Hope in Suffering

Where is the hope?

I was just a teenager when I started reading books by Chuck Colson and I was a total 2L-front-row groupie when I got to hear him speak at a Christian Legal Society meeting during my law school days. It’s so rare to remember anything we hear from anyone, isn’t it? And yet then there are those teachers, pastors, speakers who change our lives forever. That’s the impact Mr. Colson had on me. He spoke with such intelligence and yet such humility. He challenged us to think and work but even more so to believe in Christ and to love.

The smartest people I have ever met have also been the most humble. Oh, I’ve met plenty of smart people who are proud jerks. Throw a rock, hit a gifted, arrogant man. But when you are around someone who is truly off the chart brilliant? You just know that deep down, their minds are able to run circles around every single person in the room, and yet they don’t. Instead, their eyes are gentle, compassionate, caring, engaged. They don’t draw attention to themselves; they are slow to speak, quick to listen. They draw people out. They laugh. They care.

This was my (layman’s) view of Mr. Colson and it was my understanding of his true character as told to me by people who actually knew him in real life. What a testimony. God’s grace at work! Surely, there is no argument that can stand against the witness of a changed life. And he has helped to change millions.

 

Rest in peace, dear brother. I look forward to meeting you again in Heaven one day!