Welcome


Thanks for stopping by, whether you got here by a link or hitting "next blog" -- I am glad you are here. I've also done some writing on homeschooling, and what I learned thinking I was teaching.

Thursday, October 23, 2014

What One Person Can Do

 
Unique Squash - Photo by W. Bagshaw
A lone gunman can do horrific damage. Just yesterday, apparently one gunman in Ottawa wrecked havoc and heartache, shooting a soldier to death before one man felled him.  (WSJ Report)

One man, Thomas Eric Duncan, died and exposed scary flaws in our health care system. 

A young man and a police officer clash, and America saw again how raw the wounds of racism are. (The Evidence so Far)

And one woman writes of her journey to and through cancer.  (Mundane Faithfulness) Blogger and author Kara Tippets asks questions that prod her readers to evaluate what each of us is doing in response to the situations we find ourselves – as if any one of us might make a difference in the crazy, chaotic world.

Be the Difference,” however, is the slogan of the West Dallas Community School, and it went deep into the heart of one young child who grew up to be blessing to his home-town.  Listening to alumnus Timothy Jackson, Dallas police officer,  speak at the annual school fundraiser, I also remembered an earlier conversation on public radio of a boy incarcerated in Angola prison in LA because he murdered his abuser. (KERA: Just Mercy)

One child rescued, one condemned.

What is wrong with this world?  In G.K. Chesterton’s words: I am.   

Kara Tippets described her young rebellious self that describes so many:  

. . . married to [our] bitterness, . . . looking for a reprieve from [our] spiraling story. An answer for [our] hurt. A truth. (The Hardest Peace: Expecting Grace in the  Midst of Life’s Hard, page 29) 

The one person who prayed for Kara Tippets was her grandmother – for Timothy Jackson, his preservation began with his mother, and then his pastor’s wife.

One person does make a difference!

Do more than belong: participate. Do more than care: help. Do more than believe: practice. Do more than be fair: be kind. Do more than forgive: forget. Do more than dream: work."


The hunger for hope and the desire for things to be “fixed” are met in the one who, on Calvary’s Cross, bore our sin and shame, and rose again to offer new life and hope. Thus, the great hymn writer Augustus Toplady said it best: “Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to your cross I cling.” We Fix Things

No comments: