Jump directly to the Content

IDEAS THAT WORK

Widows' Might

In her high-pitched, staccato voice, Martha said, "Pastor, I did something that makes me very scared. I drove through the park and hit one of those birds. Someone told me I would be fined $1,000 for killing a bird, so I hid it."

"Where did you hide the bird?"

"I picked the feathers off and cooked it for a long time," she said, grinning. "I ate it for a week. It was two times bigger than a duck."

Martha is a Vietnamese refugee who, with her two-year-old son, had been resettled in our town. She became a Christian and joined our church. Our conversation about the bird led to the discovery that her menu often consisted of road-kill: rabbits, ducks, even a deer that she hauled home, butchered and put into her small freezer. She was attempting to live on wages of $2.25 an hour as a dishwasher in a Chinese restaurant.

Martha is also a widow, but because she was new to our church and because of the language barrier, our church members did not fully understand she was destitute. But God ...

March
Support Our Work

Subscribe to CT for less than $4.25/month

Homepage Subscription Panel

Read These Next

Related
Good Sports
Good Sports
From the Magazine
Should the Bible Sound Like the Language in the Streets?
Should the Bible Sound Like the Language in the Streets?
Controversy over Bibles in Jamaica, the Philippines, and Germany reveal the divide between the sacred and the relatable.
Editor's Pick
What Christians Miss When They Dismiss Imagination
What Christians Miss When They Dismiss Imagination
Understanding God and our world needs more than bare reason and experience.
close