DON’T STOP RINGING THE BELL
Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that thou mayest believe, but believe that thou mayest understand.
Augustine.
A man took his son to the tiny rural community where he grew up. He was disappointed to discover that the little church where he attended as a boy had disbanded. The windows were broken, the doors were hanging on the hinges, the pews were dusty and dirty, and the pulpit was knocked over. Debris was everywhere.
His son said, "Daddy, do you reckon the bell is still there?" The father pulled the bell rope and it clanged. "Ring the bell again, Daddy." The man and his son continued to ring the bell, and a crowd began to gather. The boy said, "Why don’t you ask them to come in. We can stand up the pulpit, and you can read to them from the Bible?" A congregation gathered inside, and that day a church was revived. It started when a boy said, "Ring the bell."
For the sake of those who come after us we must ring freedom’s bell. For the sake of Christ’s kingdom we must ring Calvary’s bell again. For the sake of decency, morality, and responsibility we must never stop ringing the bell!
Source: Associated Press release, 10-31-90. D. James Kennedy, Reconstruction, Biblical Guidelines for a Nation in Peril, (Ft. Lauderdale, Coral Ridge Ministries, 1982). From a sermon by Ricardo Rodriguez, "An Overcoming Faith" 7/5/2009