Thought For the Week

Dear Friends, Today I offer you the story of two valiant missionary ladies who were the victims of something that had nothing to do with them. It took place in April of 1974, and though I was a senior in high school that year, I never heard about it. This story is found in, “The One Year Book of Christian History” by Michael and Sharon Rusten. (If you love history, especially Christian history, you will love this devotional book which includes one story each day that happened on that particular day, for the whole year.) This particular story takes place in Thailand, April 30, 1974. It’s entitled “Political Casualties.” “Thailand was a difficult place to be a missionary in 1974. The Vietnam War had spilled over into Laos, Cambodia, and northern Thailand. In southern Thailand there was ongoing conflict between the military and Muslim liberation groups that wanted independence for Thailand’s predominantly Muslim provinces. Malaysia, having a majori...

  Dear Friends, At a recent pastors and wives retreat I met a somewhat gruff looking elderly gentleman named Steve Campbell. He and his wife Wanda had started a ministry called “The Better Way” in one of the worst neighborhoods (the crime-ridden Short North District) in Columbus, Ohio, in 1986. They ministered there for 32 years, reaching out to the homeless, working poor, runaway teens, prostitutes, gang members, drug addicts, pimps, and anyone in the neighborhood who would listen, or come in for a meal or help. They handed the ministry over to others in 2018, and last year Steve wrote a book entitled, “He went a Little Bit Farther.” (I highly recommend reading it!) The title is based on Matthew 26:39, where Jesus told his disciples to wait and pray while he went on ahead, “a little bit farther.” It’s one of Steve and Wanda’s life-verses, which he uses to encourage others to go out of their way, or ‘go the extra mile,’ in serving others in Jesus’s name, just as Jesus...

Dear Friends, Today was a momentous day in the history of the church. It was the day in 1521 A.D. that the German Reformer Martin Luther arrived at the Diet of Worms, thinking he would have a debate about his 95 public criticisms of the Catholic Church. For those who don’t know, the word “Diet” referred to the calling together of a formal deliberating assembly of Catholic theologians and officials to consider an important issue, and this one was held in Germany, in the city named Worms. Luther had tried to resolve his differences with the church amicably, hoping the church would see its mistakes and make the necessary changes. He was surprised, therefore, to discover when he arrived in Worms that it was not to be a debate, but a trial. Pope Leo demanded Luther retract 41 of the 95 Thesis’ that he posted on the door of the church in Wittenberg or be condemned as a heretic. So, the purpose of the Diet was not to debate but simply to hear Luther either ren...

Dear Friends, In light of our celebration of the glorious event of the Resurrection of Jesus this past Sunday, I pass along to you my FAVORITE Easter poem. It was written by the well-known author John Updike, who after graduating from Harvard University in 1954, began attending a Lutheran church in Marblehead, Massachusetts — a church similar in many ways to the Lutheran church he attended in his youth in Shillington, Pennsylvania, on the outskirts of Reading.   When the church in Marblehead sponsored a Religious Arts Festival in 1960 and offered a $100 prize for the best artwork, Updike submitted the following poem entitled, “The Seven Stanzas at Easter.” He won the contest, received the $100, and promptly gave it back to the church. The poem is as follows. I trust you might enjoy it as much as I have. “Make no mistake: if He rose at all it was as His body; if the cells’ dissolution did not reverse, the molecules reknit, the amino acids rekindle, the Church will fall. It w...