The Return

There is no one who does not like a good I-once-was-lost-but-now-I-am-found story.  An exciting tale where trials and tribulations were overcome in order to produce a more enlightened being.  The caterpillar becomes a butterfly.  Is there anyone unfamiliar with the moving narrative of the Prodigal Son, his wonderful life unable to fulfill his want for something more, his selfish desires leading him into a proverbial wilderness, and the heart wrenching, joyful return home.  That return is what we all long for.  To be forgiven of our mistakes and recognized as the changed (for the better) being that we are. There is no hero or heroine in history or fiction that has not experienced the wilderness, a dark time in their lives that they have needed to be redeemed from.  Is it not true that the best, most effective testimonies are of those who have experienced the worst and yet overcome their circumstances?

It is our daily struggles, our personal times of greatest despair and darkness that build our beings.  Without these, who would we be?  Yet, knowing that we must go through them in order to be continually improving our character does not make it easier when devastation befalls us.  This is why such stories are  loved by all.  It is the discovery, the realization, that all people have a "wilderness."  We are not alone in our struggle.  Many have gone before us, and many will go after, and we all have the power to overcome.

As I thought about the two stories I wished to illustrate these thoughts with, too many came to mind who were still in their wilderness, or never made it through to the other side.  However, the stories of Doug Batchelor and John Nash have always resounded with me, and I believe them to be wonderful examples of "returned ones."

If you were to look at my bookmarks on delicious.com, you would find the story of Doug Batchelor, who labels himself as "The Richest Caveman." Batchelor grew up in an extremely wealthy family, giving him the privilege of being able to afford anything he cared for, not one want was unfulfilled.  Except that he was unhappy with his life, unsatisfied with the lack of personal connection within his family.  So he left.  He turned to the typical remedies of one in blinding despair: drugs, drinking, women.  Anything to take his mind off of his unhappiness. It was not until several years later, when he was living in a cave in southern California, that he ran across a Bible that some hikers had left.  It was through his lonely study and doubting nature that he discovered a story that resonated with him.  He could relate to the anguish of the writers, and the longed for the joy they had seemed to discover.  He had found the way out of his "wilderness" and decidedly made his choice to act.  Although the details that followed this decision are outlined in depth through my delicious.com link, it is important to say that the final outcome of his redemption story shows him as a major pastor and evangelist of the Seventh-day Adventist faith.  He is well known not only for the numerous books he has written, but also for the major evangelical seminars he holds with Amazing Facts. Doug Batchelor struggled through a dark time in his life, one filled with doubt and emptiness, but he overcame.  He found the way out, finally admitting that he needed one.

The second story that I found myself dwelling on over the last week is that of Mr. John Nash. Although his story is much less obvious of a redemption story, I see similar themes throughout his life.  Nash was a young genius of mathematics and inventor of the theory of rational behavior.  Within a few years, in 1958, he received tenure at M.I.T at only 29 years old.  However, this picture perfect life of a young genius did not continue in this pattern.  Within one year of his receiving tenure, Nash began showing progressed signs of paranoid schizophrenia and was released from his duties at M.I.T.  Over the next several years Nash wondered all over America and Europe, struggling with his illness and unable to keep a medicated routine due to it.  Everything he had known and loved was unreachable to him, and he fought to maintain his standing in the intellectual world. However, he was nearly incapacitated for almost two decades, and it was not until the early 1970's that his illness began to evaporate.  He slowly began working on his theories of mathematics again, and gradually returned his life to before his illness.  Working on many projects through the next couple of decades, John Nash was eventually awarded the Nobel Prize, along with two other fellow scientists, in 1994 for, what he considered to be, his most trivial work.

Both of these men struggled with, what seemed to be, insurmountable obstacles.  Both men were able to find the strength to overcome these trials and return, improved, to a world that they could now better understand and fully appreciate.  Realizing that despite their despair, they were blessed men, given a second chance that they refused to throw away.