Dr. Richard J. Chase the sixth President of Wheaton College. Prior to his inauguration as president of the college. Dr. Chase served 29 years at Biola College in California, the last 12 of those years he was president of that college. Dr. Chase is an alumnus of Biola. He received his Master’s from Pepperdine University and his Ph.D from Cornell. Dr. Chase has served on the board of directors of the Greater Wheaton Chamber of Commerce. and has served on the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Citizens Advisory Task Force on Gang Crime. Dr. Chase grew up on a dairy farm in southern California and, in fact, when he married his wife, Mary, he was planning to be a farmer arid she a farmer’s wife.

Several years ago, when my wife and I were still living in southern California, we came back to this area and joined with two other couples. John, one of the other fellows, rented a car and we went down to the Notre Dame-USC football game. 1 wasn’t much of a fan of Notre Dame at that time. My wife grew up in Westwood, which is the home of UCLA, so I had absolutely no interest in USC.I was enjoying the ride. John had a twin by the name of Ed, and he and his wife were the other couple. Those of you who know when you drive down Route 294 and are on your way into the Indiana Toll Road that you’ve got to watch where you’re going very carefully: otherwise, when you go down around Lake Michigan, you can also come up on the other side.

And that’s precisely what happened. After about two hours, Ed. who was a rabid USC fan, said, “We should be at the turn-off.” John said, -1 know exactly where 1 am: there’s no problem.” I’m a world traveler, I know that when you see far more Michigan license plates than Indiana license plates. you’re in trouble.

When we got to the outskirts of a city that is a long way from where Notre Dame is located, it became apparent that we were in deep trouble. Pulling in at a gas station in Kalamazoo, Michigan, then finding out how long it would take to get to Notre Dame with the kick-off less than an hour away. Ed. the twin brother, tied into John and really let him have it. John wasn’t interested in any help until he found out how desperate the situation was.

Most of us are like John. We’re not interested in help until the situation is so desperate we realize that there is nothing we can do and not much any other mortal can do to help us. We’re gathered today for a Christmas prayer breakfast. to recognize the very difficult tasks that are set before our county officials. And Jack Knuepfer has eloquently pointed out the tough spot that so many people are in, because you’re between two goods many times. not just a good and an evil: and no matter which way you go, there are good portions of people that are going to be displeased. But I think our county officials are just like those of us who are in other walks of life. We figure that somehow or other we can solve a lot of problems. We can handle a little of this and a little of that, and we can muddle through, and many times make some good decisions. But I think down deep most of us know that when we get pressed hard into the agonies of the soul when there are competing concepts that are both good, when there are pressures that are beyond our understanding, that we’re going to cry out for help. People who pray are people who are in difficult situations and there is no other place to turn.

In a group this size, there have got to be several hundred people who have been asked to report to the Internal Revenue Service on why in the world you filed the report you did a year or two ago. And there have to be at least 20 or 30 in this room who were in such dire straits that you prayed, because you knew that there was no mortal way you could get out. And you offered that famous prayer.

“Dear Lord, if you will get me through this mess, I will see to it that all of the things I put down that I gave to the church and to charities, I really will give those in the future. – We pray when we get into a real tough spot.

Going back to the men of Troy, not the USC football team, which could have used a lot more prayer during their last game with Notre Dame, but going back about 3.000 years ago when the men of Troy had a woman by the name of Helen in their city, and there were some Maccabeans that wanted her back They had landed on the shore and they were encamped there with Achilles, that famous warrior who for three-fourths of the battle wouldn’t even show up on the battlefield because he knew what was out there and he knew what the pressures were: and he. too, was upset. because somebody had taken his woman. But there they were, two armies facing one another. the men of Troy trying to defend their city. And they prayed. because back then it was a sword in the hand and the other person was right across from you. Or a few paces it was spears, which you would throw at one another, trying to penetrate those huge shields that they had. And often with a mighty throw that spear would go through. Or even maybe a few paces farther back and the arrows would fIy. But they prayed to their fickle gods on Mt. Olympus, and the gods would empower one group and then another. It was almost like watching a chess game. So at least Homer thought, as he gives us the story of The Iliad.

But why were they praying’? Because it was life and death and you could taste and see and smell and feel the agony of death itself as it came in your life. or as you saw the faces and the lives of others. You pray when you’re in deep trouble.

Recently, my wife gave me a subscription to Sports Illustrated, and l got one of those video cassettes with it that give the not-so-great moments in sports. One of the lead stories was on Louis Alverini, who was a miler for the United States in the 1936 Olympics in Germany. Louis tells the story of how during WWII he was on a plane in the South Pacific and was shot down. And for weeks they were adrift in a small boat that barely kept them afloat, a little lifeboat. Finally they were picked up. but they had drifted 1500 miles into enemy territory and were picked up by the Japanese. And Louis said, “We prayed and I prayed and f prayed.” Why?

Because no man, no mortal individual, could get him out of that fix. And he prayed that if God would get him out of that mess, he’d give his life to God. And he did just that. He had a tremendous ministry after that, working primarily with young people, those who had been in difficult straits. and trying to assist in their lives.

