Amid crisis, God is solid as a dock

When I was Miss America, I often was invited to give my Christian “witness.”

I wanted to speak, but I was self-conscious because I didn't have a dramatic conversion story. In fact, I had been blessed to grow up in a family who loved God and was very active in the church.

I didn't know how to give words to that kind of generational Christian foundation until my world was shaken by a devastating divorce. Then I experienced a sense of failure, a loss of identity, just hard times — new baby, no job, no money.

The gift of that hardship was the beginning of deep spiritual growth. I learned what it meant to experience God's saving grace and to seek help in a community of faith. For me, that meant finding my spiritual teacher, preacher, and friend, the Rev. Norman Neaves, founder of United Methodist Church of the Servant.

Many of his sermons and illustrations continue to stick in my mind today, even though he's been retired for some time. One of the more vivid ones was the story of a blind man who loved to fish. When the man lost his sight, he also lost the ability to enjoy his favorite hobby — fishing. With the passing of time and his increasing ability to adapt, he figured out a way to put this great enjoyment back into his life.

He rigged up a system. He put a bell on the end of the dock in a pond where he liked to fish. He tied a rope from that bell to his boat. So, wherever he went in that boat, he knew he was connected. He experienced such a sense of joy and freedom. He could row and row, and yet when he pulled the rope and listened for the bell, he could tell from the sound where he was. Whether he spent an hour out on the water or a half day, he could focus on the task at hand because he had a strong connection to home base.

Mature faith is like that. At times in my life, I have drifted away, almost too far to find my way home, but there was a connection that always pulled me back. It was a connection that was strengthened by those years in worship, in church community, in spiritual discipline, learning about God's faithfulness.

During this time of world crisis, I sometimes find myself floating off in a kind of numbness.

What is the future? Where is God? Why are we hurting one another? How do we survive?

Yet, if I'm quiet in prayer, the ring of the bell is there, it may be faint, but the connection is strong and I know God is solid as a dock ... always keeping me and you within reach.

O Love, that will not let me go,

I rest my weary soul in Thee; I give Thee back the life I owe, That in Thine ocean depths its flow

May richer, fuller be.

The author of this beloved hymn was George Matheson, from Scotland, who became totally blind before he was 18. The entire piece was written in less than five minutes.