March 5, 2020
Editorial
Recently, I read an article by John Smith that grabbed my attention and stirred my heart. John launched his article with a true story about my late friend, Glover Ship.
In 1967, Glover and Margie and their five children boarded a ship bound for Brazil where they would help establish the Lord’s church in Belo Horizonte. On the way, something happened that changed Glover’s life forever.
In graphic detail, Glover wrote: “The little Japanese mother placed her nine-month old baby with her sister in the nursery; she took her five-year old son onto the deck and placed her purse in her boy’s hands. Her earthly possessions disposed of, she slipped out of her shoes, climbed the guard rail near the stern and jumped into the churning wake of the ship. In only seconds—eternity!”
The woman’s husband had died the preceding month, and she was returning to her homeland homeless, defeated, and heartsick. Following the traditional practice of her people, she took her own life in the Atlantic.
Glover wrote, “A woman died today, but I didn’t see her. Yes, I saw our ship circling slowly for hours around buoys marking the area where she jumped. I joined 400 passengers and crew to scan each billowing wave for any sign of her. Then I saw her body, bobbing out there like a piece of driftwood. I even saw a blanket-shrouded shape brought back to the ship in a lifeboat.
“But I didn’t see her! I had witnessed her trying to manage her little brood alone. She had eaten her meals, just two tables away from me in the dining room, but I didn’t see her. Occupied with preparation and plans for saving souls in Brazil, I was blind to the need that existed right before my eyes today.”
The thing that grabs my heart in this sobering true story is that the world is full of homeless, defeated, and heartsick people. With WEI, God has placed in our hands a tool that will give them strength, victory, peace, and joy. Don’t turn a blind eye. Look at them through the eyes of God, and share with them the good news about Christ. Become a WEI teacher today.
