Pain

My head is still kind of swimming this morning. I had a pretty deep conversation with one of the street guys last night. I've known him for a while, and he's usually pretty upbeat. Always glad for a bit of conversation, a chance to talk about something more than 'Spare any change?'
I've been thinking about what name I should use for him here. I'm going to call him 'Son' because you and I need to remember that God loves him, and wants him to live in that 'son' level of relationship with his Father.
I don't know a lot about Son's background. He's been on the street for a while. I suppose he is somewhere around 30 years old. As I said, he's usually pretty positive about life, but last night he admitted that that is kind of a mask, a front to hide the pain inside.
Son showed me the pretty recent scars up both arms from cutting himself, wanting to put an end to it all. The scars are healing, but the pain inside is still there. There's some physical issues involved, some physical pain, but the bigger stuff is the emotional pain. He didn't tell me what it was about, but I can well imagine. Many of us have holes inside, places where love should be, but they are empty. We have our wounds, things from the past that may be covered over, but not healed. A lot of street people are on the street because their home life wasn't/isn't what it's supposed to be. That's what lends itself to getting addicted to drugs, alcohol, sex, unhealthy relationships. Anything to try to fill the void, or at least numb the pain.
Son admitted to using cocaine and alcohol to try to help with the inner pain. Doctors don't want him to get hooked on painkillers, so he usually has to deal with the physical pain as well.
He knows he's going to think about ending it all again.
During our conversation, he decided to give me the exacto knife he had (totally his decision) just so that at least last night it wouldn't be too easy for him to try it again.
As I'm sitting there talking with him, or mostly just sitting, I'm trying to figure out what answers I have for him. Sure, I can tell him that "God loves him, and has a wonderful plan for his life", but he needs something a lot more here and now. At least for last night, the message he will understand, the language that will touch him, is me being there. Sitting with him, taking the time to be there, to listen. The more I think about it, the more important I think the 'being there' is.
You may be aware of Dr. Gary Chapman's "The Five Love Languages". (It's a great way to understand how people give and receive love. I recommend it.) One of the languages is "Quality Time". In other words, people know you love them in various ways. One of them is by spending time with them.
Please pray for Son. That God would use people to bring His love to him. That God would bring healing to the holes in his heart. That Son would come to know who he is as a son of God.