The Helper

My birthday is in July.
Growing up, television stations would be interrupted with breaking news.
The day after my tenth birthday, the television stations were interrupted.
July 20, 1969 was the day we landed on the moon.

On the morning of July 16, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins sit atop another Saturn V at Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. The three-stage 363-foot rocket will use its 7.5 million pounds of thrust to propel them into space and into history. At 9:32 a.m. EDT, the engines fire and Apollo 11 clears the tower. About 12 minutes later, the crew is in Earth orbit. After one and a half orbits, Apollo 11 gets a “go” for what mission controllers call “Translunar Injection” – in other words, it’s time to head for the moon. Three days later the crew is in lunar orbit. A day after that, Armstrong and Aldrin climb into the lunar module Eagle and begin the descent, while Collins orbits in the command module Columbia. When it comes time to set Eagle down in the Sea of Tranquility, Armstrong improvises, manually piloting the ship past an area littered with boulders. During the final seconds of descent, Eagle’s computer is sounding alarms. It turns out to be a simple case of the computer trying to do too many things at once, but as Aldrin will later point out, “unfortunately it came up when we did not want to be trying to solve these particular problems.” When the lunar module lands at 4:18 p.m EDT, only 30 seconds of fuel remain. Armstrong radios “Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.” Mission control erupts in celebration as the tension breaks, and a controller tells the crew “You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue, we’re breathing again.” At 10:56 p.m. EDT Armstrong is ready to plant the first human foot on another world. With more than half a billion people watching on television, he climbs down the ladder and proclaims: “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”  Aldrin joins him shortly, and offers a simple but powerful description of the lunar surface: “magnificent desolation.” They explore the surface for two and a half hours, collecting samples and taking photographs. They leave behind an American flag, a patch honoring the fallen Apollo 1 crew, and a plaque on one of Eagle’s legs. It reads, “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon. July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.” (taken from NASA mission pages on Apollo 11; July 14, 2014)

As a ten year old, I did not like when the television stations were interrupted.
I did not understand the magnitude of what we were witnessing.
My viewpoint was self-centered.
I never understood the scope of the event and had no interest in space travel.

Years later, I came to understand the history I witnessed.
I regretted not paying more attention at the time.
I remember where I was sitting when I watched.
I remember the reactions of everyone else in the room.

It had not impacted me personally, however.
It was an interruption in the normal routine.
It imposed itself on me when I wanted to be doing something else.
If the stations were interrupted, something big was happening and attention must be paid.

With the beginning of twenty-four hour news that all changed.
There were no interruptions in your daily programing.
You simply changed the channel to find all news all the time.
The stories seem to be equally important and after a while it becomes white noise.

That is until something happens.
Until a terrorist bombing in an airport.
Until a shooter opens fire in a movie theater.
Until little children are murdered in their school building.

Then it is before us with no interruptions.
Then it is before us being replayed over and over.
Then it is before us with commentary and discussion.
Then it is before us until we simply don’t see it any more.

I remember 9/11.
My oldest daughter was a senior in high school at the time.
She was captain of the field hockey team and that day was to be the first game of the season.
The game was cancelled.

Everything was cancelled.
Everything stopped.
Everything was interrupted.
Life would never be quite the same.

I remember her walking in the door when she got home from school.
I remember her looking so terribly upset.
I remember her dropping her backpack on the kitchen floor.
She looked up at me with tears in her eyes and said, It’s not supposed to be this way.

Truer words were never spoken.
This was not the, very good, that God proclaimed it to be.
This was a sin infested world that marred the beauty God created.
It was not that her game was cancelled, it was because everything suddenly became very fragile.

The fragility happened in an instant.
The news channels showed the planes flying into the towers over and over again.
It was almost as if we were watching a video loop.
After seeing it more than once, I had enough; the TV stayed off when the children were around.

I had not thought about that time until my youngest daughter and I were talking.
It is difficult to try to figure out your life’s direction.
It is frustrating to be in a waiting mode; halfway through college but ready to launch.
It is unsettling to see the events all over the world in news report after new report.

She said as much to me.
The news is hard to watch.
The news is hard to hear in the background.
It is not that she is an ostrich with her head in the sand but sometimes it is just too much.

I thought about that and realized she is right.
How many times can you see violence and mayhem played over and over before your eyes?
Even if you only have the news channel on for a half hour, you have seen too much.
You have heard rudeness, seen violence and behavior that would never be allowed in your home.

It is frustrating.
It shouldn’t be this way.
Sin has marred the very good that God created.
But only for a time.

A quote from Fred Rogers, the beloved Mr. Rogers, has helped me.

When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” To this day, especially in times of “disaster,” I remember my mother’s words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers – so many caring people in this world.”

That simple statement put so much in perspective.
Look for the helpers.
Look for the very good that is beneath the rubble.
It is there.

It is in the Spirit of God living in the hearts of His people.
It is in the Word of God that is preached from pulpits around the world.
It is in the beauty of God in all that He created so men are without excuse.
The helpers are there because God never leaves us or forsakes us.

The Helper, the Holy Spirit, is our greatest Comforter and Guide.
The Spirit of God teaches us and encourages us to be Christ’s hands and feet.
We become the helpers because He is the Helper.
No matter how bad it seems, He has not abandoned us.

And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. (John 14:16-18)

I am going to be more careful with the news that is reported in the background.
Nothing we hear is forgotten.
Nothing we see is easily erased.
I am going to look for the Helpers and focus on them.

I am going to look to the Helper to remind me of the very good that God created.

2 responses to “The Helper”

1. Amen–it is so easy to get focused on the bad event and forget that there is always good too. God’s Helper, the Holy Spirit, is with us and there are always people who come alongside and help in any situation. Thanks be to God!

   Reply

   • Sue,
     It is a reminder that we all need. The Holy Spirit is with us as our guide and our comforter. We can have no better Helper than He.
     Gina

     Reply