Altar Call – Opelika-Auburn News
Walter Albritton
Links across the world provide extraordinary
communication
The medium
of e-mail enables me to share my Sunday column in the Opelika-Auburn News with more than a hundred people who have no
access to the newspaper. That provides me on a weekly basis contact with many
friends across the
Most of the
time my comments stir scant reaction. Occasionally, almost everyone responds,
as was the case last Sunday. Reader response was huge and varied to my remarks
about my struggle with the doldrums in the aftermath of knee replacement
surgery.
Many
friends simply wanted me to know they cared. A typical response was that of a
couple who are dear to my wife and me: “We are so sorry that you are having a
rough time through this healing process. The days seem long and dark when
you are fighting fatigue and depression. Please know you are loved.”
Another
said, “I have been where you are, so I know how slow the return to health can
be. However, I made it, and I know you will also.”
Others
wanted me to know that they could relate to the feelings I expressed. One said,
“I can related to some of your feelings, but I believe you are well on your way
to recovery.”
Then she
reminded me that many times in the past I had shared “wisdom” that was helpful
to her in times of distress. “Now,” she said, “all you need to do is to listen
your own wisdom – and you will soon have the victory!”
One of the
busiest men in
Another
response was blunt and to the point. My column, he said, “generates no sympathy
from me. You have reached the age where energy level drops off even without new
knees. Some things you just have to learn to live with. Face it – you will
never be as energetic tomorrow as you were yesterday.”
Then he
shared a few one-liners that he hoped would amuse me:
“If you want the rainbow, you gotta put up
with the rain.”
“A clear conscience is usually the
sign of a bad memory.”
“If everything seems to be going
well, you have obviously overlooked something.”
“A conclusion is the place where you
got tired of thinking.”
The popular
cynicism of Steven Wright may help me one day. However, it did not last week.
I have no
argument with this reader’s honest reaction. Any writer will agree with me that
any response is better than no response. Actually, I appreciate his candor.
Perhaps the
most thoughtful reaction came from a missionary friend in
“Your
situation reminded me of Charles Cowman, the founder of OMS (Oriental
Missionary Society). He was an energetic businessman type, always on the
go. For some reason, though, the Lord allowed him to be bed-ridden for
about 5 years before his death (please do not take this as a prophecy!).
The man, evidently, had a map of the world put up in his bedroom in
“As you may
also know, it was during this time that Lettie, his wife, composed and edited
the book Streams in the Desert.
She did so out of her own struggle with seeing her husband in that way. A
sort of "rest of the story" (a la Paul Harvey) to this story is that
when Lettie, years later, sent the first missionaries to Medellín, Colombia, to
establish the work here, they searched for months to buy property, but nobody
would sell to them or would ask too much (being Protestant missionaries,
etc.). They were about to pack up and leave when someone told them that a
property, where our seminary campus is presently at, was up for sale and
that the owner did not care who bought it.
“The
missionaries went at once to see about it, realized that this was it, and
hurriedly sent off a telegram to Mrs. Cowman in
“As it
turned out, the telegram took two weeks to get to Los Angeles (we are talking
about Colombia in 1943), but Mrs. Cowman, a woman of prayer, felt led of the
Lord, weeks before, to empty the bank account of the sale of the book Streams in the Desert, and send it to
Colombia. Her secretary, by the way, did this grudgingly thinking that
she was probably out of her mind.
“The
conclusion out of all of this is: who knows where we would be in
Mike is serving Christ faithfully in a violent place, rescuing youth from a life of drugs and crime. What an honor that he would take the time to offer me this rare dose of encouragement!
My sincere thanks to all my readers who responded to the honest feelings I shared on a dark Thursday last week. Thankfully, the sun is shining again and hope is renewed.
One day at a time, sweet Jesus! + + + +