Cheering each other on!

The reformers wall in Geneva, Switzerland

I stood in front of the Reformers’ Wall in Geneva and tears started rolling down my face. I was somewhat surprised by my emotional reaction while facing these imposing five-meter tall, stern-faced stone men who looked as if they were guarding the city of Geneva: Theodore Beza, Willam Farel, John Knox and of course John Calvin .  

Standing there I had a mix of feelings, but mostly ones of awe, respect and great gratitude towards these “saints of old” and the sacrifice and determination they showed hundreds of years ago. They lived out their conviction and provided freedom for their religious beliefs.

 Perhaps it is because of growing up in France as a child of missionaries, where I so often felt skepticism from others towards my “American, protestant” identity.  I remember one day, in my 7^th grade French history class, being asked to get up from my desk, while the teacher pointed me out as a “live example” of a heretic. Or the feeling of being looked at funny when asked what my father’s job was, and I had to answer that he was a pastor, and upon seeing their perplexed faces had to explain that a pastor was a kind of priest, but for the protestants. This of course made no sense to them, since priest were not allowed to get married nor have children, so imagine the category that put me in as a child of a protestant priest. 

So there I stood in June of 2016,…..well aware of today’s current events themes:  refugees fleeing dysfunctional economic systems, people being killed because of their different status or color, others choosing to exit systems that seems imposed on them.  I realized, to a small extent, the importance such people played in making way for the freedoms of today. I also stood there feeling a degree of shame at how today I take the freedom they worked so hard for for granted.

These men stood there like the “great cloud of witnesses” mentioned in Heb.12:1,  and we could add to them so many others who have gone before us and paved the way for the work that we do today.  Of course I couldn’t help but think of the reason I was in Geneva on that very day - to take part in the board meetings of the Leman International Academy, a small Christian bilingual school I had helped “birth” five years ago.  It occurred to me that even in 2016 in Europe, we have to keep fighting hard to keep a school with Christian value-based education an option for families in the Geneva area.  This also applies to other projects that have not been birthed without a struggle.

Alex raised over $1000 running  in the Freiheitslauf, 2016

Those who know me know that I love to run.  Running for a purpose and a goal is something that motivates me, but I have learned that it can’t be done without a price, effort, time and perseverance, nor without people who encourage and believe in what you are doing…..kind of like the “great cloud of witnesses”. 

Some of you are those people for me and it has been great to reconnect with many of you this summer.
 

The city of Geneva doubled in population during the days the protestants were persecuted for their faith. It was known as a “city of refuge”. It kept this “refuge” status and extended it to all sorts of people being persecuted for their differences in 1951, through the Geneva convention on political asylum.

Tammy and Tracy running the race!

So, standing before the Reformers’ Wall on that day, I was encouraged  and motivated to keep running the races set before me: there in Geneva with the little Leman International Academy, but also in my personal walk with God, in my marriage with Phil, my relationships with my kids and family, with my dear friends and the many other “races” set before me. 

Most of us hardly have a day that goes by when we are not on either side of the race: either as the runner who needs encouragement, or as the one who is doing the cheering on …. sometimes we might even have to do both at the same time. 

Keep it up! We need each other!

Hebrews 12:1 says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders … and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”

Local refugees ran in the Freiheitslauf with us!