Friday, February 27, 2004
Friday, February 27, 2004
O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with
him is great power to redeem.
(Psalm 130.7
NRSV)
A BBC-TV documentary from the 1970s had as its theme the daily diary of a drug addict. This addict had been chosen by the BBC at random. Two years later a second documentary did a follow-up of this same addict. The treatment this addict received was so successful that he wanted his long-time friend we'll call him Bob also a hardened addict, to be treated. But Bob did not want to be cured. Bob had a complex family history. His parents divorced while he was only a few years old, and he was handed over to others to bring up, never seeing his father again.
Then, one day, a couple of years later, Bob's father knocked on Bob's door and told him he had been searching for him for over twenty years. He wanted Bob to go home with him. The father was dismayed to find that Bob was a junkie and living in squalor, but he affirmed his invitation to his son, only asking that he try to come off drugs now for his new family's sake. It was the fastest cure of all the patients in that particular program according to Bob's doctor. And, said his doctor, Bob never looked back. (3) There is healing in generosity, compassion, mercy, forgiveness. If his father could not have overlooked his son's condition, Bob would never have made it back home.
Lord Jesus, keep me close to your home and help me to share your healing love. Amen.
