Her name was Laura. I met her and her friend around 8 years ago in the town down from where we live. I was impressed at how gentle and sweet they were, but was also aware that they were obviously lacking in this worlds goods. I started to pray for them to include finding a way to get them to come to our church. I didn’t know that God would soon answer that prayer and that in answering it I would learn many valuable lessons. Laura and her friend were placed in a motel not far from us, and that was the beginning of a very interesting relationship. They came to church and challenged all of us to love like Jesus loves. They were from a culture that the majority of us had no idea about called the culture of Generational Poverty. Our church reached out to them by supplying their needs and welcoming them as they did everyone else. We had them in our home for meals and gave them rides. Something I discovered is that this culture is one of constant transition as they never stay in one place very long. Laura was a severe alcoholic and at 44 she looked like she was a very old woman. She turned 52 this year. Our ladies group wrote to her when she ended up incarcerated for a time, continuing to pray for her and show her unconditional love. They moved in and out of our area and our life a number of times and one day I noticed one of her eyes was completely blown and she was blind in it. I asked her what happened and she grinned a little and shrugged her shoulders. I hadn’t heard from them until last week when the phone rang and Laura was on the other end just calling to tell us hello as “it had been awhile since I talked to you.” She sounded happy and we had a nice conversation. Before she hung up I told her that we loved her and her friend and she responded with, "We love you too.". Her friend called me a few days ago and he was crying, “Laura is in the hospital in a coma”, he said. They had been together 28 years. Bill picked him up on Wednesday and went to the hospital to see her. It was obvious she was being kept alive by machines. Laura had a Grand Mall seizure, which caused a stroke which caused a heart attack. She had no family so they let her friend make the determination to take her off the machines today. I don’t have the answers to the questions this kind of story generates; all I know is that Jesus calls us to love and told us that whatever we do for the least of these that we have done it unto Him. Does God place the marginalized in our lives to show us our hearts? Does he do it to teach us what unconditional love looks like? My heart is sad as hers is a sad story on so many levels and I know many whose stories are the same. They are “sheep” without a “Shepherd”. I will continue to pray that her friend will be drawn to the Father’s love and be rescued from his life of addiction into the joyous and abundant life that Christ offers.