There’s a story in the gospel of John (5:1-9) about a man who was an invalid for 38 years. He lay by the side of the pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem, waiting for the water to be stirred up. Apparently, it was the belief of people at that time, that the first person into the pool after the stirring of the water “was made well from whatever disease with which he was afflicted” (John 5:4).  When I read that, my first reaction was to admire that invalid’s tenacity and hopefulness.  Thirty-eight years invalid!!  I don’t know if he had been waiting there all those 38 years, but I can imagine how much he had longed to be healed.  But then when I read further about what happened, I was saddened.