Day 12: Tuesday, Week 2—By Faith

Genesis 22:1-19; Psalm 105:1-11, 37-45; Hebrews 11:1-19

Most of us reading these thoughts have ancestors who came to this country by faith. Grandpa Heide came from Denmark to Kenosha, Wisconsin, in 1898 at the invitation of his older brother, Martinus. He came, not knowing English, not prepared for the job he felt called to do. What he came with was faith, in God and in himself.

Grandpa arrived in this country with $13.00 in his pocket and a job on a farm that paid $1.00 a year plus room, board, and English lessons. Later he went to work for the Simmons Company in Kenosha where he became a machinist.

Martinus, who worked for Mr. Jeffrey in Racine at a bicycle shop, asked my grandfather if he would like to help them work on a new automobile? For two years, Grandpa worked eleven hours a day at Simmons. Then he got on his bicycle and rode to South Racine. They built an automobile in 1902 called it the Rambler.

Grandpa once told me that when you know what God has called you to do, you have to do everything you can to make that happen. Otherwise, you devalue yourself and you deny God.

He knew that what he was called to do couldn’t happen in Denmark. He came to the opportunities and possibilities of this country because of his faith in God and confidence in himself. I am sure that many of you have similar stories in your history.

No matter how we have gotten here today, it is because of the faith of others. Without their witness, we would not know the story that has changed our lives in Baptism. Therefore, we journey together at this time to again bear witness to the death of Christ on the cross on Good Friday and the miracle of the empty tomb on Easter Sunday, proclaiming God’s work in history and in our lives. For Abraham’s calling is important to witness, but it is no less than God’s calling of us today. “Listen, listen, God is calling, to the world inviting,” us to ways as yet unknown.

Prayer
In the stillness of the night, in the busyness of our days, you continue to call and lead us, O Lord. In the hectic clatter of our lives may we take time to listen. Amen