Dana's Christian Journey

On January 22, 1973 the highest court in our land ruled that a woman has the right to prematurely end the life of an unborn child. By the end of 1973 the highest government officials in our land were engulfed in scandal after scandal. It seemed that each day new revelations of corruption were exposed. As a young teenager, I didn’t  understand the darkness of Roe v Wade or Watergate… but God did.

I became intrigued with Watergate after becoming assistant principal in our high school a few years after graduating from college. So many discipline situations begin with one hidden truth being exposed. The arrest of five burglars at the Watergate hotel a few months before the election of 1972 led to intense investigation of the most powerful men in America. Nixon won 49 states and 61% of the vote in the November election, but little did he know that within two years he would resign the presidency in disgrace. In April of 1973, Nixon’s top aides, Bob Haldeman and John Ehrlichman resigned, as did Attorney General Richard Kleindienst. Everyone in governemnt seemed to be scrambling to defend themselves. In October, Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned for non-Watergate related scandals. When a relatively unknown aid named Alexander Butterworth revealed that Nixon taped every conversation in his office on a hidden machine, the noose tightened around the President’s neck.

But God loves to shine light into darkness. Of his inner circle, perhaps the man with the worst reputation for ‘playing dirty’ was an ex-Marine named Charles W. Colson. Engulfed in the political turmoil, this lawyer known as Nixon’s ‘hatchet man’ gave his life to Christ in 1973 after a friend named Tom Phillips took the time to share how Jesus had changed his life. The press and political cartoonists had a field day in the newspapers after hearing that Chuck Colson was ‘born again.’ But when he surprised everyone by pleading guilty to wrongs committed, even his harshest critics took respectful note. The judge sentenced the President’s former Special Counsel to one to three years in prison.

While some judged Colson’s motives as impure, others welcomed him into the fellowship of Christ and prayed for him to walk faithfully with a new Master. In prison, Colson read how Jesus chose to leave Heaven and identify fully with man by coming to earth as one of us, enduring hardship and temptation just as we do. “For the one who makes men holy and the men who are made holy share a common humanity. So that he is not ashamed to call them brothers.” (Hebrews 2:11) Chuck Colson knew he deserved punishment for wrongdoing in government, but now as a ‘new creation in Christ’ he wondered what God planned for his life.

While in prison, Colson discovered a part of God’s purpose for him. Only by being a prisoner can a man really understand what prisoners feel and need. In 1976 after his parole, he established Prison Fellowship to share the light of Jesus Christ with men and women in prison. Over the past thirty-six years, thousands have come to Christ because one guilty man surrendered to God in 1973. Charles Colson knows personally the power of Christ and speaks clear words of truth in the battle between darkness and light.

“All the trees of the field will know that I the Lord bring down the tall tree and make the low tree grow tall. I dry up the green tree and make the dry tree flourish.” Ezekial 17:24

I was eight years old on April 4, 1968 in Chattanooga, Tennessee when my mom told me to run tell my dad that Dr. King had been shot in Memphis. I remember thinking, “Why would anyone shoot a doctor?” We all watched the news that night and I realized something very tragic had happened in our state. Two months later a Palestinian immigrant named Sirhan Sirhan shot and killed Bobby Kennedy in Los Angeles. The whole country seemed to be falling apart that year as the war in Vietnam raged and racial hatred spewed. The Democratic Convention produced even more fireworks late in August as Chicago was rocked with protest and violence. In November, Richard Nixon defeated Hubert Humphrey and George Wallace to become the 37th President of the United States.

With all the chaos of the year, 1968 came to an end with everyone looking up. As Apollo 8 became the first spaceship to orbit the moon, three astronauts prepared to broadcast a message to the largest listening audience in the history of the world. Nearly a billion people tuned in on Christmas Eve as Lunar Module Pilot Bill Anders began with these words: “For all the people on Earth, the crew of Apollo 8 has a message we would like to send you.”

A little over two and a half years earlier, the cover of TIME magazine was filled with a three word question: “IS GOD DEAD?” From their spacecraft beyond the moon, looking at a blue planet called home, Bill Anders, Command Module Pilot Jim Lovell, and Commander Frank Borman read the passage below. I think they answered the question.

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light. And God saw the light and it was good; and God divided the night from the darkness. And God called the light Day; and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. And God said, ‘Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.’ And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. And God said, ‘Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together unto one place, and let dry land appear’; and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering of the waters he called Seas; and God saw that it was good.” Genesis 1:1-10

Harry and Dagmar, our friends who have lived in Jerusalem the past twenty-three years, stayed with us this past week. They visited my classes one day and answered questions from high school students. We may reach conclusions on world politics or the conflict in the Middle East by reading the newspaper or watching the news, but when you visit with people who live there you get a whole new perspective. “If a person has love in his heart for the Jews but no love for the Arabs, he does not understand the love of God. Or if a person has love in his heart for the Arabs but no love for the Jews, he also does not understand the love of God.” Harry’s quote reminded me that we need to see things from God’s viewpoint.

Suppose Martha Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Henry Knox decided to write biographies of George Washington. Would they all write the same book? You might expect Thomas Jefferson to give clear insight on the political life of George Washington and his strength as an early leader in our nation. As Secretary of War and Revolutionary War general, Henry Knox might focus on the military exploits of our first president. And surely Martha would write a more personal volume about her husband. Each could give a true account of a man’s life, but the author’s perspective would produce three different books.

Peter, Paul, and John all knew Jesus. Two walked with him on earth for three years as disciples. Peter and John listened to his teaching and witnessed his miracles. Paul was called to be an apostle after Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. Though each knew Jesus as Savior and Lord, their experiences in life and the work of the Holy Spirit gave different viewpoints.

Peter failed miserably as a disciple and friend when he denied Jesus three times on the night of his betrayal. But after Jesus forgave and restored him and after the Holy Spirit empowered him, Peter proclaimed the Gospel the rest of his life.

John, ‘the disciple that Jesus loved’, was the only one of the Twelve to remain at the cross when his Savior died. He lived longer than any other apostle, constantly telling the story of Jesus.

Paul said he was not worthy to be an apostle, yet God chose him to write more of the New Testament than any other person. Paul had a burning desire to know Christ more and more. Through a multitude of trials and much suffering, Paul proclaimed the good news and the mystery of Christ until he died a martyr’s death.

So what about us? What viewpoint do I have? What viewpoint do you have? Can we humbly and boldly tell the story of Jesus in our lives? Your perspective may be quite different than mine, yet we know God’s love and Christ’s work in our hearts. Our message needs to line up with that of Peter, Paul, and John, but God’s work in a life is wonderfully unique. May we take time to remember, reflect, and recount the goodness of our King.

“I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever. Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever. Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom. One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts. They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty, and I will meditate on your wonderful works. They will tell of the power of your awesome works, and I will proclaim your great deeds. They will celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness.” Psalm 145:1-7