Past and present
By Christy K. Robinson

Vacation was wonderful! In September, I lived in the past, visiting cathedrals, parish churches, national parks, archaeology sites, castles, and farmhouses in England, Wales, and Paris. This was my third pilgrimage to where my ancestors lived, worked, and worshiped. I have an unusual hobby: finding and photographing the medieval burial effigies of my ancestors, and discovering their roots. The photo here is of Aethelstan, King of England, 895-939.

I drove to the tiny village of Sturton-le-Steeple, home to ancestor Rev. John Robinson (1575-1625), minister to the Puritan Pilgrims in England and Holland before they emigrated on the Mayflower to Plymouth, Massachusetts. I enjoyed a Bach concert at St. Martin’s in the Field, where ancestors Mary Barrett and William Dyer were married before emigrating to America, and Mary was martyred on Boston Common in 1660 for preaching the Quaker gospel to Puritans. At a Salisbury church, only four parishioners, the vicar, and I were blessed by a lovely prayer service.

While our ancestors were deeply convicted and willing to live and die for their beliefs in God, post-modern Europeans believe that if there is a God at all, they just don’t care. Religion is a pack of fairy stories and superstition. Churches, empty of worshipers, are historic landmarks, or buildings to remodel as fire stations and restaurants. God still has faithful followers among the denominations, but there is a field ready for sowing!

And then I came back to the hectic pace at The Quiet Hour, to this staff who love the living Lord and serve Him daily. There are inspiring reports and pictures of the evangelism efforts by Pastors Bill Tucker and Mike Porter and 29 volunteer teams (Costa Rica and Mongolia). Our Strategic Plan for the next five years has been approved by our board of directors. Seven major evangelism events for 2007 are being planned (there are others in the works), as well as an exciting fundraising project for our seventieth anniversary year (you’ll have to wait for its unveiling). It is heartening to see how God has led us in the past, to glimpse what He has for the future, and to have the certainty that now He holds us in His loving hands. The Eternal God, Who was, and is, and ever shall be, is directing our steps, and He is with us always.