Where is my courage?

Some time ago I read a very interesting story about the spread of Christianity in the world. One thing that captured my attention was the courage of countless early Christians in the face of death. Almost all of the Apostles died in a violent way. Many accounts have been noted throughout the ages of Christians refusing to denounce Jesus Christ and being tortured or killed for their beliefs. Still today there are quite a few countries with ongoing persecution of Christians. Even in Haiti there are still areas where the lives of them can be in jeopardy. Just a handful of years ago we visited in one of these "zones". Shortly before our visit, a preacher had been killed under the cover of night. It was a grim reminder of the ongoing spiritual warfare against followers of Jesus.

Reflecting on that I wondered if I would be that strong? As a little boy my fourth grade teacher had a wonderful gift of telling stories. He would read from this book about the Eighty Year war, a religious tinted war between protestant Holland and  Roman Catholic Spain following the time of the Reformation. I vividly remember the stories about the people who burned at the stake or were drowned in burlap sacks, weighted with stones. They were so brave. Sometimes after school was over we protestants kids fought with the catholic kids, whose school we had to pass on the way home. Mostly it was calling names and throwing rocks. It made you feel like you came up for those martyrs. Silly stuff.

But where is my courage now. Upon waking one morning,  I heard a fragment of a radio program and the one sentence that stuck with me was: "We don't need a Creator in this world".
That is often the opinion these days and hardly news but when do I object? Have the people who say these things ever experienced something that makes them doubt? In my years I have seen things that rocked my little world and that encouraged my faith immensely but I wonder if I have done enough to share that with others. Maybe I have to look at myself first before I talk about others. Some people with whom I did share my stories, smiled in apparent disbelief. Others encouraged me to write a book about it. Well, I've  tried many times but have put it aside just as often. Yet, the above has emboldened me to try it once again. I am going to write about these events in my blog. Maybe, just maybe it will encourage someone else who wonders if we need a Creator.

To be continued........