My Mom’s favorite story about Eric being more giving was his 4 bags of clothes gathered the night of Ash Wednesday 2002. He was cleaning out his room and my Mom was shocked. 🙂 She stepped in, sat down and took in what was happening. Her heart was deeply moved by his act to gather clothes to donate to St. Vincent de Paul Society. She thought, “Why not donate to Goodwill?” Eric stayed on the path that God showed him. This part, in part, was to support the thrift store of St. Vincent de Paul Society but to me it is much bigger than that. My Mom took this as a life changing event, she saw change blooming in Eric. That’s what I see too. We saw Eric being moved to be a better person, all year long. As my Mom said, this wasn’t an act that he was going to fulfill and just forget. He was making this leap of faith to follow God’s lead which is the Voice of Jesus. John Chapter 10.

Eric fulfilled many Acts of Kindness in his short lifespan. He was always that way but in this moment Eric needed help. He was lying about working at Richard’s Hardware store. My Mom found this out on Valentine’s Day and actually called the High School to tell him that she knew. I was there watching this phone call unfold. My Mom told Eric to come home right away after school so they could stop this lying and correct it.

Eric did come home that night but no one was there so he continued onto what he was doing while “working.” He was actually going to friends houses for dinners. The Triest family being one.

Family meals anchor us in when we need something stable. We didn’t grow up on family meals. We grew up with a divorced family, single Mom and a family arguing about money all of the time. Eric was 3, I was 6 and Tj was 9 when my parents divorced. It was chaos and still is.

The point being: lying

Eric’s Promise is in 3 parts.
1. To be more giving

2. Not lying so much

3. Do more Acts of Kindness

ERIC WAS LYING BUT HE WAS DOING IT TO BE SAFE. He needed a safe place to go being that the family home deemed unfit to him. My father’s house wasn’t any better. He tried to switch and fell deeper into depression. Eric was bright on the outside and being killed on the inside. He found solace in family dinners. He found peace in family dinners. He found peace with his friends and would make any excuse to be able to do this.

That is the truth of our family and still is.

MY Older Brother TJ is a pathological lier who decided to tell my Dad that I was homeless and had him calling all sorts of places looking for me. My family’s grief was out of control and has been for decades.

When we help others and find Christ in doing so that is success. That is the only way.

So remember, going forward: Stop lying

In Jesus’ name. Amen.