Dietrich Bonhoeffer – birth, Feb. 4, 1906

We must make it clear—fearful as it is—that the time is very near when we shall have to decide between national socialism and Christianity… – 94  [1]

 

Christ’s work in us is not finished until He has perfected His own form in us.  – 116

 

Even those who honestly describe themselves as “religious” do not in the least act up to it, and so they presumably mean something quite different by “religious.”  – 169    

 

The real man is at liberty to be his creator’s creature…God loves the real man.  God became a real man.  – 179

 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was born this date, 2/4/1906 at Breslau, Poland.  In the 1930s Hitler took over churches in Germany, trying to make them his propaganda tools.  Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran, was among those who protested this power.  He was arrested in April 1943 and hung in 1944, after being accused of a plot (note “accused”) to kill Hitler.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Cost of Discipleship is well worth reading. 

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[1] Page references from Michael Van Dyke, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Opponent of the Nazi Regime (Uhrichsville, OH: Barbour Pub., 2001)

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Golden Days

           

   H  How can one hope to ever present, 

   A  All that’s happened, event to event?      

   P  Pretty high school girl, Winton Woods “date.”

   P  Pretty Tennessee bride, life’s soul mate.

   Y  Young marriage?  Yes.  God, His wisdom sent.

 

 F  Finances were often super tight

 I  In spite of work and homemaker’s might.

 F  Finished (always wed) B. A. degree,

T  Teaching Hobe’s literature was to be.

I  It introduced us to the sea’s sight.

E  Eventually, teaching changed a bit,

T  The Bible became more life’s great “hit.”

H  Helping prepare workers for the field,

 

W  Wishing to increase the Master’s yield,

E  Ended in Friendsville – God’s timing fit.

D  Dining, other duties tired my wife,

D  Dual/triple “chores” consumed my own life.

I   In eighty-five pulled out for AK:

N  New roads, tent, campsites filled every day,

G  God’s given pleasures, only slight strife.

                 

  A  Andrew, Lincoln, Laura, and Heather

  N  Nested in Bryan’s nest together.

  N  Nice to each other, nice to Mom, Dad,

 I  In times when little was all we had.

 V  Vacations? – with long or short tether.

 E  Eventually each sought/found a mate.

 R  Rightly, their finds would be hard to rate,

 S  Seventeen “grands” bless Martha and me,

 A  A few near, but most “over the sea.”

 R  Rich we are – this side heaven’s grand gate.

 Y  Yield (all!) so you’ll live beyond the blue.

   

 B  Babe, you’re good for me, hope me you.

 A  Always ‘member, I’ve loved you always.

 B  Blessings on our own fiftieth days.

 E  “Edgar and Martha,” happy “young” two.                  

  – eab,6/23/11

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