You Have My Permission To Gossip All You Want

Did you ever hear the true story of a man named, Coval Russell.  He spent 426 days in jail for stabbing his landlord with a pocketknife back in April 2001. It was the only time he ever ran afoul of the law. That is really something incredible, for he was 90 years old when he committed his crime. He had never even had a traffic ticket before.

He was a World War II veteran who lived in Paradise, California until he got in trouble.
Behind bars, the other inmates of Butte County Jail called him "Pops" and gave him dibs on the TV set, let him go first in the food line, and reserved him a place in the Monopoly game marathons.  Blind in one eye and suffering from prostate cancer, Russell loved his tiny cell. The relationships he formed with the transient population in jail appear to have rescued him from a life of unmitigated loneliness.

As the time drew near for Mr. Russell to be released, he petitioned the court to remain in jail. The lifelong bachelor had outlived all of his relatives. He was no longer welcome in Paradise. The only place he felt he had any friends was in the Butte County Jail. So he told the judge he would kill himself if he was sent "back out there" where he had nobody.

He had plenty of money in his bank account. He had no mental illness that either incapacitated him or made him a threat to others. So the judge had no choice but to order him released at the end of June.

After two weeks of living in a motel, he took a cab to a 40-foot high bridge and apparently jumped headfirst onto river rocks below. The man who had told someone he had nothing to live for was dead.

This sad story reminds all of us that there are people around us who are incredibly lonely. All of them are locked in a prison of a different kind, a prison of loneliness.  There is no greater misery than feeling unwanted, and unloved?

Loneliness was the first thing God saw in all creation that he said was not good. It’s too bad Mr. Russell didn’t know about a good loving Church.  When I first heard about this story I thought what a shame that there wasn’t a Church there to minister to him.  But then I thought about our Church.  We certainly are a loving, caring, and ministering Church, but how many are there that live within walking distance of our church, or on the same street with some our members, who don’t know that we are there for them?  How many come to a lonely tragic end wishing there was someplace they could go to feel loved and accepted?  How many of them wish there was someone who would care about them?

Look up and down your street. Look at the people you see as you come to our church.  Look at the people who are waiting in the Dr.’s office and at the Pharmacist.  How many are feeling alone?  Let’s gossip the good news that there is a place for them to find a friend at Colonial Heights Baptist Church.