"Behold, the hour is coming and has arrived
when each of you will be scattered to his own home
and you will leave me alone.
But I am not alone, because the Father is with me.
I have told you this so that you might have peace in me.
In the world you will have trouble,
but take courage, I have conquered the world."(
John 16:32-33)
To think that people are drawn to Christ first because their minds have been satisfied is an easy enough mistake to make. And, those of us who live in our heads make it often. Every now and then, however, Jesus says something that blasts through our cognitive walls and addresses the heart, "You will never be alone."
It was this promise that drew my wife, Norma, to Christ. Born in central Illinois, Norma was raised in an Evangelical Christian home. For the most part, things in the Turner house were pretty average. Her folks weren't wealthy, but they weren't poor either. They attended the Bible church regularly, and the older kids even sang together in some of the worship services.
In the early seventies, however, something happened that would propel Norma and her family into the new mainstream of American society: Her dad left home. Without warning. Without a word.
Not long after that, an itinerant preacher came to town, and Norma attended one of his meetings. Since I was raised in a similar tradition and have been to many similar gatherings back in the Bahamas, I'm guessing that the evangelist made a pretty good case for the reasonableness of Christianity. More than likely, he even presented the evidence in support of Jesus' life, death and resurrection.
Even so, when Norma recalls the night that she gave her life to Christ, she remembers none of that. What she does remember is that the evangelist said, "Jesus is a friend that will never leave you." It was just the part of the Gospel that her little heart needed to hear. Her life has never been the same.
Today, I still live in my head. But living with Norma has given me a more important reason for doing so. When I was a lot younger, I lived in my head simply because I enjoyed the intellectual life. Now, I do it so that I can do for others what that travelling evangelist did for the little girl who was to become my wife: Find the connection between peoples' need and the hope that Jesus' life, death, resurrection and ascension has secured.
In an age so driven by the fear of being alone, perhaps its time that we cry out from the mountain tops, "You need never be alone. Jesus has come!"
Today's Readings:
Monday, May 29th, 2006.
"Let love be sincere;
