MARSHALL, Texas – Why me, Lord? What have I ever done, to deserve even one of the pleasures I’ve known? – Kris Kristofferson, country philosopher.

At one time or another, I figure the country philosophers together, Kristofferson, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings – the list goes on – have sung everything I’ve ever thought or felt.

But, “Why me, Lord?” bubbles up to the surface almost every day, often more than once. I don’t understand and I know I’ll never understand it. Knowing that it is beyond my intellectual reach does not keep me from wondering about it.

Actually, on second thought, I do know the answer: I haven’t done anything to deserve even one of the pleasures I’ve known. Not one single thing.

In fact, I know for sure that the exact opposite is true. Looking back across the landscape of my life, there are hundreds of reasons why the pleasures should have stopped years ago, if I were getting what I deserved.

And, yet, they just keep coming. Why me, Lord?

Take last week, for instance.It wasn’t one of the greatest weeks of my life and perhaps I could have complained, perhaps I had complained.

Sometimes when a few bad things pile on top of you, you forget that you are being supported by a foundation that neither moves nor buckles from the weight. People buckle. The foundation does not.

Then it happened. Wham, bam. Just as if it had been planned.

First, someone came by my office to ask for a favor. One which I was happy to agree to. No problem.

He finished off by telling me, without remorse, that he didn’t read the newspaper and, further, he had heard a few bad things recently. Though I know he didn’t mean to be ugly with his comments, it wasn’t exactly an uplifting moment for a publisher.

But one of those “pleasures” was waiting right outside the door at that very moment. It was in the form of three people from the local Christian church.

They came bearing good tidings, good wishes and just plain goodies.

It seems that the Christian church chooses some group each month to “appreciate” and in February the church is appreciating the Marshall News Messenger.

How our name came up, I do not know. Why me, Lord? All I know is that whatever was piled on top of me at the moment was blown away as if it were nothing more substantive than a single feather.

The church’s “We Appreciate You” includes a number of pleasures. The most tasty were the two baskets of home-baked goodies made by the church youth.

They made the cookies and muffins on Super Bowl Sunday and were told that they couldn’t eat any of them. It was a lesson in sacrifice. I can tell you that every person at the newspaper shared in that bounty for two days. The children’s sacrifice did not go to waste on us.

Then came a calendar that the church sold as a fund-raiser at the beginning of the year, but which they gave free to the Marshall News Messenger. Inside the calendar, Pastor Janice E. Hill had written encouraging notes throughout the months.

Lastly, the church promises to pray for each person who works at the News Messenger every day throughout February. Again, we all thank you for that and we’re humbled by it.

I was so moved that I found it difficult to find words, a rare event in my life. All I could think to say was, “You’ve made my day.”

Ms. Hill had the perfect answer: “I hope it makes your life.”

Of course. Why me, Lord?

You may not believe in such things as divine intervention. You may not believe in a power greater than our own. I respect that.

But I’ve been touched by that bright and warming fire too often to think otherwise. Sometimes it is simple and sometimes it is complex. Sometimes I don’t know I’ve been touched until well after it has happened.

I have no questions, though, about who has done the touching. No questions, at all.

Well, other than just that one: Why me, Lord?

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Phil Latham is editor and publisher of the Marshall (Texas) News Messenger. His email address is platham@coxnews.com

2004 Cox News Service