“Soul Survivor”
I’ve been reading this book and it is so good. I love me some Phillip Yancey.
In his 3rd chapter of this book he talks about a Dr. Robert Cole. I’m ashamed to say i had no idea who this man was. I’m not going to go into detail about that right now. Because what i wanted to share with you is something that Dr. Cole writes about and that Yancey shares with us in his book.
Dr. Cole has been interviewing and writing about the difficulties of the 1960’s school integration. He had the chance to meet and interview Ruby Bridges…the little girl who was the first black child to attend the Frantz School.
There were also three other little girls doing the same thing at other “all white” schools and one particularly little girl was named Tessie. Tessie had Federal Marshalls come to take her to school every day. She lived with her grandmother and Cole writes that every morning she greeted the men with a “Lord Almighty, another gift”! Tessie grew weary of all the insults and screaming she had to put with on her way to school every day and asked her grandmother if maybe she should stop going to school.
Her grandmother had this to say (and this just floored me!): “You see, my child, you have to help the good Lord with his world! He puts us here–and He calls us to help Him out….You belong in that McDonogh School, and there will be a day when everyone knows that, even those poor folks—Lord, i pray for them!—those poor, poor folks who are out there shouting their heads off at you. You’re on of the Lord’s people; He’s put His hand on you. He’s given a call to you, a call to service–in His name!”
Cole goes on to say that loving our enemies is something that is incredibly hard to do….most of us could not truly do it….yet here was a 6 year old living it out.
L-i-v-i-n-g i-t o-u-t.
