"Shipwrecked!" This answer was shot back to me one Sunday morning when in the preamble to a sermon I asked, "What image best describes the Bahamas today?" Other responses were similar, though less graphic such as "broken,"... "Disconnected,"... "Stressed".
Millions of lives across the world are wrecked because of broken relationships. All over our landscape we see evidence of this: battered husbands, deserted wives, abandoned children, dishonest business people, cheating contractors, thieves and corrupt sweet talkers plotting some smooth operation to rip you off. Relationships are hardly at a premium for which one is willing to sacrifice so as to enthrone as a standard of life and the essence of a Christian society. So many of our people appear impotent, disoriented or too disenchanted to salvage the wreckage of their lives or that of our national ship of state.
This wreckage has become our culture. Too many marriages are ending in divorce. Too many married persons are flamming their way through their sham of a relationship. Pride alone is stopping too many husbands and wives from picking up the pieces and thus get off the rocks. So many couples can no longer share the same bed. Many others share the same bed having agreed to obey the "don't touch" rule. Many live lives of intimidation giving veil threats of divorce and separation while not really meaning it, but only trying to vent frustration and trying to get more even. Many have resorted to physical violence and verbal abuses as weapons for their vicious battles. What pain, what hurts, what a mess!
As though that were not enough, there is tremendous hurt experienced on our jobs. Bahamians do not handle success too well. Those who are promoted would laud themselves over others. Very many of us who have been well positioned have taken on a Hitler-like character and make life intolerable for others. We should see our ascendancy in status as an opportunity to serve the least among us with pride and dignity. Many a "small person" on the job will testify that they find it painful even to roll out of bed each morning, afraid to face the Hitler on their jobs. What satisfaction is there in crushing someone's pride, the essence of their humanity?
Worry therefore is a giant of our societal concerns that must be conquered. Seventy percent of all patients who come to physicians could cure themselves if they only get rid of their fears and worries. Their ills are not imaginary – they are as real as a throbbing toothache and sometimes more serious. I refer to such illness as serious as nervous indigestion, stomach ulcers, heart disturbances, insomnia, some headaches and some types of paralysis. These illnesses are real. I know of what I speak, for I suffered once, for months, from stomach ulcers.
The rock of our shipwreck in most part is fear. Fear causes worry. It goes nowhere until we stand up against the throbbing giants confronting us and beat them down. Too often Bahamians remain talkers and not doers. Many need the gift of saying "goodbye" and move on with their lives. Others need to finally give the piece of our mind to that Hitler rather than constantly threaten to do so. Our failure to act causes tension. It affects the nerves of our stomach and actually changes the gastric juices of our stomach from normal to abnormal and leads to ulcers.
The demons of our destruction are at times of our own making: Frustration, anxiety, worry, fear, defeat, despair, negative attitude to everything. Let's admit, so many of us are just down right too negative. We find fault with Jesus some times – we need repentance. Plato once said, "The greatest mistake physicians make is that they attempt to cure the body without attempting to cure the mind; yet the mind and the body are one and should not be treated separately." It took medical science twenty-three years to recognize this great truth. We are just now beginning to develop a new kind of medicine called psychosomatic medicine – a medicine that treats both the mind and the body. It's but time; medical science has wiped out the terrible diseases caused by physical germs – diseases such as small pox, cholera, yellow fever and scores of other scourges that swept untold millions into untimely graves. But medical science has been unable to cope with the mental and physical wrecks caused not by germs, but by emotions of worry, fear, hate, frustration and despair. Casualties caused by these emotional diseases are mounting and spreading with catastrophic rapidity. It's wrecking many relationships, lives, society and a world.
Worry has put many into a wheelchair with rheumatism and arthritis. Marital shipwreck can bring on many physical disorders.
Financial disaster can cause physical pain. It has wrecked more marriages than any other enemy.
Loneliness and worry can cause a toothache.
Long cherished resentments can cause heart disease.
Many of us, because of our uncaring, Hitler-like attitude might be guilty of driving someone to an untimely grave.
All of the above have as their foundation the element of brokenness. Healing is the answer. Everyone has the longing for love. The opposite of brokenness is wholeness. As humans we seek intimacy. To be intimate with our God we must be intimate here on earth with those planted in our lives. It is the only means to get off the rock that shipwrecks us. Such is the example of the prodigal son. In the "Far-away country" he hit rock bottom of human existence. The way out was when he came to his senses and then took action, he got up and started a journey of return. The reception home was that of intimate love. The father hugged, kissed and embraced. Then there was the party; music, dancing and feasting. A life was salvaged from the rocks of despair. It was a transition from lost to found, death to life. For that we must celebrate. If there is to be hope, we must do likewise.
GEMS: 1. Everyone has the need to be needed. Reach out and touch somebody's hand, make this world a better place if you can.
2. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. (Words of Jesus).
