Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth for the Colson Center. I'm John Stone Street. Back in ninth grade, I was a knucklehead. Even worse, I was a Christian school knucklehead. Those are the worst kind.
Six days a week between that Christian school and the church that operated it, I was in the same building hearing the same Bible lessons, often from the same people. In fact, it was sometimes difficult to know where church ended and the school began. Church projects would often become school projects, and students often became church volunteers, although not always voluntarily. That's how I met Miss Omega Buckner on the last day of school before Christmas break in December of nineteen ninety. We expected a party, but instead our Bible teacher, who was also our pastor and principal, announced that our Bible class was being sent out to visit the elderly shut ins from our church.
The only thing we wanted to do less than academic work on the last day of classes before Christmas break. was to visit old people we'd never met. And so I was paired with my friend Brian, who also shared my disdain for the assignment. I've got an idea, he said. We'll go visit one of the people, but say that we couldn't find the other person's house.
That way, we'll be done early, and then we can go to the mall and meet some girls.
So that's what we did. The name that we did not throw away was Omega Buckner. She lived down a windy rural Virginia road in a small little apartment built on the end of her grandson's farmhouse. There we were, an 11th grader, a 9th grader, an 89-year-old widow. We didn't have a lot in common.
And just when we thought it couldn't possibly get more awkward, Miss Buckner suggested, well, let's sing some Christmas carols together.
So we stumbled our way through Silent Night, and she decided that one carol was enough.
Well, Miss Buckner Bryan then said we'd best be on our way. Yes, I lied. We still have another person to visit before heading back to school. Before you go, she asked, could we pray together?
Now, at that point in my life, I'd heard thousands of prayers, but I had never heard anything like this. Miss Buckner spoke to God as if she knew him, with a confidence and a humility that only comes when you know. You're actually being heard. Two years later, sometime in late November, I woke up one day just thinking of Miss Buttner. To this idea I have no idea why all I knew at the time was that I just had to go back and visit her.
So I knocked on her door. Miss Buckner, you probably don't remember me, I said, but two years ago I came here with my friend Brian. John, she replied, I prayed for you this morning. Miss Buckner prayed for me every day for the rest of her life. I visit her quite often after that, and to this day I have no idea what all she has prayed me into or out of.
The very last time I saw her we did not say goodbye. Instead, we said I'll see you in heaven. Years later I returned to the same Christian high school as the graduation speaker. I told how, at age 14, I met an 89-year-old woman that God used to change my life. When I said her name, I was I saw tears and smiles fill dozens of faces all across the auditorium.
And that's when I realized that I wasn't the only one who had a Miss Buckner story. The new film Truth Rising describes the cultural upheaval that defines this civilizational moment. The question for us is the question for believers in every time and every place. How can we be the people of hope and renewal that God has called us to be? And whenever I think of that question I always think of Miss Buckner.
who was faithful in the very small place where God had called her. and I'm so grateful that she was. Please don't miss the global streaming premiere of the new documentary film Truth Rising, which features Oz Guinness, Baroness Philippa Stroud, Ayan Herci Ali, Neil Ferguson, Konstantin Kissen, Chloe Cole, and others. The launch date is Friday, September the 5th. The film will give you a better idea of what's really happening in this civilizational moment.
as well as what it means for us to be the kind of people that God's called us to be. Visit truthrising dot com slash Colson to learn more. That's truth rising dot com slash Colson. For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street with Breakpoint. Before I leave today, I want to say thanks to George and Sue of Morristown, New Jersey.
Thanks for being a Cornerstone Monthly partner of the Coulson Center. You made this episode of Breakpoint possible. For a version of this commentary that you can print out or share online with others, visit breakpoint.org.
