Friday, May 06, 2005

Test of Faith

The last few months I have been entering Beachy ancestors into my "Family Tree Maker" program on the computer. I feel like I’m beginning to know some of the Beachy people back there so long ago.They are more than just a name with a date of birth and death. They become a real living person when I read about the death of their children, babies, teens, young men and women, deaths through accidents, and sickness. Life was not always easy, oh Yes, there were good times as well, when we all hoped it would never end.

Today some of you are experiencing hard times dealing with sickness, old age, cancer, and loss of family members. Death seems to be lurking around the corner, like a thief waiting for the next victim to come along. To rob us of our life that we had planned so carefully; to cheat us out of the dreams we laid out to achieve over the years.

“In reality our birth is nothing but our death begun.” (Quote)

This is nothing new; it has been going on ever since God made man out of dust. The positive side, is the "Hope" we have that has been passed down for hundreds of generations. Our ancestors in Switzerland had this hope so firmly ingrained that even death by cruel inhumane ways, would not cause them to retract their belief in God.

They must have been tormented in their minds, "why should we have to suffer at the hands of supposedly religious men? Why should we be murdered because we understand the Bible differently than the rulers of the church?" Regardless of the cruel torture and death they suffered, they still left a legacy that we profit from today. They fled to America to start a new life, free to decide for themselves what was right.

Their faith was beyond our imaginations; was it really? There are many of you people in our own families and friends that have this Hope, this Faith; just as strong as our ancestors who were put to death for what they believed.

The Test of Faith comes to all of us, with slight variations, as it did our ancestors; will history show we passed the test? "We can be sure it will."

“Faith is a path; that leads us through unknown territories with confidence, because we know the final destination.”

“More than anything else, I believe it's our decisions, not the conditions of our lives, that determine our destiny.”