This is the Way

Reflection

My friend Ed was the University Attorney at the University of Tennessee for a long time. He had a wonderful sense of humor and classic Irish wit, but he was also a no-nonsense attorney, and a brilliant one at that. Early on in his tenure at UT Ed found himself feeling unwell on his drive to work. He confided as much to his boss, the University President, who happened to be a physician. The president took one look at him and had Ed rushed to the University Medical Center where he was admitted, subjected to a battery of tests, and told that he had to have emergency brain surgery to remove a brain tumor.

As Ed waited to be taken to the operating room, for the first time in his life, he was frightened and felt very alone. Months later, Ed told me that, while he was waiting on his stretcher, he heard a voice—as clearly as any voice he had ever heard, as clearly as when I spoke to him. The voice said: “Ed, I am with you, I have always been with you, and I will never leave you.”

Although we may experience difficult times in our lives, we must never doubt that we have been created by a loving God who is always present with us, who hears us when we cry out to him, and who answers us with love. He speaks to us, not necessarily as he spoke to Ed, but if we listen, we will hear him calling us to follow him as his Spirit assures and guides us through life. The Lord doesn’t only want us to know that he is present, he wants us to walk in his ways—to bring Good News to those who need it most: to the sick, the suffering, the despised, the lonely, the lost. When we care for the least of our brothers and sisters we are both hearing his call and walking in his ways.