Please Pray for The Big Yin; and fellow sufferers

As the multi-talented Billy Connolly reflects on the things of life and death, he does so as a victim.

Billy ConnellyTO paraphrase Aristotle: “Give me a child until he is seven, and I will show you the foundations of a man.”

A friend sent me a link to a short video the other day. It was a journey through the life of a high-profile character by the name of the Billy Connolly. Now as he approaches the end of his life, he has recently spoken about his health; suffering as he has done over the past eleven years from Parkinson's Disease. While back in his earlier life he saw eternity as a "nothing", the entertainer is now more reflective.

In his biography the internationally-known comedian/artist reveals a damaged childhood. I have been in the same room as him on three different occasions. At one point in time, I wrote about him once but also to him. It was in late August 2003. I know that, because I still have a copy of the letter.
 
Back then, the bearded banjo-player come comedian had been staying with some of his friends the previous weekend at his Highland retreat. The mini-castle is set in the Cairngorm National Park on Royal Deeside and close to Balmoral Castle. It was there he entertained his chums from the world of film and entertainment; among them Dame Judy Dench, Steve Martin and the late Robin Williams. As my editorial remit was to write from ‘a Christian perspective on current news’, the following copy was duly despatched to the sub-editor’s desk.
 
 View from here011
     29/08/2003
 
CandacraigLAST weekend Billy Connolly, with an invited entourage of other world-famous folk, held his annual bash at his Candacraig home.
Yet back in 1969, on the opening night of the Inverness Folk Festival (a truly vintage event), I had never heard of him. However, come the closing concert, I never laughed so much in all my life. The bearded banjo-playing front man for the Humblebums had the audience bent over in mirth. My stomach ached and the tears rolled down my cheeks. I remember pleading that he would stop.

Subsequently he started touring on his own. Our next encounter was six years later. On that night in Portree town hall, I came to realise that his transition from musician to stand-up comedian was almost complete. And for BC the big time lay just around the corner.
 

His biography revealed that he was (is) the victim of child abuse.


However, I later felt it a great pity to witness the increasing vulgarity in his act. (He is so talented he doesn’t need to do that.) But more recently his biography revealed that he was (is) the victim of child abuse; and I started to wonder. Perhaps the outrageous stage persona and his battle with booze stem from the painful memories? I suddenly felt extremely sorry for the very famous funny man they call “the Big Yin”.
 
The life story of another

Alongside all of this, came a tale from our eldest daughter. Returning home recently for a visit, she had been seated for the long-haul flight beside “a lovely lady who now lives in Australia and who looked after me so well.”  And the lady produces beautiful gift cards with a copy of her personal story enclosed. Carolyn - the daughter of a retired military officer - was sexually molested from the age of five to seventeen. And this, coupled to a teenage involvement with the occult, almost destroyed her life.
 
She grew up thinking that the abuse was “just what big people did to little people”. She learned how to live behind a mask - to the point that she never really knew who she was. Terrified of rejection, she struggled for perfection and approval at every turn. But she was never able to fill the vacuum inside her heart. Yet she went on to marry a loving caring man, and produced four lovely children. But still she would cry all day - only putting on her smiling face to collect the children from school. Not even her family or her closest friends knew.
 

"Jesus began to reach into the hidden corners of my heart; to heal the pain.."


However, in late 1993, Carolyn finally “crashed”. She spent two weeks in hospital, saw a psychiatrist and took a bunch of pills “to try and quieten my war-torn head and ease my aching heart”. But then a Christian lady called Ruth taught her about the need for forgiveness; and about generational sin. (Carolyn’s molester, with whom she is now completely reconciled, was himself a child victim).
 
This opened a whole new world for her. “Jesus began to reach into the hidden corners of my heart; to heal the pain, remove the resentment and dispel the bitter root of judgement and unforgiveness, to reveal His Way, His Truth, His Life." Carolyn now testifies that sexual abuse impacts every single area of life - with no exceptions. And so, in the wake of this year’s Lonach Gathering, when all the guests will have left Strathdon, I find myself thinking of Billy Connolly again.
 
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Letter writing 1  As part of the personal letter I sent to him at the time, I included the following:
 
 
Carolyn's Cards
Carolyns card“I enclose a copy of Carolyn’s testimony which she e-mailed to me as I thought that you might like to read it – along with a sample of cards that she publishes. (Carolyn’s story speaks for itself.) And these I send with the prayer of my heart that you will know God’s healing in all the areas of your life that have been hurt and scarred by the things that you have suffered.”
 
God has made us and want us whole – in the greatest sense of that word. But He tells us that there is a separation between Him and us which can only be removed by putting Jesus Christ on the throne of our lives; by surrendering all that we are and have to Him”.
 
I do trust that you will have a great time with your family and friends around you this weekend in Strathdon."
 
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SO in viewing the aforementioned video, here I am; back thinking of him again. His experience of sexual abuse in his very young years inevitably carried through into his many years on stage; and his comments on matters spiritual revealed him as being far from God. Like Carolyn, what he had endured seriously impacted on his life. Many disturbed personalities are the result of childhood abuse. Aside from sexual abuse, many adult males who find themselves confused about their sexuality/gender are ‘victims’ of either a violent father or an overly-possessive mother; or both.
 
Please do pray for those on the brink..
 
If you have been reading this article, please pray for Billy Connolly and those who have similarly suffered. He is 81 years old now and in suffering from Parkinson’s, he “feels his life slipping away”. Yet even back in 1975 he was thinking about life after death, and that there is some spiritual power which is controlling him. Have a look at the video, and please pray that the multi-talented Big Yin will find the Saviour while he has yet time.
 
Come to think of it, perhaps I should write to him again.
 
Footnotes:
1. The response facility below is open to all site visitors. Scroll down.
2. For those wish to write to him, there is a mailing address on Billy Connolly's website.
It is: 1107 Key Plaza, Suite 517, Key West, Florida, USA 33040
However according to Google Maps it is a vehicle space in a car park. Is Billy using a proxy address or having a laugh at us?