Live courageously from your heart!
The new year has come and it feels like only yesterday that I was writing my 2013 year in review. Wow, where has the year gone? Since my last year in review a lot has happened on Heartstone Journey and in my own life. There is so much I could share, but here are some highlights:
Corrie ten Boom, a hero to a generation of people who grew up after World War II left a legacy of Godliness and wisdom. She and her sister Betsie were victims of the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands and she survived to tell her story of faith and dependence on God during horrendous suffering.
Corrie Ten Boon, along with the rest of her family were victim of the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands during WWII. They were later interred in a Nazi concentration camp for hiding fugitives and others hunted by the Nazis. Corrie was the only one from her family that survived the horrific conditions of the concentration camp and had the courage to share her story in a book she wrote, The Hiding Place.
Corrie was well acquainted with loss. She lost her family, possessions, and years of her life for no other reason other than helping Jews. During the hardships of the concentration camp, she learned to focus on what could be gained spiritually and emotionally by putting everything in the hands of her heavenly Father.
Wow, what courage and perseverance this woman had!
Here is an excerpt from her book that captures this.
It was a quiet Friday night as I sat down on the couch with my dog to decompress after a long week. Sometimes I like to just kick back and watch a good movie. Navigating through the seemingly endless ‘on demand’ cable menus, I stumbled upon ‘Saving Mr. Banks’. The Disney theme was woven into my fabric as a kid and I always enjoyed watching Mary Poppins with my kids when they were younger. I even remember bringing home a tuppence for them on one of my trips to England.
I decided to check it out and here is what I discovered.
Was the end of a long day and I sat down down on the couch to decompress. Navigating the endless channels of ‘nothing to watch’ on cable, I stumbled on a movie called Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius
Bobby Jones was a child prodigy who became The Man.
A short-tempered, club-throwing youth, Jones turned into an even-dispositioned and unruffled champion. In the Golden Age of Sport, Jones took his place alongside such giants as Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey, Red Grange and Bill Tilden. From 1923 to 1929, the Georgia gentleman dominated golf, birdieing his way into this country’s heart by winning nine major championships.
Then in 1930, he won the Grand Slam, which one writer picturesquely called “the impregnable quadrilateral.” He was so popular that he was accorded a ticker-tape parade in New York — before he won the final two legs of the Slam.i
So, what did I learn from a golfer? Was it golf?
I love Luke’s telling of the story of the meet up with Jesus and Peter. As we step into the scene down by the Sea of Galilee, we find Jesus preaching in a boat and a band of fishermen tending to their nets. After a long night of fishing these guys’ were cleaning, stretching, drying, rolling up and storing their nets to get ready for another go round. While they were tending to their nets, removing the seaweed and other goodies dredged up from the water, they were listening to what Jesus had to say.
Standing in the boat belonging to Simon (Peter), Jesus asks him to put out a little from the land. Jesus continues teaching.
Peter is working and listening, working and listening.
When Jesus stops speaking, He said to Peter, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” Jesus basically says, “Hey Peter, let’s go fishing!”
How do you respond to a question like that?
