A few years ago I woke early after a sleepless night. I was worried about a serious decision. Feeling the need to rejuvenate my spirit, I grabbed a U2 CD on my way out the door and plugged it into my car’s sound system. I pushed the random button on the player so that the songs would not follow the album’s preset order.  The song that came up was, “Sometimes you can’t make it on your own.”  The lyrics spoke directly to me:

Tough, you think you’ve got the stuff
You’re telling me and anyone
You’re hard enough…
Sometimes you can’t make it on your own.

I needed that word more than I realized.  I prayed out loud as I was driving, “Lord, I can’t make it on my own. I need you. Our church needs you. Guide us, lead us, help us.”

Later that day I stopped by the hospital to see Letha Bash. She was the widow of Lawrence Bash, the great pastor of this congregation from 1961-1978.  At 94 years of age she was quite frail. She was fighting the flu and was in the hospital to help her fight a little harder. Because she was so ill she had been unable to attend worship for a long time. That bothered her a lot. She deeply loved this church. As we talked she said, “I pray everyday. I pray for the the world. I pray for Country Club Christian.” And then she took my hand and said, “Glen, I pray for you. I pray for you every day.”  Tears formed in my eyes. There were tears in her eyes too. It was a sacred and unexpected moment.

As I sat beside her in that hospital room, it felt like the Spirit of God was there.  I knew I was in the presence of someone holy.  And, I was sure that the song playing in my car early that day was a word from the Lord: “Sometimes you can’t make it on your own.”

Letha’s love and prayers were a powerful reminder of the way God works in the world through the most unexpected persons. I had been certain, like the opening words of the song, that I was tough enough to take on whatever the world might throw at me but what I really needed, and still do, was a serious dose of the grace of God and the simple, but true reminder that none of us can make it on our own. We need God. We need each other.

Grace and peace to you,