Last Saturday night at 11:00, Cesare died due to heart and circulatory problems. Few people noticed.

A very private sixty-nine-year-old Italian man, Cesare died as he had lived - virtually alone. Only Ingrid, a forty-year-old woman friend, was nearby. She came to Italy from Columbia about ten years ago and eventually became one of our students. When Cesare died, Ingrid immediately called Katie, one of our A.I. workers, who rushed to the hospital with two other workers to comfort Ingrid. Amazingly, neither Ingrid nor Cesare have many other relationships.

Meanwhile, across town from Cesare's emergency room bed, another late-night drama was taking place. A Filipino Christian man, Ricky, was chatting with friends in a downtown piazza when a middle-aged American woman sitting on a nearby bench began wailing and sobbing.

From Maryland, the woman had been traveling for days with her three daughters - and for weeks she had been hiding from her family the medical news she received in May. She is dying of cancer, just as her mother did. She did not want to tell her family for fear it would spoil their trip. So late that night she stepped out of her hotel into the piazza to weep alone.

Desperate, groping for something, she asked amidst her sobs if someone knew a palm reader. Ricky talked with her until 2:00 in the morning, promising to pray for her and urging her to talk with her family and not lose hope. Then he and his friends watched her go back into the hotel.

"I saw myself in her," Ricky later said. "I have been like that."

The next night, these Christians were gathered with others for the weekly English-language worship our Avanti Italia workers lead. We thanked God in prayer that we can worship with believers whom we do not know and may never see again, united in spirit with all others around the world doing the same. Then we talked about Jesus and the dramas of the night before.

Suddenly Brendan, a young man from New York who was wearing a backpack, spoke up. "I want you to know how wonderful it is for me to be here and to find you all. I am traveling across Europe, and I wanted to find believers to worship with today. A chill went up my spine when you prayed those words," he said. "I know none of you, but yet I know all of you."

I was struck by the contrast. So many people live their lives as solo strugglers - weeping alone, afraid, unconnected. Others live lives of faith and seek out fellow believers as they travel.

Jesus knows how it feels to weep alone. He died and left us his church so that we do not have to.

Gary and Jennifer Williams
Florence Bible School
Italy