March Partner Letter 2020

Dear Partner,

Today, I want to share with you a story I read a few years ago in the Tulsa paper. It reminded me of the truth that – everyone makes mistakes.  But don’t let the mistake make you forget your mission.  Because of what Jesus has done, your mission is greater than your mistake! 

Bombs fell on Boise City, Oklahoma, in the middle of a July night in 1943, making it the only American city to be bombed during World War II. But the 30-minute air raid was all a mistake. The bombs were 100-pound practice explosive devices filled with four pounds of dynamite and 90 pounds of sand each. They were dropped by one of OUR airplanes. Most of the lights of the small town had been turned out, except for four lights around the courthouse square, when the bombing began shortly after midnight. When the bombs began falling, the town’s air warning officer wired the nearby Army Air Corps base. An electric company employee immediately pulled the master switch that blacked out the town, including the four lights marking the courthouse square.

The B-17 Bomber had gotten off course while on a training flight. It was the lights of the Boise City courthouse square that had the general pattern of the bombing range that caused the confusion. 

Now this is the part of the story that was noteworthy: a year after the misguided bombing of Boise City, that same bomber crew led an 800-plane daylight raid on Berlin and became one of the most decorated of World War II. All of the crew members survived the war, and one even married a Boise City girl.

Boise City marked the 50th anniversary of the July 5, 1943, bombing with a party at which a 10-foot statue of a bomb buried nose-first in a crater was unveiled. It was said of these men at the statue’s dedication:  “Here’s this crew. They screw up — and then they go out and prove to the world they’re the best crew in the world. Everyone makes mistakes.”

Your mission is greater than your mistake. When you’re in a fight of faith, remember – it’s not really about what you’ve done, it’s about what you will do.  The devil is really not after your past, he’s after your future. So “…focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead” (Phil. 3:13).

Thank you for helping us continue to take the message of Jesus – the hope of the world – to this generation.  We are forever thankful for you!!  And remember – just as God sent Jesus to the world, Jesus said in John 20:21 …”I am now sending you”!  

Until He comes again,

Cindy, Lois and Ray