June 11, 2001
CYBERCOLUMN:
Pride goes before a fall
___By John Duncan
___I'm sitting here under the old oak tree thinking of my fourteen years as pastor of Lakeside Baptist Church in Granbury, Texas, and of all things, Paris, France comes to mind. Iím remembering with gratitude that our church once sent our family on a ten year anniversary trip to Europe.
___ London, England stands as the city of towers, robust towers which point toward the sky. Paris, France glows as the city of light. Our journey from England to France carried us to the white cliffs of Dover. The white chalk cliffs hold back the water from the English channel. Dover, which means ìwaterî or ìstream,î serves as the English Channelís most important port. A castle, the Dover Castle looks over the English Channel. In ancient days, what historians call Norman times, the port and castle served as a port for the King and a fortress to protect southeast England. The site was bombed in World War II, bot later rebuilt and improved.
JOHN DUNCAN
___We crossed the English Channel on a ferry which carried huge buses as well as a host of guests. The 22 mile ride across the English Channel carried us to the port of Calais, France. Our drive to Paris carried us through the battlefields of World Wars. I realized firsthand the impact that war had on Europe, its soil and people.
___Our trip into Paris led us to the Ibis Hotel. Itís a chain of hotels like Comfort Inn or Holiday Inn. Two twin beds, one small shower with a restroom, and French cable tv filled out the French accommodations. Have you ever tried to get the score for the Texas Ranger baseball game in French?
___ One evening in Paris we cruised the Seine River. The spectacular night view of Paris shone like beaming stars: Notre Dame Cathedral; the Eiffel Tower built by engineer Alexander-Gustave Eiffel in 1889 (Our tour guide kept repeating this so I remembered this fact. I wondered if she received a commission for number of times she said it.); the Louvre Museum; the Hotel des Invalides which houses the tomb of Napoleon.
___ The next day we toured Paris, riding an elevator up the Eiffel Tower, walking the art district in the famed Sacred Heart Church, and waltzing down the worldís most famous street, the Avenue des Champs-Elysees. Paris is a city of perfect symmetry and architecture. Arches, bridges, monuments, sculptures, roads-all flow into a plan of beauty and precise grandeur. The Arch of Triumph stands as a symbol of this grandeur, a huge stone arch that stood as an ancient entrance to the city but now serves a s a monument to an unknown soldier.
___Franceís motto is ìLiberty, Equality, Fraternity.î sounds like a good motto for church: Liberty in Christ; Equality through Christ, whosoever will may come; Fraternity and fellowship in the body of Christ. Why not?
___Space does not allow me to tell all about France, but I will say getting lost in the Paris underground, a web of subway links and cable cars, improved my prayer life. Have you ever tried asking for directions when you werenít sure you were lost, but the person you were taking to you couldnít understand?
___ And so we toured Paris, the City of Light. 11,000 lamp posts light the city at night. 155 buildings shine with the aura of light. And Jesus said, ìI am the Light of the world.î Will you let your light so shine among men that they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven.
___Of all the things I remember, the echo of the words of our tour guide remain. We drove past the place where Napoleonís tomb lay. And our tour guide kept saying, ìAnd Napoleon crowned himself.î He thought no one worthy to place a crown upon his head at his coronation so ìhe crowned himself.î And I am reminded that one of our greatest spiritual battles is pride, a snubbing the nose at God and others, an ëIím-better-than-you-areí attitude that can creep into our craniums. As Napoleon discovered, ìPride goes before the fall.î And Jesus came to strip away our pride so His Light can shine through us. Are you shining?
John Duncan is pastor of Lakeside Baptist Church in Granbury.
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