It was the summer of ninety seven, a hot morning in Boston and after breakfast we were having a leisurely stroll down from our hotel into town when there seemed to be an unusually high level of police presence. Stopping with two cops who were standing beside their motor bikes, we discovered that the President, Mr. Clinton was in town and had been all of the previous evening but would shortly be departing from his hotel, just across the street. Like thousands of others, our plans were immediately altered and after a quick sortie around the area we were back in the vicinity of the hotel where the special guest was staying and encamped ourselves behind a barrier, along his exit route. Some two hours later, after suffering in the midday sun and watching the host of security personnel on horseback, rooftop and mingling in the crowd, though not very discretely, a car pulled up to the front of the hotel, a makeshift tunnel was drawn from hotel door to car door and at some stage the President moved from building to motor cavalcade. Less than a minute later his car passed by our vantage point and one could just make out the well known face behind the darkened and bullet proof windows as he waved continuously to the waiting hordes lining the route before disappearing off into the distance. What a long wait for just a glimpse!The other day, a close friend sent me an email about Presidents so let me share it with you. It concerns Abraham Lincoln and John F Kennedy both of whom were assassinated but did you know of these coincidences concerning the two individuals in question? Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846, Kennedy in 1946. Lincoln became President in 1860, Kennedy in 1960. Both their wives lost children while living in the White House and both Presidents were shot in the head on a Friday. But that's not all. Lincoln's secretary was called Kennedy and Kennedy's secretary was called Lincoln and both Presidents were succeeded by Southerners named Johnston, Andrew who followed Lincoln, was born in 1808 while Lyndon who came after Kennedy was born in 1908. Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth was born in 1839, always known by his three names which total fifteen letters. Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated Kennedy, was born in 1939, was always known by his three names and they also total fifteen letters. Are you still there? Anyway, Lincoln was shot in the A theatre called Ford while Kennedy was shot in a Lincoln car made by Ford. After shooting his victim in the theatre, Booth went and hid in a warehouse. Oswald, on the other hand shot Kennedy from a warehouse and went and hid in a theatre. And both assassins were murdered before they came to trial. Now here's the final shaker. One week before Lincoln was murdered, he was in Monroe, Maryland. One week before Kennedy died, he was with Marilyn Monroe. Creepy or what?
The President came to Armagh a few years ago, during the development of the Peace Process. He flew over our house in his helicopter but I didn't bother to travel the nine miles into the city to see him. I figured if he was keen to see me, he could easily have dropped his helicopter down in the field beside my house and the cows would have given him a guard of honour. And anyway, in just a few years, his term of office would be over and he would just be about as important as the rest of us. Still, I've often thought of that day, eleven years ago, when we spent so long just to catch a glimpse of America's most important man and I think of Zacchaeus who climbed a tree just to get a glimpse of Jesus, but He didn't pass by without greeting him. No, in fact he invited himself for tea that very afternoon. You know the most interesting thing about his encounter with Jesus was that it changed his life and indeed his whole perspective on life for he announced, 'Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.' And Jesus replied by saying, 'Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.'
And that's how it should be when we get a glimpse of our Lord, our lives should be changed for ever, for He sees us just as we are and not as others see us. How long will you wait to get a glimpse of the Master as He passes your way or will He pass by when you're looking the other way?
