To most people my friend Ken Smith doesn't appear to be an emotional or soft hearted man.  In fact, I'm sure most people would refer to him as a crusty old man.  And, I can see why they would think that about him.  At first glance he's a little gruff and hard around the edges.  But I know him a little more than most, so I sort of think of him as if he's the perfect dinner roll.

You know the ones I mean, they have a hard, crisp crust that crackles at the twist of your hand or the bit of your teeth and then start to melt in your mouth while revealing a soft moist center?  I know some people that don't like that hard kind of roll and I've never quite understood why.  I guess they just don't like the rigid crust.  They find it just too hard.  But to me such rolls are the perfect mix of contrasting textures and delicate tongue tickling taste. 

That's the way I feel about Ken too.  I kind of like his hard exterior and I'm really enjoying getting to know his soft, moist center.  I first got a deeper look at his soft center when his wife passed away earlier this year.  Ken looked at me with tears in his eyes and expressed his loneliness after being married to her for more than fifty years.   And then, just recently, I saw more depth in him when I came to his home just to visit with him.

It was then that he told me about stepping off a stair into his back yard and he heard a sound "like a rifle shot."  He immediately found himself on the ground unable to get up because his leg had broken and collapsed beneath him.  Now, after surgery, he was healing well and is getting around with a rod through his bone and a cane in his hand.

"My neighbor came over when my leg broke and called for an ambulance.  Then she came and cooked me dinner every night until I could get around on my own.  Other people came and did my laundry and cleaned my house." He said.

"I have more friends than I ever imagined I had." He choked out, as tears welled up in his eyes and then spilled down his wrinkled cheeks.

Here's another example of his soft center, I thought as his words trickled into my ears.  He was also revealing the soft center of many people around him and how their actions were an expression of their love.  My offering was to simply visit and spend more time getting to know more about his life; more about who he really is.  People are always a lot more than they appear to be on the outside.