Have a Little Faith: A True Story

At home in Detroit, inspired in part by his visits with the Reb, Albom decides to create a charity for people without homes. He visits various local shelters to decide whether to offer them financial support.

Albom pays one such visit to the I Am My Brother’s Keeper Ministry run by Pastor Henry Covington. Arriving at the large, dilapidated Gothic church building, he is caught off guard by Henry’s “extremely large” appearance.

In an excerpt from one of the Reb’s sermons, a small girl at an airport whose family is moving leans on her belongings. A woman expresses her sympathy, assuming that the girl does not have a home. The girl retorts, “But we do have a home […]. We just don’t have a house to put it in” (110).

The doctors decide it would be too risky to remove the Reb’s tumor from his lung, so he returns home. During a visit three years after the diagnosis, the Reb shows off his new walker to Albom.

Albom reflects on the Reb’s humble lifestyle. The Reb grew up in a poor family. When his father gave him a new suit for his Bar Mitzvah, he was embarrassed to learn that it was handed down from rich relatives.