„Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me!” John 14,1
A few days ago I helped out at the coaching center, where volunteers from different churches
help kids with migration background, with their homework and also take time to play with them.
Actually I´m quite happy that my kids are bigger and more independent now
(and still I do have to help them sometimes… but so I keep learning new interesting things as well!)...
but I ended up in this program somehow anyway.
Five girls between nine and fifteen were present that afternoon, all of them very sweet.
From Somalia, Egypt, Syria and I don´t know where else. (Some of them with very difficult names!)
I helped a twelve year old with her German homework, that was much too hard for her.
(How should anybody write a summary about an Austrian legend while not even understanding
that "calf" means babycow, "lindworm" dragon and that a "duke" is some kind of a Lord?)
We did our best anyway in understanding the story and writing about it (we were both especially hard working!).
And just when we were almost done, this shy girl with her yellow headscarf, that fits beautifully to her dark skin,
suddenly stretches her head in order to read a verse on the wall of the next room:
“Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in me.” John 14,1
Some difficult words yet again!
The younger girl next to us, who is managing her Maths homework without any help, raises her head and frowns.
I sense that she does not like the verse from the Bible and that she does not agree with it.
I try to put the verse into my own words for the two of them, just like I did with the Corinthian legend of the lindworm
(the story of the dragon in the South of Austria):
“Don´t be afraid! Trust me! I watch over you!“ says Jesus.
Both girls think about it, then the younger one starts nodding her head fiercely:
“Yes! That´s good!” and turns back to her calculations right away.
And we two bigger girls return to modeling a good final sentence for our summary,
when the dragon is defeated and the farmers don´t need to be afraid anymore.
I didn´t even fully realize what happened in that short moment.
The Word of God was present and encouraged those girls. God talked to them!
That´s beautiful!
There is a bad dragon in all of our lives right now,
no matter if we are big or small, and its name is Corona.
And because its name is Corona, which means "crown", it seems to be mightier than it is.
It wants to frighten and freeze us, rob us of our joy for the future and leave us in a desperate state.
And here Jesus speaks to us adults in the same way:
“Don´t let this throw you. You trust God, don´t you? Trust me.
I´m here! I have everything under control! Don´t be afraid!“
And I think about it, nod with my head fiercely, like this Syrian girl, and declare with shining eyes:
“Yes! That´s good!”
Thank you Jesus!
“Don´t let this throw you. You trust God, don´t you? Trust me.” John 14,1 MSG
The Lindworm in Klagenfurt, Corinthia, Austria