“Our society is much more interested in information than wonder, in noise rather than silence, and we need a lot more wonder and silence in our world…” -Fred Rogers

Friends, tonight’s brew features the forgettable and bland “Imperial winter pilsner” put out again by Short’s, ingested because once more it’s a sunny February day in the sixties. While this weather is stunning, the beer is meh. I’ve already deviated from the pattern and switched to Aldi’s $3.50 red wine, by the name of “Winking Owl.” I’m no wine connoisseur, (nor can I spell it. I’ve had to google connoisseur three times to get it right), but it’s drinkable enough. And, anyway. Where can you find drinkable alcohol for less than four bucks? I probably won’t have too much though, because I gotta tell you. This biography stuff isn’t exactly a piece of cake. You try condensing seventy three years into a handful of blog posts, get the details right, and attempt to make it somewhat riveting. I’m not complaining, mind you. This WAS my idea. So let us hope I rise to the challenge!

The next time I meet with Roy, he’s like a changed person altogether. The catheter was removed, swelling decreased to manageable levels, and his treasured mobility was back. We laugh that he’s like a cat with nine lives. Perhaps due to his hearty heritage he is seemingly indestructible, since the incidents I’ve detailed are actually just a couple among multiple travails. This time, after weeks of staring at his bedroom ceiling, he was thrilled to be able to get in the car and just sit in the parking lot at the beach. Proving once more, when you emerge from darkness it’s the simple things that sustain you. Well, that, and a few dazzling memories. And Roy has them; mind-bending experiences he says he mulls over the meaning of every day.

I’ve talked about the importance of Roy’s catholic faith, and how he managed to implement it so effectively. He’s someone who for real, walked the walk. Like so many similarly devoted, he looked for paths to strengthen his beliefs and to seek answers. One such avenue was to make a pilgrimage to the village of Medjugorje, located in Bosnia-Herzegovina (a republic of the former Yugoslavia). Not only did he complete the journey once, but three times: 1989, 1990, and 1991.

Medjugorje, located in a predominantly catholic region, has become famous for six young people who claim to have been visited there by the Blessed Mary. On June 24, 1981, she appeared and told the “visionaries” that God sent her to help convert hearts back to Him. Ever since, there have been thousands every year who trek the passage, hoping for the same encounter.. Roy says that each time he went was a totally different experience.

“Everyone who’s been there, says the same,” he tells me. “People who even go together, feel the effects in utterly distinct and separate ways. It’s inexplicable.”

For him, it was life-changing. Even with his strong religious beliefs, he’s a man firmly rooted in science, so there presents a paradox. To be human is to be presented with them, day after day after day. He says the beams of light he witnessed defied physics in every imaginable form; they could not be adequately explained or understood. Which I think is kinda how miracles work, but funnily enough, nobody has reported specific miraculous acts at Medjugorje.

Which isn’t to say they didn’t happen.

We talk about how not being married allowed him the luxury of this kind of travel, and the freedom to use his gifts within a plethora of circumstances.

“Yes,” he agrees. “But I worked hard, saved, and sacrificed. I came from nothing. I didn’t buy fancy cars, houses. I viewed extravagance as a sin. So I was happy to apply my “time, talent and treasure” where ever I saw a true need.”

And if your eyes are open, the need is bottomless. Consequently, I don’t think Roy fully realizes how special his willingness to step up is. So many of us bumble around, squandering our resources on meaningless ventures that bring temporary joy. We wear blinders to justify our behavior, our voting, our parenting, every choice, never stopping to examine our whys, because if we did, then what? It might be revealed we are idiots, that’s what. Instead, we get bogged down in questionable commitments, trying to control and chase people and mismatched dreams down, never spending more than a few minutes worrying about anything other than our own problems. If we do take a minute to peep outside our bubbles, it’s through the lens of judgment as we sit on ivory towers. And this goes on interminably, until time and/or money runs out.

Sorry, I know that was harsh. If you’re reading this, I don’t think you’re an idiot…but maybe if you find it difficult to figure out your own crap, here’s an easy decision. The next time you see a homeless dude, toss him a ten and don’t stop to fret about whether he’ll use it to buy drugs. So what if he does? He might also get a sandwich. If you believe that Jesus is the vine and we are the branches, you try to do things that carry out his Word, imperfect as those actions may be. And Jesus is gonna help the sketchy guy and not ask a bunch of judge-y questions.

Okay. I’m putting the wine away now. I’m no bible thumper and you might be an atheist. Sometimes I just get disgusted at how we waste what little impact we have on this earth, and I include myself in this rant.

So about the time running out deal. In the eighties, Roy had a beloved friend, Devin. A man in fact, whose hourglass was doing exactly that by 1991.

“We knew he was at a point where medically, nothing more could be done. So I took him to Medjugorje and he, too, came away from it transformed. Filled with comfort and peace that stayed with him until he passed.”

Of course, we don’t have to travel halfway around the world to experience this, but talk about a powerful testimony to friendship. And devotion to spiritual healing.

Roy discovered more revelations when traveling to Israel in 1992. It’s amazing to him that he stepped onto the very Holy Land that is being burned as I write this. He can’t discuss any of the current political crisis because, as he says, “I cannot allow my mind to go there. I have to protect my peace.” At the time of that trip there was relatively little unease going on, but plenty of jaw dropping personal moments.

“One fact I found incredible was how tiny the Sea of Galilee is…the size of a small lake, if you can believe it.”

It was a lot to take in. In particular, a transcendental moment in which he observed three cloud formations. All of them in varying positions, but all in the shape of a cross. It was long before his cancer diagnosis, but he believes they were shown as sustenance for when the suffering happened. So he wouldn’t lose faith. And in a highly surprising turn of events, the coming years would disclose his convictions to not only be lost, but crushed, deconstructed and re-formulated. Even more ironic, my spiritual path converged with his on this same bumpy, painful road.

As he puts it, “I had to leave organized religion to still follow Christ.”

Part four will take a look at that period, for both of us. And more. Please join us! Cheers!