Left Alone
When I was of college age I decided to head off to a far off state to go to school. I went to Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas. For the first time in my life I was away from home for an extended period of time. Home had always been in Maryland. I arrived about a week before school started. They advertised that there would be all kinds of activities that week to get you excited about being there. When I got there, there weren’t many activities to be found. So for a week I was out in the middle of nowhere and I didn’t know a soul. After about three days of this I got very homesick. I called my parents and said I wanted to come home. My parents talked me out of it and I’m really glad they did.
I was a paperboy when I was young. I delivered the Washington Star. They had a program where you could earn “scholarships” by signing up new customers. I earned enough of them to pay my tuition for two years at a Maryland Community College. I also worked summers between college semesters and when I was in high school. I was pretty good at saving money and it was with that money I was able to pay for my tuition at Texas Tech. When I was at Texas Tech my parents would send me a little money each week which I used to live on while I was there.
When it came time to come home from Texas Tech that summer I was able to fly home. I was literally broke and when I left my dorm I was not carrying a cent with me. A friend took me to the airport in Lubbock. I had a connecting flight in Dallas. It was in the Dallas airport I learned the true meaning of loneliness. They had these trams, but in order to go on it you had to put a quarter in the machine. Like I said, I did not have a cent on me. I stood there a moment not knowing what to do. It looked like my only option was to jump over the gate and hope I didn’t get caught. I really didn’t want to do that so I stood there for a little longer hoping another option would come to me. All of a sudden I felt a tap on my shoulder. There stood an older gentleman with his hands outstretched with a quarter in it. I thanked him so much for his kindness.
Becoming President often changes people. Sometimes they develop a power rush. It seems to happen more to individuals who had very poor beginnings, but those who come in with a rich entitled attitude aren’t exempt either. He came from one of those poor and very dysfunctional families. His father was on his fourth marriage when he married his Mom, although one of those marriages was annulled. Seven months after his Dad married his Mom, he divorced his previous wife. His Dad would die three months before he was born. He would live with his grandmother for a while when his Mom went to nursing school. His Mom would remarry an alcoholic who was very abusive. He would take his step-fathers last name even though he was an alcoholic and abusive. When he was growing up he would not live in the best parts of town.
Sometimes rough beginnings build character. Sometimes those rough beginnings build an artificial spirit of invincibility. You made it. You conquered it. Nothing can stand in your way. You take risks because you know risk-taking is part of the reason you made it this far. Some of those things you take risks on may seem just out of your reach, but you take your chances and you go for it. Such may have been the case for this President.
There was a time in the Biblical days when illness and plain bad luck was chalked up to something that individual or his parents did. It was thought the punishment for that wrong was the illness or misfortune the individual possessed. It was with those thoughts and such great remorse that he laid there with palsy. The doctors had no cure, so it was there he laid.
Once Jesus became “popular,” everywhere He went he drew a crowd. If He were physically around today, getting a chance to see Him would be a very hard ticket to get. But in towns where big stadiums or convention centers hadn’t been invented yet, going to people’s houses or speaking in the squares was the best available option. If Jesus was to come to your house, people would probably be stuffed in every room and closet.
Bill Clinton, in his autobiography My Life (page 773), briefly explains his relationship with the White House intern named Monica Lewinsky: “During the government shutdown in late 1995, when very few people were allowed to come to work in the White House and those who were there were working late, I had an inappropriate encounter with Monica Lewinsky and would do so again on other occasions between November and April, when she left the White House for the Pentagon.” It was a risk that would cause him and many others much pain. Clinton goes on to tell of the many nights he spent on the White House couch as his wife Hillary was deciding what was the best road for her to take. Clinton would also be impeached (but the votes weren’t there to convict) for lying about the affair. For any politician, or any citizen for that matter, to be around Clinton was toxic. The days, weeks and months following the announcement were probably some of the loneliest of his life.
When Clinton was reelected, but before he was impeached, a very popular semi-retired newscaster, who was in the twilight of his career, invited Bill and Hillary to go sailing with him and his wife. He loved sailing and he loved to show off his sail boat. He never heard back from the Clintons. As the impeachment hearing approached, the White House social secretary called him and asked if the sailing trip offer was still good. Very excited he said, “Definitely! It is still on.” So when very few people would have anything to do with this very tainted man, this newscaster and his wife took them on a sailing trip. Walter Cronkite said Bill and Hillary hardly said a word to each other on the trip, but both of them really appreciated that the Cronkites were there with them when no one else would dare get close to them.
Our crippled man from our Bible story also had a very hopeless outlook on life. That was until some friends of his decided they were going to take him to see Jesus. They heard and possibly saw Jesus heal others. Imagine their horror when they arrived at the house and it was so packed with people there was no way they were going to be able to get their lame friend through the crowd. But people with really caring hearts don’t give up on people, no matter how hopeless their situation or their lives look. They took the cripple man to the roof top and tore a hole in the roof large enough to gently lower his stretcher so it would land at Jesus’ feet. Jesus did heal the man, but I bet He looked up at the roof and was so proud those men cared so much that they brought their friend to Him.
Loneliness is an awful feeling. Whether it is our lack of planning, something we do wrong or just something that is part of our life that we have no control over, loneliness only has one cure: someone who cares enough to help it go away.
Prayer: Dear Mighty Father, Thank you for sending the older man to me when I was in need and he helped. It may have just been a quarter to him, but it was a lifetime memory to me. Please guide me to be better at helping others who might only need to know someone cares about them. After all, that is what your Son did for me. Amen.
