Fall has finally come to Arizona! It seems strange to say, in the middle of December, but it's true. I have just now noticed the changing of leaves on the few deciduous trees that are here. It is very strange for December to be so warm; it hardly feels like Christmas. Yet the busyness of the season reminds us, as do the lighted sahuaro cacti.

Work has been interesting. Among other things, I've had a client attempt suicide by overdose at our site and had another client get hit by a bus. One of my clients, whom I'll call Bert, is a dear 55-year-old man who has almost no memory because of his history of methamphetamine abuse. He is now clean and is great about getting his meds for schizoaffective disorder, but he can do very little on his own. He came in for his biweekly med box this week and told me that he was feeling depressed because he was thinking about life and death. I asked if he had told the nursing staff that he was feeling depressed, and he said that he had. I asked him what the nurse had said, and as he was about to respond, the nurse walked in to my office and said, "I told you, Bert! Don't worry! If anyone's going to heaven, it's you. There is no hell. Anyway, I believe in reincarnation. Besides that, isn't God a forgiving God? So, you see, don't worry about it!"

Wow. I had absolutely no idea what to say to this man with such low cognitive abilities. As the nurse walked out, Bert, in his sweet Georgia drawl, said, "I don't believe in reincarnation. I believe in heaven and hell." Praise God! So Bert and I talked about God's promise that if you confess that Jesus is Lord, you will be saved. I even was able to open the Bible with him and show him right where that promise is. So many of my clients do have a clear sense of who God is, even it looks different than what most of know. I took one of my clients to get an EEG, and the other day, on our way out, the client looked at the hospital tech and said, "Do you know Jesus?" When the tech said yes, you know, she goes to church on Sundays, my client said, "Oh no, you have to know him every day!" I learn from the very people that I am supposed to help.