Childhood joys and trials … Adolescent angst … All enveloped in incense and stained glass, tree-climbing juxtaposed with learning to be a “young lady,” paper dolls and make-believe opposite coming-of-age and the bloom of inner secrets.
Not confiders in friends or family, my traveling friend and I now spoke of the loneliness and the fears, the high highs and low lows of a sensitive child, the isolation from self and others, and all seemingly endless and insurmountable. Jumping rope, riding bikes, night-time sweats over racial conflicts in school and at home … where were all the answers we felt desperately in need of? There was church, of course, but was it myth, as some claimed? What is a myth? Is it a fairy tale or something more …. Arguments within and without. How was one to know?
And then one day, the Billy Graham Association came to town! They showed a movie at the local movie theatre – The Hiding Place. The story of a family who stood up to the Nazis during WW II Holland, hiding Jews, and ending up in a concentration camp. So many died, so much suffering … but they said, "The Love of Jesus overcomes all odds." After the film, communion, and people inviting Jesus into their hearts. Joining the line of seekers – hoping for the answers to life’s questions – and they signed her up, but it didn’t seem to do much good. And the years kept piling up, and life’s confusion with them …
There was a song, a John Denver song – Rocky Mountain High – and it seemed True, so when the opportunity came she packed her belongings and hopped on the train. Have you ever seen the Rocky Mountains? From a plane, you see the smog and brown cloud over Denver, but from the rails … Those mountains became life’s backdrop and its underpinning. Their presence was as of a Being who watched over everything from a raised-up vantage point. I’ve been there and I think I understand. But … it seems the Rocky Mountain high became the biggest bummer ever. There under the watchful eye of beautiful majesty lurked her old friends, loneliness and isolation. Where was Billy Graham now? For that matter, what had become of Jesus?
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