“Trust All Things To Jesus…”

I can tend to think that the time to move forward with new initiatives from the Lord is when things are really going great, when the church and the culture are doing wonderfully well….”boy, let’s move into high gear and win the world for Christ”. Well, I guess there’s examples from history where this proved true, but it seems like it’s more often the opposite….. “things are really going down the tubes…things couldn’t be worse… we are in BIG TROUBLE…. what can we do other than to find a big rock and climb under it.”

There’s something in all of us that enjoys the “comeback story”… the poor boy who fights impossible odds and becomes a great statesman or doctor or saint.” We love the movies “Rudy” and “Hoosiers”. Who doesn’t enjoy hearing the story of Dr. Ben Carson of “Gifted Hands” fame… from poverty and terrible student to great neurosurgeon and excellent public servant? How about John Bosco? 

Today is the feast day of St. John Bosco. He grew up during the early 1800’s in Turin, Italy where the population suffered the ill-effects of industrialization, urbanization and the Napoleonic wars … poverty, children and teens roaming the streets…. a terrible situation.  Don Bosco, who was poor and uneducated himself, was touched by God and “dedicated his life to the betterment and education of street children, juvenile delinquents thru bringing them to the saving power of Christ.” Jimmy the Greek would have given John Bosco “zero odds” of surviving himself, much less touching the lives of thousands of youth for the next 200 years and counting.

There are so many wonderful stories of how the Lord touched and empowered John Bosco. “In 1825, when he was nine, Bosco had the first of a series of dreams which left a profound impression on him for the rest of his life…. he saw a multitude of very poor boys playing and blaspheming and a man, who “appeared, nobly attired, with a manly and imposing bearing and saying to him, “You will have to win these friends of yours not with blows, but with gentleness and kindness. So begin right now to show them that sin is ugly and virtue beautiful”.

The Salesians, founded by Don Bosco, continue to operate today in 134 countries with some 14,232 members. This poor and uneducated son of a farmer, born into a desperate age, did miraculous things that have endured for some 200 years. God is not hindered by a desperate age. After all, God is God. He does need men and women who will give all to following him and doing his will. What about you and me?

As Don Bosco reminds us, “let us do good while we still have time”.