A recent trip to the Draughon Library Special Collections at Auburn University filled me with nostalgia.
I was an AU student and returned some years later to nearby Chambers County as pastor. One of my Saturday afternoon tasks was taking our children for outings to give their mom some alone time. We often grabbed hamburgers and made the trek to the university campus to visit the eagle cage adjacent to Jordan-Hare Stadium.
I frequently found myself visiting church members at the East Alabama Medical Center in Opelika. In this wave of nostalgia I remembered two events there.
I entered one Monday morning and saw a crowd congregated at the waiting room television. I drew near to see what was happening. This was before everyone had beeping cellphones, of course. I heard the newscaster say, “The president has been shot.”
President Reagan was newly-inaugurated in January, and this terrible event was on March 30, 1981. He was rushed to the hospital where, according to aide Michael Deaver, he “hitched up” his pants and insisted on walking in under his own power. Moments later Reagan fainted from blood loss, a bullet less than one inch from his heart, and underwent surgery.
The next days were filled with anxiety, but the nation breathed easier when the president addressed Congress a month later.
Georgia humorist Lewis Grizzard meant it as a compliment when he said, “Reagan was a tough old bird.”
The second incident was not a tragedy, but a surprise.
I visited members at the afore-mentioned hospital one day and thought how much I’d enjoy a diet soda on the way home. But I didn’t have a nickel in my pocket. At that time we didn’t have a credit card. While walking to the car, suddenly, a $20 bill came tumbling end-over-end toward me in the parking lot (I could almost hear the music, “The answer my friend, is blowing in the wind”).
No one was nearby to claim it, so I did!
I enjoyed a cold drink on the drive home and marveled at this unusual gift.
Did God send the money? I’d like to think so, so I thanked him.
It’s said the hardest thing about being an atheist is you have no one to thank!
Money’s not as scarce now as it was then, and I’ve tried to show gratitude by “paying it forward” and supporting benevolent ministries.
Why these two incidents remain paramount in memory eludes me, but they do remind me of two undeniable truths.
We experience tragedies and suffering such as we saw in 1981, and so much of this is inexplicable.
But we also affirm we serve a God who often amazes us with good gifts.
