, and there is a mom in there with her screaming son. He is screaming at the top of his lungs. He's about 5 years old and he's lost his other shoe or something like that. And it is echoing. Shrill. Ear-piercing screams. This elderly man gets on the elevator. The frazzled mom and crazed son exit. I stay. Elderly man turns to me and says, "been there, done that", and I figure he means he has been through similar situations with his kids long ago. But my mind can't resist the image of him screaming bloody murder in an elevator while his mom frantically tries to calm him down.

What I think he really meant was to be gracious, to say I understand her predicament, I've been through similar situations and lived to tell of it. I feel for her, I empathize, I have sympathy. In a word: compassion. That is Jesus-like.

I think this can be applied to many life situations. Especially appropriate to our response to those who are actively kicking and screaming in resisting surrendering their lives to Jesus, those who need a firm and loving compassion from those who are in their right minds so to speak.