Corrie ten Boom was a woman who, during World War II, worked with the Dutch underground. Corrie, her sister Betsie, and their elderly father were all Christians. Because they were Christian, they felt that they should help all those who came to their door fleeing from the Nazi terror.
A comment made at Bible Study last Monday reminded me both of a line from Matthew’s gospel, and then a story I heard many years ago. The comment was (loosely quoted), “How you spend your money shows what is important to you.” And the line from Matthew: Do not store up for yourselves treasure on earth.”
A mission team from an Ohio church came to help us right after Katrina went away. Among other things, they helped build a house for a low-income family up in Delisle. When they arrived, they found that the concrete footer for the house had been poured the previous week by another work crew.
Consider two men, born decades apart, who both were significantly changed after meeting Jesus and devoting themselves to him. C.S. Lewis (1898-1963) grew up in the Church of England but, by the age of 15, decided he was an atheist, mostly because of God’s silence and the ineffectiveness of his prayers to prevent his mother’s death when he was 10.
Kate Bowler was a professor at Duke Divinity School in Raleigh – Durham, North Carolina. In the early days of her career as a professor, she was diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer. Her last book, Everything Happens for a Reason and Other Lies I’ve Loved dealt with her cancer and the reactions she received from the people around her.
The news has been full of tributes to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, of blessed memory. Some of the best tributes to RBG are through the words she said over a long career of wisdom and caring. One quotation stood out to me this past week, and I want to share it and reflect on it.
