"I can drive through life's ups and downs for just so long."
One of the great joys of travelling is the opportunity available to read those books we never have "the time" to read. On one recent trip I finished an exquisitely-written book by journalist Russell Baker, The Good Times. About halfway through this narrative of his experience as a junior newspaper reporter, Baker shares a magical moment when he was invited to attend an elegant lawn party at an English country estate.
The evening before, Lord Raglan, a very proper English gentleman, Grenadier Guard and descendant of Lord Nelson, asked to ride along with him. They met the next day and, without losing too much dignity, Lord Raglan managed to squeeze into the backseat of Baker's tiny Anglia motorcar, insisting that Russell's wife ride up front.
"And off we went," wrote Baker, "bumping up and down narrow roads, climbing hills almost steep enough to exhaust the Anglia's twelve-horsepower engine. By shifting down to first gear, I nursed the tiny Anglia to the top of each hill, then, nearly quivering with exhaustion, we coasted into the downhill slopes."
Looking ahead to the next hill, Baker knew his Anglia was out of its league...it was like a ski jump. Baker floored the gas pedal. "We hit bottom and sped upwards...but the Anglia's spirit faded. We all knew what had to happen. And it did."
We sat there for two seconds that felt like eternity. "I'll get out and walk," Lord Raglan offered, but then I remembered something my Baltimore driving instructor had told me long ago: The most powerful gear in a car is reverse!" So I backed to the bottom of the hill, turned around, and with the Anglia's twelve horses in reverse, I aimed up the hill and gave it the gas. The result was amazing! Looking through Lord Raglan's noble aristocratic countenance, with his black bowler hat set squarely on his head, Baker drove that Anglia with ease right over the hill backwards, remembering as they crested, that Lord Anglia had led "the charge of the light brigade."
I share this rather colorful story of human interest because it helps me understand how it is in life, and what might have been going on at Jacob's well in a small town in Samaria about noon on a very hot day some two thousand years ago.
In the midst of his peripatetic ministry with his disciples, Jesus had stopped for a drink and to rest for a while at that ancient well. There he met a woman who, I suspect, was "at the end of her rope." Clearly, this Samaritan woman had lived a hard life with many ups and downs and too many husbands. At this point in her life, all the water in that inexhaustible well would not satisfy her thirst for some peace--a little bit of joy, the comfort of a holy hope, some rest in her troubled life.
But on that day, and maybe it was the kind of day she felt she just could not go on, she was given a gift--the inner spiritual resource to climb out of her desperate state. She tasted the living water offered by Jesus, the presence of God's holy, life-giving spirit in her life. I suspect that when she engaged Jesus it was like journalist Russell Baker engaging the reverse gear of his Anglia. Jesus' life-giving spirit gave this Samaritan woman new life--a whole new world of possibilities.
The story of the woman at the well is the longest recorded conversation between Jesus and another person. It tells a very big truth about life--that when we face some insurmountable hill, when we thirst for peace and joy and hope, it is Jesus Christ who offers us the living water of God's holy spirit.
I've discovered that I can drive through life's ups and downs for just so long. My internal engine and forward gears usually have enough power to make it over most hills. But the fact is, eventually we will (or have) encounter(ed) an insurmountable hill which seems overwhelming. We reach the end of our rope. And it is at that time we need to remember--the most powerful gear in our life is Jesus Christ. It is time to drink at the well of life-giving water.
I had the opportunity this week to witness the power of life-giving water. Following the funeral service for my father, one of Dad's neighbors asked if he could talk with me. He was, as he said, stuck at the end of his rope. He told me that at the prime of his life and career, he woke up one day with Parkinson's disease. With great family support, George struggled for twenty years, but now his body was succumbing to the ravages of that illness; he was losing more and more control. "Up to now I've done okay," said George, "but now I've done everything I can do. I've run out. What now? Where is God? How will I make it to the end? What will happen to me when I die?"
I don't know what I said, but we talked a lot about God and Jesus, and mostly about the wonders of life after life. Somewhere in all that talk, George engaged Jesus for himself, and he knew it was going to be okay for him. I could sense his deep thirst being quenched, as George relaxed just a bit. There was no fanfare, no startling revelation. He just seemed to understand. We got up and George went on with his daily chores around the condominium, taking care of the "well" people.
I went home and an hour later I heard a knock at our front door. I opened the door, and there was George, doing all he could to balance a cake he had just baked for the family. As he stood there with flour all over him, I wondered to myself, "Did he really understand what happened, what was going on inside?" And I couldn't help but notice his eyes--the answer was there. He gave me the cake and as he turned and struggled down the sidewalk, I knew that he had indeed tasted a drop or two of the living water--a foretaste of God's peace and joy--of how it will be for him in life after life.
George still has a steep hill to climb, but I am convinced he is in the right gear to make it. He made his trip to the well.
What about you? Are you struggling with some great pain or sorrow? Are you at the end of one of life's ropes?
Have you trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged,
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful,
Who will all our troubles share?
Jesus knows our every weakness,
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
What a friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and grief to bear.
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer.
Oh what peace we often forfeit,
Oh what needless pain we bear.
We should never be discouraged,
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Amen.
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