ALONE OR TOGETHER?

        Carol and I recently watched “The Good Lie”, a movie about four young Sudanese who came to America after seeing their families killed in war. The children walked nearly 800 miles to a refugee camp and spent 15 years there. A fifth older boy had allowed himself to be taken by soldiers so the other four could escape. Later when the fifth was found alive in a Kenyan camp, his brother went back and switched identities so the brother who had saved them could come to America. As the younger said to the older, “Yes, this is a lie, but it is a good lie.” The younger man then stayed and worked in the camp hospital while his brother lived a new life.
        The movie showed the courage people are willing to make, as well as enormous difficulties and sacrifices when terrorized by war, packed for years in a refugee camp and finally brought to begin life a new and foreign land.
        It was a very emotional movie for me to watch. From 1978 to 2005, I assisted my churches to help relocate dozens of refugees: Christians from from Laos and Ethiopia, Jews from Russia, atheists from Czech Republic and Muslims from Bosnia. I wanted to do this because I am a child of immigrants.
        I remember many of the first immigrants we helped, and some of the last ones still live in the Denver area. The young have now grown up, attended school, married and have moved away. Some adults have already passed on, as noted from obituaries I found online, and others continue to live their new life.
        An African proverb in the movie struck me: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” God’s Word says in Psalm 68:6, “God puts the lonely into families.” Going through life alone can be risky, but being with others helps. Both of our sons are now married with families, and they will go far because they are going together, together with loved ones and together with the Lord.
        From the beginning God said, “It is not good for man to be alone.” (Genesis 2:18)  Whether in families, congregations, RV parks or other communities, we go far when we go together. It is God’s blessing of togetherness.

Praise God He helps us come together with Him to eternal life in Jesus.

Rev. Bob Tasler
www.bobtasler.com