Never Too Old


2 Corinthians 4:16, Therefore we do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.

Last week I wrote of a 2007 trip to Nicaragua with a mission team from Park Avenue Baptist Church, El Dorado, KS.  As is Park Avenue’s custom, they had prepared and presented a one day Vacation Bible School that was held at a small church in Managua.

A good number of young people had gathered to participate and also some parents and grandparents came and sat quietly while enjoying the events going on around them.  The people of Park Avenue were well prepared for the VBS and had brought a couple of suitcases that were full of crayons and photocopied paper to be colored.  As the crayons and paper were distributed people of all ages were invited to participate.

I moved around the church and was taking photos of those who had gathered.  I happened to come upon a couple of grandmother aged women who were busy coloring their own artwork.  I attempted to get their attention before I took their photo but they never once looked up.  They were fully focused on their crayon work.

The captured photo of that moment is evidence of how, even as we become older, there is still a part of us that remains young.  That given a chance we are once again fresh and youthful.

I marvel at how the word of God becomes fresh over and over.  It is amazing how an often read passage of scripture can suddenly burst forward with new understanding.

Each of us experiences God in some way that is personal to us and he does this over and over again.

August 24, 1456

The printing of the famed Gutenberg Bible was completed by printer and inventor Johannes Gutenberg.  It was the first complete book to be printed using movable type.

August 24, 410

Visigoth King Alari and his armies ransacked the city of Rome in retaliation for Rome’s refusal to grant the Goths the land on which they wanted to settle in modern Hungary.  The event disillusioned both the Christians and pagans who believed Rome’s piety bestowed on her a divine favor protecting her from political and social upheaval.  St. Augustine tackled the dilemma in his writing, City of God.

August 11, 1859

Birth of Katherine Lee Bates, U.S. English teacher, in Falmouth, Massachusetts.  She was the daughter and granddaughter of Congregational ministers.  Katherine authored more than 20 books, but is remembered for authoring the Christian hymn of patriotism: “O Beautiful for Spacious Skies,” a.k.a. “American The Beautiful.”