Witness

Witness is the title of a book by Whittaker Chambers. On a superficial level, it's the story of the Alger Hiss spy case. But primarily, it's the story of Whittaker Chambers' journey into and out of Communism.  This is a largely forgotten chapter in American history and that's unfortunate. The book is long and is tedious when dealing with the formal trial of Alger Hiss. But the part about how Whittaker Chambers became and functioned as a communist spy is riveting. However, I believe the best part of the book is the foreword, which Whittaker Chambers crafts in the form of a letter to his children. This brief essay should be required reading for every American high school student.  Whittaker Chambers wrote that "two faiths were on trial:"  "Communism and Freedom."  The differences between the two faiths ultimately came down to one thing:  God.  According to Chambers, "the Communist vision is the vision of Man without God."  
This struggle still goes on today, and the spirit of Communism lives on in a number of related "faiths."  It lives on, for example, in those who maintain that the individual is of lesser value than the group and that it's moral to sacrifice any number of individuals for the sake of a particular group.  It's not enough, though, to oppose such a vision.  Chambers wrote, "a man is not primarily a witness against something.  That is only incidental to the fact that he is a witness for something.  A witness, in the sense that I am using the word, is a man whose life and faith are so completely one that when the challenge comes to step out and testify for his faith, he does so, disregarding all risks, accepting all consequences."
God grant me the courage to be a witness for Jesus Christ and for his gospel and for the worldview that is Christianity.   

My Help

Henry Lee, Juanita, Evalina, & Edner.  I wanted to record for posterity the names of some of the women who "practically raised" me, according to my mother.  I don't know their last names.  I don't even know if their names are correctly spelled (the above names are phonetically spelled, based on my mother's pronunciation).  These were black women who worked for my mother, taking care of me when I was very young.  Sadly, I don't remember them (I have no memory of anything before kindergarten.  I remember getting a whipping for "getting lost" during a kindergarten class trip to the circus.  I also remember that I wasn't lost; I wandered off to look at the chameleons that were for sale.  I was fascinated by them & wanted to watch them more than whatever else was going on under the big top.  No doubt that unjust whipping scarred me for life.  It wiped out my pre-kindergarten memory & to this day I don't like circuses & I break out in a cold sweat in the presence of old maid schoolmarms).  Anyway, it grieves me that I don't remember these women or the things they taught me.  However, given the culture of the day, I have no doubt that they were relatively strict and openly & unashamedly based whatever rules they had on the Bible.  Consequently, I also have no doubt that I'll see 'em again in glory.

I will lift up my eyes to the hills--
From whence comes my help?
My help comes from the LORD,
Who made heaven and earth.

These are the opening two verses of Psalm 121, one of the Songs of Ascents, recited by the Jews as they walked up to Jerusalem for one of the holy days.  As they approached Jerusalem, they looked up at the hills where various "high places" were found.  These were shrines, often to idols, that were unauthorized by God.  The Jews then affirmed that their help comes not from any source other than the Lord, who made heaven and earth.  I also affirm that God alone is my help and that, ultimately, it is he who works through various agents to help me, discipline me, and direct my way.  He worked through Henry Lee, Juanita, Evalina, and Edner.  He will be my help today, and I can trust him to be my help in the future.  He neither slumbers nor sleeps.  Praised be God, and not our strength, for it.