"At the same time, you need to know that I carry with me at all times a
huge sorrow. It's an enormous pain deep within me, and I'm never free of
it. I'm not exaggerating-Christ and the Holy Spirit are my witnesses.
It's the Israelites... If there were any way I could be cursed by the
Messiah so they could be blessed by him, I'd do it in a minute. They're
my family. I grew up with them. They had everything going for
them-family, glory, covenants, revelation, worship, promises, to say
nothing of being the race that produced the Messiah, the Christ, who is
God over everything, always. Oh, yes!" Romans 9:1-5 (MSG)
How
much do we try to help those who have no hint of hope in their life?
Drug addicts, the sick, the unemployed, the poor, the ones who don't
even have an inkling about the love of our Heavenly Father? Would we be
willing to offer our lives to save one of them?
The apostle Paul
was willing, but his own people didn't believe him.
Breholtz and
Manfred, aged 21, were stuck in a cattle wagon headed for Auschwitz.
They desperately tried to separate the iron bars from the small window
in their wagon, without any success. They tried using their pullovers as
ropes, but these didn't provide enough grip on the bars. It seemed
nothing they did worked. Only one person in the wagon was willing to
help them: "Why don't you soak the sweaters in urine to increase their
traction?" He asked.
"Why not?" They thought.
They dipped
the ropes in the toilet and way more than urine came back. It smelled
terrible! They succeeded with this method, however, and with the help of
the man who had the idea, to yank the bars far enough for them to
squeeze out.
Once outside on the ledge of the wagon, they had to
avoid the searchlights from the guards. They jumped and survived.
Why didn't the other prisoners try to escape as well? They had the
means. I am certain that these two young men encouraged them to do so. I
wonder if this haunted them in life: "Maybe we should have encouraged
them way more than what we did."
Interestingly enough, this
happened in a lot of wagons. Generally, the escapees faced the ire of
the prisoners, as they feared retributions from the Nazis for letting
some of them escape. They would prefer to reach their destination where
they would eventually die in a concentration camp. They had the chance
but didn't take it.
It's still the same today. Maybe we aren't in
a cattle wagons, but we have the opportunity to experience eternal life.
Are we doing anything to encourage them? Are we ready to jump from the
cattle wagon ourselves?
We can sit in the safety of a cattle
wagon hoping all will end well. Is this the destination we long for?
Rob Chaffart
Escaped from a Cattle Wagon. Radical Grace from the Book of Romans (9:1-5)
Today's Bible Verse:
If there were any way I could be cursed by the Messiah so they could
be blessed by him, I'd do it in a minute. They're my family. Romans 9:3
(MSG)
Escaped from a Cattle Wagon. Radical Grace from the Book of Romans (9:1-5)
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