When people have those kinds of problems, to whom do they pray? We’re told in Psalm 121 that you can look unto the hills and the mountains. For those of us here in the prairie. we know how majestic mountains are and we look at them and we say: “Boy, that’s power. that’s majesty, that’s awesome!” And sometimes we tend to look for anything that looks a little bigger than we are. But mountains, as majestic as they are, are impersonal. And so the Psalmist goes on and says: no, not just the hills, and not just the mountains, not just the glories of creation, but my help cometh from the Lord.

When any of us are in difficult straits between a choice that may be good or evil, but the evil may give us some benefit, or even between two goods and trying to wrestle through that, or even on those issues that touch the agony of the soul–life and death matters–we tend to look for help that is personal and majestic. My help cometh from the Lord.

Three things that we see in that particular Psalm that tell us why we turn to the Lord. He’s Creator. He’s got a vested interest in our lives. Most people don’t. Most people are interested in seeing how they can get around us to get our position. if it’s an elected position. In business, in home and schools and most places, people have their own agenda.

The Lord has our agenda. He is our Creator. There’s a vested interest. I think that’s why the Psalmist, upon reflection turned and said, “My help cometh from the Lord: Not only is He Creator, though, that passage says that He neversleeps. Most of us do the tough wrestling late at night. During the day, we can wrestle through those problems, we can talk to colleagues, we can pore over the data, but somehow or other at 2:00 in the morning, things really seem dark and we’re agonizing over those choices. That is when we often agonize in the soul. What is the right decision? What is most desirable for the communities in which we live? Or the enterprise in which I’m involved? Or the students that I serve? And He never sleeps; He never slumbers. That’s why the Psalmist said, “I look to the Lord.”

One other thing. The phrases used in some of the translations indicate that He watches over our life; but in another sense the Hebrew concept is that He guards the soul. There are a lot of things that we can get today that help us. We’re familiar with insurance and all kinds of protective devices, and we have friends that we put around us who help us in difficult times. But how many of us can say that we know somebody who has a vested interest in our life who really wants to guard the soul? The physical problems of life, as agonizing as they may be. are not nearly as agonizing as the things that touch the soul. My help cometh from the Lord.

Creator. Never sleeps or slumbers. And He guards the soul. That’s why people who are wise like the Psalmist, in those difficult moments, turn to Him.

The New Testament passage of Scripture that was read for us points out how wise we are when we turn to Him. Because that tells us that here is the perfect gift. At Christmas some of you are going to unwrap a tie again. Almost every man in this room is going to get a tie, and almost every woman is going to get some perfume. The men will take out the tie and look at it and say “thank you” and then at the back of their mind they’ll say, “If I ever get a green and orange plaid suit. I’ve got the tie.” But here is a gift that we read about in Matthew as the angel speaks to

Joseph and tells him that this One who was born some 2,000 years ago is to be called Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.

Forgiveness. What a gift! What this world needs today, what those in county government need and those in any administrative position need, is a few people who will forgive.

We’re all human beings. We all make mistakes like John and end up in Michigan rather than Indiana. And we all have brothers with the name of Ed who will let us know where were wrong. What this world needs is more people who will say, “I forgive you. – What God has given us in Christ is a picture of Himself, a God who forgives.

We hear a lot of the judgment of God, and Scripture does not whitewash that concept. But the majestic theme and the pivotal point of all history is that God is a forgiving God. We all need that. So, we don’t turn to the mountains, or the special reports, or the people who come and go when we’re really agonizing in the soul. We turn to a God who sent His Son as an act of forgiveness on our behalf. This world not only needs forgiveness; we need to understand how easy it is to receive it as we turn to Christ.

The second part of that particular passage in Matthew tells us that He had another name. Not only Jesus, but He was also to be called Emmanuel. Why? God is with us. We need companions. We need friends. When we’re discouraged, we want to be with people. Sometimes by ourselves for a moment, but as we agonize in the soul, we reach out. We want to try an idea on somebody, on a husband or a wife or a friend or a neighbor. Or we wander down the hall to a colleague and go in and sit down in that office and agonize over the tough decisions before us. Those who are professional counselors tell us an awful lot of good can come when friends just sit and listen, when they’re there sympathetically, just listening. God says that when Christ came, He was with us. It was God’s gift to not only get rid of the guilt that loads us down. but it is to be also God with us.

As we have read of the tragedy in Soviet Armenia, some of us captured just a hit of what many of those people must be going through, and even Armenians in our area, as they think of families, whole families, lost. Broken bodies as well as broken buildings. The agony of the soul. I can fix a faucet. I can usually put together a program that will solve some temporal difficulty at Wheaton College. Most of you can handle a lot of problems. But there comes a time when we are hit with the agony of the soul. And we can’t put together the difficulty of watching a close friend die of cancer, or of AIDS. That’s the agony of the soul. Sometimes we can’t make that choice when it’s not just good and evil, but a good and another good, maybe good and better, and we’re agonizing to find out just where that goes. That’s the agony of the soul.

But here’s the Creator, who never sleeps, who guards the soul, who’s going to take care of the guilt when those decisions are wrong, and who also through Christ is going to say, “I am with you.” People pray, not because they have a few problems. We all have them. Intelligent people pray when they recognize that the problems are beyond mankind’s ability to resolve them acceptably. And they pray and ask for that forgiveness that is ours in Christ. And they pray for that tremendous sense of His presence in our life.

This Christmas season, when you open your gifts, as you sort through the ties and the perfume. let us rejoice that God is the giver of the perfect gift, Jesus. Emmanuel. God with us.