Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Once in a Blue Moon (01/06/11)
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TITLE: When Remebrance Fortifies Faith
By Shanta Richard
01/12/11 -
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Rev. Richard Wumbrand was an evangelical minister who spent fourteen years in Communist imprisonment and torture, in his home land Romania. His book, “Tortured for Christ,” describes the horrors of the prisons and the sufferings of the Christian prisoners.
He wrote that they were compelled to work so hard that every bone and muscle in their body cried out in pain. The constant beatings made their backs look like bloody plowed fields. Their food consisted of a watery gruel that never satisfied the gnawing pangs of hunger. The filthy tattered rags they wore were no protection against the cold winter winds. But most of all they were denied the solace of prayer and the comfort of fellowship. And yet their faith did not falter and their hope did not waiver.
Sometimes, maybe once in a blue moon, they received a piece of stale bread and a watery soup. To them this was a feast. One of them would raise the bread and the bowl of soup and cry out, ‘I remember’. The rest would respond, ‘Amen’.
Tears blinded my eyes as I read those words. What is it that they remembered? In that stale bread and watery soup did they remember the Bread of Life and the Living Water?
Or did their vacant eyes and broken spirits visualize their beloved Savior presiding over the Last Supper? Did they hear him say, ‘This is my body broken for you’? Did they identify their brokenness with His? Did they hear Him say, ‘This is my blood shed for you.’ Did they identify their bleeding bodies to His on the cross? As they ate the bread and drank that soup did they hear Him say, ‘Do this in remembrance of me.’ Did they also remember His promise that He would not drink wine again until He drank the new wine with THEM in His father’s Kingdom. Did their Amen echo the assurance of this promise that they would be among the guests of the Marriage Feast of the Lamb?
Once in a blue moon, stale bread and tasteless soup in a fearful prison setting fortified their faith by the remembrance of the Savior’s promise of a bright future in His presence in a land where there is no pain or hunger, no ridicule or humiliation but only peace and joy.
Guilt and shame filled me as I thought of all the good food I enjoy everyday. How often have I remembered to thank my Savior for my salvation that He purchased with that perfect and ultimate sacrifice- His broken body and shed blood?
I do not think there will be any blue moons in Heaven for the Light of the SON will shine eternally. But I will not wait for a blue moon to thank Him, but will thank Him always. I will also remember to pray for those faceless and nameless Christian saints allover the world condemned for their faith, to a life of torture and humiliation.
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Great devotional.