A couple of weeks ago, we bought Growing Together in Courage by Barbara Rainey. The book is a seven-day family devotional intended to encourage the development of courage. We have been reading it at the dinner table.
This is an excerpt:
"To be countercultural means to go against the flow. It means doing what is right and true no matter what others are doing. When you go against the flow, you recognize that just because something is popular doesn't necessarily mean that it's right.
"Courage is countercultural.
"In 1945, an assembly of pastors and priests gathered in Bucharest, Romania. The meeting had been organized by the new Soviet-controlled Communist government, which had recently replaced Hitler's Nazi government in Romania. Neither government allowed true freedom of religion. The Romanian people had suffered under Hitler and were about to suffer under a new, equally cruel leader, Joseph Stalin.
"Richard Wurmbrand and his wife, Sabina, were at the 1945 gathering. They knew that a primary intent of Communism was to destroy religion, so they were shocked to hear many of their fellow religious leaders actually declaring a belief that Communism and Christianity could peacefully coexist. Because of fear, these men set aside their faith and spoke with lies and flattery.
"Deeply troubled, Sabina whispered to her husband, 'Richard, stand up and wash away this shame from the face of Christ.'
"'If I speak,' Richard explained, 'you will lose your husband.'
"Sabina replied, 'I do not wish to have a coward for a husband'" (page 19).
The book is available only from FamilyLife. I do not know about another devotional book designed to build courage in children. It's a very good book, and may be ordered at http://www.shopfamilylife.com/growing-together-courage.html.
No comments:
Post a Comment