Fresh Start Devotionals

Falling Walls In the wake of the most recent shuttle disaster, I spent some time reflecting about the day Dad called us all into the Living Room to watch history in the making. All Neil Armstrong did was take a small step, but Dad was right, it was history—it was a “giant leap for mankind.” He’d crossed a barrier—a wall if you will, that changed the world. Since that night, I’ve always been keenly aware when I was watching history unfold. There was the brisk fall evening in 1988 with Kirk Gibson hobbled up to the plate in the World Series. His bat had propelled the Dodgers into the Series against the A’s, but it didn’t look like he’d be able to help them now, with him being gimpy and all. But in a gutsy move, Lasorda sent him to the plate with the game on the line. Gibson knocked one out of the park and hobbled around the bases to lead his team to victory that day and provided a spark to his team to take the series. Who’d of thought that knocking a ball over a wall would have that kind of impact? One of my favorite history moments on TV happened the year before. President Ronald Reagan stood beside the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin, Germany on June 12, 1987 and said, “Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” And before you know it, the wall came down, and when it did, the world changed forever. I like this moment the best for a couple of reasons. One, because of the impact those few words—tear down this wall—had on human history. It reminds me that what we say really can make a difference. But another reason I like it is because, in my mind, it underscores Paul’s words in Ephesians 2:14, when he wrote: “For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall,” (NASB) Jesus tore down the wall that separated the Jews from the Gentiles, and that definitely made it possible for all people everywhere to get along. Our real heroes aren’t the ones that build the walls—they are the ones that scale them, or better yet, tear them down. So why is it that it is so easy to let my prejudices build an artificial wall between me and people who are different than me? Jim L. Wilson, Fresh Start Devotionals (Fresno, CA: Willow City Press, 2009).