Passing The Torch

For what now seems like an eternity ago, but in reality has only been a few years, my father had transplant surgery at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. As anyone can attest, when you have a loved one in any hospital, family members tend to become familiar with many parts of these great healing institutions. Personally, I have never been one to sit still for very long and am prone to roaming any time I am in any building for too long.

During one of my excursions through that great hospital, I found what to me looked like an old library, but was in fact what I considered the formal waiting room. Unlike the other waiting areas, spread throughout, this one is furnished with seating that is far more comfortable than those found in the surgical waiting areas are. What really caught my eye were the different plaques and other memorabilia detailing the lives of many the philanthropists who founded that hospital and university.

As one who loves history, I could have spent the entire day in this area just learning about those who had passed the torch down from one generation to the next, building on the foundations created by many generous benefactors throughout history. With that thought in mind, contained within a glass case was what I considered the perfect piece of memorabilia. Apparently, during the lead-up to the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, one of the staff members had participated in the Olympic Torch Relay. Inside this case, was the torch that this particular runner had carried during his part of the relay. For a brief moment I considered just how significant it was for that torch to be on display in an area that memorialized the legacy of past generations generosity to create such an institution.

Even as I ponder now how the torch has passed through each generation of those facilities medical staff, I consider the same symbolic passing in each of our own lives. Often I find myself thinking about the legacy that has been handed down to each of us from one generation to the next. Regularly, I consider not just the legacy passed from my parents and grandparents generations, but I also consider the hopes and dreams of multiple generations who sacrificed and even died to guarantee that future generations would enjoy a life and freedoms never even thought possible during their lifetime.

Frequently now, I find myself just trying to imagine what it must have been like for many of those who left home and family in Europe and other parts of the world, some with only the clothes on their backs. Many of these dreamers left with no thought of themselves or their own safety to pursue a vision of a better place where future generations could live in freedom with the ability to worship God openly without fear of reprisals from those who had oppressed them for generations. A place, where a man or woman could become whatever they wanted, and no one would stand in their way if they were determined to succeed, and willing to work hard for that success.

The older I become, I find myself reflecting more often on the torch that we are now beginning to hand off to another generation. Sadly, I now find that the torches flame does not seem to burn as bright as it did when I received it. The cause of freedom now seems to be under constant attack, even those whom we have elected as our representatives seem oblivious and often even complicit in seeking to destroy that which was bought with the blood and sacrifices of past generations.

As for the cause of Christ, never in my lifetime have I seen Christianity under attack like it is right now. Every day we are now bombarded with verbal bigotry, physical attacks, and even murder, all intended to extinguish the cause and relegate those who call themselves followers of Jesus Christ to the sidelines. Sometimes I wonder how long the bloodshed we see in other parts of the world will remain beyond our own shores, especially when many of our nation’s leaders share the same loathing attitude towards those who believe in God and profess His Son as their Lord and Savior.

Often now, I find myself remembering a verse from that old Gaither song “The Church Triumphant”. For those familiar with the tune, there is a verse where Gloria Gaither speaks about the times throughout history, when the Church was driven underground, to only come out stronger and more on fire. To those who now seek to extinguish this fire let me just concur, “The church triumphant is alive and well”.

Today, I feel much anxiety. Within my soul I cannot help but feel that we find ourselves at a place in history where just like the pieces on a chessboard, every move carries great significance and consequences. The torch in our hands is battered, and the winds of socialism, atheism, humanism, secularism, and political correctness have joined forces in a grand attempt to extinguish the flame that was handed down to us from previous generations.

Whether we hand a torch to the next generation that burns brightly or cast it upon the scrapheap of failed societies throughout antiquity, is yet to be determined. Will those of us, who relish the favoritism bestowed upon this country by God above, continue to give thanks to Him? On the other hand, will we find ourselves like Peter, unwilling to profess our love and devotion to a just God, by denying that we ever knew Him? Personally, I never want my grandchildren to look at me and ask why they no longer live in freedom, and why we let that flame be extinguished so easily.

“As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord”, and as long as I have breath in my body I intend to keep fanning the flames of freedom. May we each renew our commitment that the passing of the torch on our watch, will be of great significance. That the torch we hand off to the next generation will be burning as bright as ever. May we be resolved that no force, no matter how organized can never undermine or extinguish that light that has burned in the hearts and souls of human beings for thousands of years, and has nursed this cause of freedom and religious liberty to grow brighter, right here in the land of milk and honey.