Samantha Smith made worldwide news in the early 1980s when she wrote the Soviet president, Yuri Andropov, pleading with him to end the “Cold War.”  Her letter was reprinted with Russia, Andropov replied and invited her to his country, she and her parents visited the communist country, and she was an instant celebrity there.  She became a peace activist, calling for the United States and Soviet Union to end the threat of nuclear war.  In 1985, at the height of her very public campaign, she and her father were among eight people to die in a plane crash in her home state of Maine.  She was an optimistic and enthusiastic advocate.  She reached millions in life and was remembered by millions more in death.  The Soviets posthumously issued a postage stamp in her honor and named a mountain after her.  Her mother, Jane Smith, started The Samantha Smith Foundation, “dedicated to fostering international understanding,” to reach out to especially children from the Soviet region and participate in various exchange program activities.  Jane wrote, “Each generation contributes a building block for the next generation.  As individuals, we are particles of earth from which the blocks are formed.  I hope Samantha and Arthur have helped us realize how important each one of us can be.  Samantha couldn’t accept people’s inhumanity to one another.  She stood fast in the belief that peace can be achieved and maintained by humankind. Our Foundation named in her honor will work in that spirit” (www.samanthasmith.info).

What a difference one person can make!  Samantha was only 13 when she died, but she was a factor in reconciling to warring nations.  Christ came to this earth to bring peace between God and man (Eph. 2:14-17).  Having brought us together, He expects us to reconcile the world to God (2 Cor. 5:19-20).  Perhaps you think you cannot make much of a difference in this world as only a single Christian with whatever your perceived limitations.  Just remember how much one person can do!  There was the apostle from Tarsus.  There was Alexander Campbell, Marshall Keeble, Gus Nichols, and many others.  There is you and there is me.  Who knows the good we can accomplish as ambassadors of Christ?  Let’s work our hardest to find out!

–Neal Pollard

THREE BITTER YEARS

Chinese officials call those years “three years of economic difficulty” and “three bitter years.” The years were 1958-1961, the years of the great Chinese famine. To tell you how bad it was, three out of seven people who died of famine in the 20th Century died in China during those three bitter years. Most observers believe the cause of the famine was the government’s attempt to set up Communism and communal farms. No one could grow private garden plots. The granaries of just two locations, Henan and Hebei, held enough grain to have saved each of the 30 million people who died in the Great Chinese famine.

Over eight centuries before Christ, God punished wicked Israel with a drought that led to severe famine (1 Kings 18:2). It was three and a half bitter years (cf. Luke 4:25-26; Jas. 5:17). According to 1 Kings 17, Elijah flees to a brook by Cherith and then on to Zarephath where God miraculously provides for him, a widow and her son until he is sent by God to end the drought and famine. While Israel suffered mightily, Elijah enjoyed Divine providence in the midst of the bitterness. The widow of Zarephath not only shared in receiving that provision, she apparently learned some things from it, too.

She learned it takes faith to obey the word of the Lord (1 Kings 17:10-13). She did not learn this faith from royalty like wicked Ahab, who married one of her fellow Sidonians. She did not learn it from her neighbors, who worshipped Ashtoreth (cf. 1 Kings 11:5; 16:31). She did not learn it from her Jewish neighbors in Palestine, who at this time could not themselves easily decide between Baal and Jehovah (1 Kings 18:21). She learned, as we must learn, that we must be faithful to God even when our leaders, neighbors, and spiritual brothers and sisters are not willing to do so.

She learned it takes faith to overcome fear (1 Kings 17:13). This was literally life and death for the widow. To obey God’s word meant making starvation a seeming certainty. No one should blame her for expressing her rational fear to Elijah, but ultimately she was willing to believe his word.

She learned it takes faith to enjoy the blessings of God (1 Kings 17:14-16). Was she tempted to turn down the offer? It’s very possible. Maybe she was so desperate and so aware of her plight that she felt she had nothing to lose by giving Elijah food. Whatever was the case, she was blessed by obeying God. He kept her and her son alive.

Famines strike children, the elderly, and men most acutely. It lowers fertility and, of course, causes plain old, awful starvation. But there is another, more serious, kind of famine described in Amos 8:11. It is spiritual starvation, but it does not strike the Christian who has Jesus for the “bread of life” (John 6:35). Those who follow Him are spared eternal hunger (Revelation 7:16). I read a report indicating that 10 million people in rich, industrialized nations go to bed hungry every night–in the midst of plenty. When we partake of the Bread, we will have plenty, like Elijah, in the midst of those spiritually bitter years.

–Neal Pollard