| Today marks the anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing that gutted a U.S. federal office building, leaving 168 people dead. That day a pastor friend in the city invited me to hurry and come visit families who were anxiously waiting for news of their loved ones.
When I wheeled into the Red Cross center to be cleared and credentialed, an official from across the room exclaimed, “My God, are we glad to see you!” I looked over my shoulder. Did the woman in the white lab coat mean me? Later I learned she was in charge of counseling services. I asked why she gave me such an effusive welcome. “Honey, when victims come in here for help and see someone like you, handling your own crisis with grace, it gives them hope. You are a powerful example, a promise that they too will survive their tragedy.”
Oklahoma City is surviving its crisis. But so many in our culture are not. Slump-shouldered and near defeat, they need the power of an example. They need to see someone experiencing greater conflict than they are make it. If people are floundering in the mire of their problems, or if they are (God forbid) lazy like the battle-weary believers mentioned in Hebrews, they need to be reminded that God’s power works—really works, not in theory but in reality—in someone else’s life.
Oh, if we only knew how influential our lives really are.
The woman in the white lab coat was right. People in the midst of crisis need to see other people handle their problems with grace. They need to see flesh and blood wrapped around the Word of God in a convincing, believable way. Why don’t you share your smile at a nursing home? Or show someone in a hospital or at a rescue mission that God is at work in your life? Volunteer your hands and your heart.
Lord God, keep me from being so self-absorbed that I miss a chance to be to others an example of your grace. |
