Eric's Beijing Diary

What has this year been like for you? Do you face this Christmas with loss? Do you look back over this year with a measure of sorrow over something or someone you had that has been taken from you? Is it economic loss because of the pandemic? Or perhaps the loss of someone very close to you?

This video tells the true story of an American family who turned their sorrow (both economic and personal) into an extrarordinary story of victory and service to humanity. It is the story of the founders of the American Colony in Jerusalem.

As you watch this video, consider this: How would the lives of these people have been different if they had not faced the awesome tragedy that confronted them? And not only their lives, but the lives of the many, many people they were able to help through the American Colony. They ended up moving to Jerusalem in 1881 in complete desparation of their American lives because of seemingly endless loss. Would they have been willing to give up their rather luxurious American lives if it had not been for this loss?

No matter what you may have gone through this past year, nobody knows exactly how it feels to be you. That doesn't mean you cannot receive comfort from them. Sometimes we actually need input from people who cannot relate personally to what we have gone through. Woe to those for whom commisseration is the only form of comfort they are offered. But beyond the kind words and the companionship of those who are willing to walk beside you in your grief, I hope that you will take time to spend moments with God, and seek to have him reveal the greatness He intends for you--a greatness that never could have been without the loss you have suffered.

Measure thy life by loss and not by gain,
Not by the wine drunk, but by the wine poured forth.
For love's strength standeth in love's sacrifice,
And he who suffers most has most to give.
--Streams in the Desert

The American Colony no longer exists today as a commune. But the original house they lived in still stands as a testimony to their triumph from tragedy in the form of the American Colony Hotel. It was the site of the meetings in 1992 between Israel and the PLO that led to the Oslo Peace Accord.

Links:

American Colony in Jerusalem

American Colony Hotel

Also check the external links at the end of each of these articles. Really fascinating.

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Labels: Israel, Loss, Sorrow