8 May 2014 Heart Conditions

Heart Conditions

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“I care not for a man’s religion whose dog and cat are not better for it.”

–Abraham Lincoln

While I love reading historical biographies of remarkable people, I’m particularly fascinated to learn about things that shaped their childhoods. What’s the real story behind the familiar one? What early events, influences, relationships and turning points affected them in their youth? What were those famous people like behind the scenes when their lives seemed more ordinary? Or like Abraham Lincoln essentially asked: How did they treat the dog and the cat?

The best stories, I’ve found, were in the kids’ section of our local library. Biographers often focused on childhood tales because of their intended audience. I will never forget one story about Abraham Lincoln. With all that has been written about that great man, this account is relatively unknown. Here it is, as I remember…

It happened one summer afternoon. Young Abe and his sister, Sally, set out to play in the woods behind their rustic cabin. They headed toward a certain stream. After walking a good distance, it felt good to cool their weary feet in the flowing water. Abe suddenly noticed a good-sized fish lingering in a deeper pool. He didn’t bring a pole, but made up his mind then and there to catch that fish with his bare hands. Positioning himself, he waited patiently for the right moment.Continue reading

Filed Under: 2014, Character, Experiencing God Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,
1 May 2014 No Place Like Home

No Place Like Home

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I saw him in the gate area—a thin African man wearing an ill-fitting, mustard-brown suit. His cheeks glistened with tears, not just sweat, though it was warm in the waiting area. He seemed to be searching for someone on the other side of security, beyond the glass windows.

The Holy Spirit fluttered in my chest.

A voice on the overhead speaker announced the boarding process. I worked my way toward the back of the plane where masses of people crammed luggage into overhead bins and checked their cell phones in preparation for the long flight. As it turned out, my seat assignment was next to that distressed man.

The flight attendant helped him buckle his seatbelt. He didn’t understand her English. A few minutes later, he seemed a little frantic, not sure how to free himself from the confining strap. I touched his arm and pointed to mine. In a wordless demonstration, I released my buckle. He nodded with gratitude but did not make eye contact.

From my periphery vision, I saw him wiping away tears with an orange washcloth. Sometimes he covered his face with the soiled rag. Maybe he felt embarrassed. A crowded plane didn’t offer much privacy on the 8-hour flight from Entebbe, Uganda to Amsterdam.

When trays of food were served, he ate voraciously. Then he slept for a while. It gave me a chance to look at him more directly. He had small hands and thin fingers. Bony knees protruded from his roomy slacks.

I zeroed in on a white square plastic bag he held tightly on his lap. From my view, the letters were upside down. Still, I made out the words:Continue reading

Filed Under: 2014, Destiny Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,
24 April 2014 Private Calvarys

Private Calvarys

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The attack came like the horrifying pounce of a lion, splintering families as they ran for their lives. Children fled in the dark. Mothers wept in confusion, and fathers raged in anger. Torn from each other, their agony mirrored the slave-trade tragedy of long ago. The government-sponsored army from the north wanted all the boys from the south.

That is, they wanted them dead.

Those boys had been happy children, tending cows and goats. Life offered them the warm embrace of family, culture, and faith in a loving God. But tranquility was ripped away in a moment of terror.

boys walking

So began the great migration of the Sudanese Lost Boys.

27,000 boys—many very young—traveled over a thousand miles to Ethiopia for refuge. Unwanted there, they continued south to Kenya. Along the way, half died from starvation, predators, and their own government’s bombs.

Unimaginable, unthinkable, appalling—no single word fully captures a story of persecution against children.

Soon the rest of the world woke up and responded to their plight. Relief organizations brought food, clothing, and medicine, but those things met only their basic needs.

boys sittingThe boys formed family units, older ones caring for several younger ones. Natural leaders created a sense of community. Together they sang again and sometimes danced. They held “parliament” on the days when their food supply ran out, telling stories to distract each other from the hunger pains. And amazingly, no Lord-of-the-Flies chaos mounted in their makeshift village. You see, they knew the Lord of the universe.

Ten years passed and some of the twenty-something Lost Boys were given a chance to go to America. Leaving their Boys’ Town was incredibly painful, but the opportunity offered hope beyond subsistence.Sudanese man with girls

The boys, now men, boarded aircrafts for the first time. Pats of butter looked like small bars of soap. They drank packets of salad dressing straight up. Airplane food seemed very strange. In western airports, they were wary of moving escalators. In American sponsored apartments, they flicked light switches on and off repeatedly, and discovered the wonder of ice cubes.
Continue reading

Filed Under: 2014, Destiny, Experiencing God Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,
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