By Kathy Menard, Assistant to Campus Ministry and Coordinator of Community Outreach
Gas was thirty-six cents a gallon. The average cost of a home was just over $23,000. Just off the South Coast of England, on the Isle of Wight, the largest Rock Festival was held with 600,000 to 700,000 people in attendance. The year was 1970. It was the year I was born and the year Van Morrison released his song, If I Ever Needed Someone. I’m not sure how many of you are familiar with this artist. Maybe you’ve heard of his more popular songs, Brown Eyed Girl or Have I Told You Lately. But today, I would like to focus on his song,
If I Ever Needed Someone.
We are living through a very uncertain time. News is no longer changing daily but hourly. Some days are better than others and some are harder than others. We have gone from living freely to discovering that in order to live, sometimes we must be subjected to limitations. We have had to change the way we live, learn, communicate, and gather. It’s a lot to absorb in such a short period of time. We say, “No one has lived through a time such as this. No one understands what we’re going through.” This is all new territory and one must blaze a new trail. But, must one do it alone?
Here is where faith comes in. We have a Father who is waiting for us, calling to us, running after us, longing for us to seek His help. One need only ask, to call out (or whisper)! Van Morrison, in the song, If I Ever Needed Someone, sought out the Lord as someone he needed, someone to understand, “Someone to hold on to, and keep me from all my fear. Someone to be my guiding light and keep me ever dear!” I don’t know what was going on in Van Morrison’s life at the particular moment that he penned this song, but he knew God had to be part of it. Morrison knows where his faith lies, as he sings, “to stand with me when I’m troubled, and help me through my strife, as times get so uncertain, I turn to you, in my young life.” We have a Father who wants to be a part of our lives, the good and the bad. We have a Father who does not abandon but one who sticks by us and claims us as his own!
If I ever needed someone, now would certainly be the time. However, as I reflect, I realize that my Father, our Lord, has been a part of my everyday life, through all the challenges and celebrations. We have a Father who wants to be part of all our lives. He is here with us. I look for God in all the beauty around me. And, yes, in times such as these, we may need to look a little harder. I see God in all the helpers who are sacrificing themselves for the betterment of others. I see God in all of us who are sitting at home and staying away from others so that not only they stay healthy but others around them do as well. I see God in all the people who continue to work and wonder if this will be the day they get sick. I see God in all the families spending time together. God is our love, courage, hope, faith and our service to others. He shares our pain, tears, frustrations and sorrows. I need God every day, every minute. He leads and guides all that I do. As Morrison sang, “…To keep me from my selfishness, to keep me from my sorrow, to lead me on to givingness, so I can see a new tomorrow.” Our faith and hope are found in God. He will lead us through this. We need only reach out, call out, shout out, whisper out, or cry out, “Father, I need you.” If I ever needed someone that someone is God. He is here waiting for you, calling out to you, seeking you. Will you allow Him to be the “someone” you need?
God is good, all the time! All the time, God is good!
