From time to time there stands out someone who has shown great faith and courage in adversity and beams a lasting inspiration to many. Such was the challenge I received some years ago from the story of Dave Dravecky, a former Major League pitcher. In his prime, cancer caused the surgical removal of one arm and ended a fine baseball career. In his book “When You Can’t Come Back” he wrote “In America, Christians pray for the burden of suffering to be lifted from their backs. In the rest of the world, Christians pray for stronger backs so they can bear their suffering. It’s why we look away from the bag lady on the street and to the displays in store windows. It’s why we prefer going to the movies instead of hospitals and Nursing Homes.”
I find that quite an indictment, don’t you? Did Dravecky have to experience suffering to learn that truth? Do you? Do I? I remember one Mother’s Day when it was the turn of our Church to go to the Nursing Home for a Service. I was surprised at the small number of visitors there and the large number of Senior ladies alone in their rooms. One of the obvious things that Jesus did in His ministry was to search out sufferers to encourage them.
Many people suffer alone from a variety of physical, mental, and emotional pains. People who are healthy should make the effort to comfort them. Jesus said “I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” (Matthew 25:35-36 NIV) His explanation to His shocked listeners was if you did this for anyone you did it for Him.
We all know there is a world full of suffering today; it is not in hiding either. Will we be “Jesus” to those folks?
“When I was a kid, Lord, we used to sing a song in Church that said
‘Brighten the corner, where you are’. I’m sure you were behind those
words. Amen”
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