Fleeting Moments

R, an Argentinian who serves as Executive Director of a Bible Forum, led this morning’s devotion. He joked that he was baptized in a REAL southern Baptist Church (South America—in case you didn’t get that one). He is a lawyer and his wife is a pathologist. They are an impressive couple on many counts and I’ve really enjoyed spending some time with them and hearing their stories. Plus, people from Argentina with Latin blood are just plain fun! No stuffiness there.

My new friend shared what God taught him this past year. He described the starting point as a day last April that will forever be etched in his mind. His son was a freshman engineering student at Virginia Tech. I imagine you know where I’m going with this one. His son was on campus in the engineering building the day the massacre occurred on the Virginia Tech campus. My friend’s son was spared, but friends of his were killed.

R mentioned some of the lessons that this experience taught him:
(1) There is value in community. How could the shooter kill so many and then himself? Wasn’t there anyone who could have noticed or tried to influence this killer? Isolation can be detrimental.
(2) Christ lives in us. R mentioned the professor who served as a human shield offered his life to save the students.
(3) God is sovereign. We might think we have control over our life, but we really don’t. Life is fleeting. Each breath is a gift from God.

R’s wife shared with me at dinner tonight about her ministry to international students. She told me that they open their home to students in the 50 nearby colleges. They host an annual welcome party that often has over 100 students in their backyard. As the students enter, she directs them to a map and asks them to place a push pin in their country of origin. At the end of the evening after the students are gone, R and his wife gather around the map and use it as a prayer focus. Way cool—students from all over the world that return to their home countries, experiencing Christ’s love through this one family.