Editorial: Concerning prophets and Hobbits (Updated)
“We are very excited to announce that JoJo, a foster child kidnapped during the murder of our missionary Roberta Edwards, has been located and is alive and well,” the church reports on its Facebook page. “Haitian authorities report that at least two suspects have been taken into custody. Please continue to pray for Roberta’s family and the ongoing work in Haiti.”
The Christian Chronicle is preparing a report for our next issue on Roberta Edwards’ life, legacy and the aftermath of this terrible attack. If any of you knew her, traveled to Haiti to work with her, and would like to add your thoughts and tributes, please email us.
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. … When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.”
Paula Harrington reminds us of these words from the prophet Isaiah as she, like so many of us, mourns for Roberta Edwards. Writing for The Marshall County Daily, Harrington, a church member in Kentucky, shares memories of a visit to Haiti, where Edwards loved and served children who were cast aside.
She “loved her Savior too much to leave a mission much greater than herself,” Harrington writes.
Now Edwards is gone, taken from us in an act of pure evil. Her death adds to the noise on our TV screens and Twitter feeds.
Another shooting on a college campus. Another deranged gunman. A debate over whether or not Christians should have firearms — during worship!
Where is this protection you speak of, oh God? We smell the smoke, see the flames. We get burned. Why do you allow these things to happen?
We remember when God spoke to Job out of the storm. We did not lay the foundations of the world, our heavenly father tells us. We don’t see the full picture.
We’re also reminded of a Hobbit named Samwise Gamgee (especially as we discuss New Zealand in our Currents section). In the film version of J.R.R. Tolkein’s “The Two Towers,” he talks about “the great stories … the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn’t want to know the end because how could the end be happy?”
But darkness passes, and “when the sun shines it’ll shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you, that meant something even if you were too small to understand why.”
We are in the middle chapters of an epic tale. When a soldier falls in this battle, may we raise up an army to stand in her place.
Pray, love, hope, do not fear.
And watch what God does next.
