Gem Brief 201101.pub - kreuzkirche.co.za

From pastor’s desk
While in Germany during the past month, I attempted to trace the footsteps
of my maternal grandmother who was born in Lower Saxony in 1880. When
she was about 20 years old she followed her missionary husband to the
mission field in South-East India.
What a dramatic life would follow!
Their children were to be sent to Europe for education and especially because
of the adverse health conditions in the area they were working in.
This meant in practical terms that she had to send her children away at an
early age to be cared for by others in a mission hostel in Germany. Her eldest
son was in her direct care for only a few years. After he went to Germany
she saw him when he was 10 years olds for 2 years and then again when
he was a grownup man who had virtually completed his tertiary education.
Today we ask, how can that be? We view these conditions under which they
had to live as impossible.
But tracing her footsteps a new question arose: How did she handle and respond
to the challenges life expected her to face?
From verbal accounts of people who had personal contact with her it became
clear, that she became a woman of very few words. She did not record
or tell hero stories — these were told by others who had known her in
the mission field.
In the midst of all stories told about her it came apparent that she had her
mind set not on what she wanted to achieve, but rather to listen to the call of
God and then walk the path set out before her — even if it meant sacrifices.
A very humbling story. It was her story. No one can copy it.
But through this life’s story I see myself being challenged by the question of
how I do respond to situations that I face? What will my witness look like? By
what is my response to challenges of life driven? Am I driven by the force of
self-realization, or do I find my self by being of serviced to a greater whole
even if it means personal disadvantage?
I am very reluctant to offer an answer. Rather let others bear witness to what
I have said and done. May they also forgive me where I missed the mark.
God bless you all!
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