A ROCKY FOUNDATION

    Eric Liddell was immortalized for his surprising gold medal victory in the 400 meters during the 1924 games in Paris. A year after his triumph Liddell went to China where he spent the last 20 years of his life as a missionary teacher and rural pastor. There he ran the greatest race of his life against opponents we all know –difficult circumstances, war, uncertainty and disease.   Crowded in a Japanese internment camp with 1500 other people, Eric lived out the words from 1 Corinthians 13. He loved and served others in the camp. When he died of a brain tumor in February 1945, one internee described him as a man “who lived better than he preached”. In the most difficult race, Eric Liddell crossed the line victorious through love. 1 Corinthian 13 is often called the love chapter of the Bible. It was written by Paul to a church that prided itself on possessing flashy spiritual gifts but had little love. Paul wrote about the spiritual gifts in chapter 12 and chapter 1...

    Years ago Herman Melville wrote about a whaling ship that sprung into action when they spotted a whale. He wrote: ““They were one man, not thirty. For as the one ship that held them all; though it was put together of all contrasting things: oak, maple, pine wood, iron, pitch and hemp, yet all these ran into each other in the one hull, which shot on its way. Even so, all the individualities of the crew, this man’s valor, that man’s fear; guilt and guiltiness, all varieties were welded into oneness, and were all directed” to the goal the captain had set for them. They were “one man, not thirty”!  In Philippians 1:27-30, Paul tells the Philippians Christians to stand strong for the Lord against external conflicts.   In verse 27 he says stand “firm in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel”. We are not meant to live the Christian life in isolation, unity with others is vital for survival. In chapter two he tells them to guard ...

                          In a two-frame cartoon strip, the first frame shows a little man standing in a torrential downpour, eyes lifted toward heaven, wailing, “Why me?” In the second frame, the voice of God calls down from the dark sky, “Why not?” When tragedy strikes, the knee-jerk reaction seems to be, “Why me?” Instead, when Christians learn of the suffering of others, they should always to ask, “Why not me?” Much Christian teachings today focus solely on the blessings associated with salvation. Christianity is brightly packaged, sugar-coated and enticingly offers great benefits “ beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation” (Heb 6:9). Little attention is paid to the suffering which out of necessity must accompany salvation. Nobody wants to suffer but Jesus the Son of God suffered and promised we shall follow in his footsteps. In the garden of Gethsemane J...