Do You Know Who is Cheering for You?

Today, if someone asked you the following question "If you could spend an afternoon over coffee with one person from the past, who would it be?", what would be your answer. Seeing as I am writing the question, I will place the following stipulations:

1) We would all love to spend the afternoon with the Lord (at least I hope so), so pick someone else
2) Someone you are not directly related to
3) Someone born after 1600AD.

Okay, do you have your person? Now, here is another question, what mighty deed did this individual do for the Lord? If your answer is founded our country or helped end World War II, I challenge you to maybe take another look back in history. Not American or even world history, but the history of our faith.  These individuals are great choices, but do you know the
heroes of the Christian faith, because they are amazing choices. Do you know the name and stories behind the individuals who are at this moment cheering you on in your journey here on earth?

There is something about knowing where you came from. We get an sense of identity from those who have gone before us. We also reap the benefits from the bold deeds they did. While none of us tossed tea into Boston Harbor, we are glad that someone in the past did. We look back at the hard times of the Great Depression and gather a sense of  "If they could do that, well so can I" or at least of  "Things could be much worse." History teaches us about who we are as a nation.

Christian history also gives us an identity only a much greater scale. By seeing what ordinary people did through the boldness of God, we can see what can be accomplished. Not to mention, some parts in history were affected by people who will never be mentioned in a secular textbook. But many modern Christians have no idea who these heroes of the past were, unless a movie was made about them. Okay to make my point try matching the following person with the fact about them:

George Washington  Winston Churchill  Susan B Anthony

 Abraham Lincoln     Martin Luther King Jr   

    

1. British Prime Minster during WW2

2. Civil Rights Leader who was assassinated

3. Major Voice for "Women's" Rights

4. President during the Civil War

5. Father of Our Country

Okay, pretty easy, right? Now try these:

Gladys Aylward       George Muller     Hudson Taylor      

Amy Carmichael     Jim Elliot    William Carey

1. A doctor, he is known as the  Father of the China Inland Mission. He responsible for 125 schools and the gospel reaching China.

 2.A waitress who paid her own way to China (the mission board did not think her educated enough to be a missionary), walked cross country with 94 orphans to save them during the Japanese invasion of China in 1938.

3. She rescued and ministered to orphaned Indian girls before Mother Teresa. As a little girl,she always wanted blue eyes, but God gave her brown eyes for a reason.

4. He was killed trying to bring the Gospel to the Acua Indians of Ecudor. The quote "He is no fool to give what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot loose" is from his journals.

5. He cared for over 10,000 orphans during his lifetime with never asking for a penny, trusting the Lord to provide.
                                                                            
6. Called the father of modern day missions, he served in India for seven years before he had his first convert.

Now was that a little harder?  And these heroes are just the tip of a veritable iceberg. There are so many great people of faith, who overcame and endured amazing, terrifying things as they faithfully served the Lord. It is sad that so many people do not know the people who are cheering for them from the heavenly stands. People whose lives would be such an encouragement. People who are our heritage! What better way to teach our children about perseverance, faithfulness, and who God is!

So, maybe there is someone else you would rather spend an afternoon with? Wondering where a good place to start looking is? Try http://www.ywampublishing.com/. 

Oh, and in case you were wondering who I would pick... it would be Darlene Deibler Rose.

 “Who understands the thrill of seeing the first bright flowers of spring so clearly as one who has just lived through the long, hard winter?”
― Darlene Deibler Rose 

  Evidence Not Seen: A Woman's Miraculous Faith in the Jungles of World War II