Trials bring patience, and patience, hope
FEBRUARY 11, 2008 (MONDAY)
This afternoon at 2:00 p.m., I will conduct a funeral service for Zora Belle Casterline, a dear Christian lady who lived an exciting life of service to others. She was born in 1921, and was only 5 years old when her father came down with cancer, and 15 years old when he died in 1936, during the Great Depression. She had to drop out of school to help care for her six brothers and sisters. In those hard times, she made money for the family by hauling water, gathering moss, shooting game to provide food for other families, picking cotton, and, you name it.* Life was challenging to many people back in those days, and particularly difficult for children who had adult responsibilities before the many social programs that eventually developed.
Many today can remember hard times in their lives, and almost all such people attribute many of their present virtues to the trials they experienced, the frugality they learned, and the ties that bind families and friends together when they help each other through hard times.
This brings us to a recurrent theme in our lives as Christians, expressed in Romans 8:28, “…we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” A study of the context shows his purpose is to make us more like Jesus, who endured suffering to become our Savior.
I recall a day when my dear friend, who happened to one of the several Catholic priests I came to know and love as good friends in my years in Rockport, said to me, “You know, Charles, man was intended to strive, wasn’t he?” I thought that was a good way to put it. It is through struggles that we learn the true meaning of victory and joy in life. A good chapter to read often is Romans 8. Why not read it today?
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*By the way, Zora Belle got her GED after her children graduated from college.