Evelyn.

We all need our heroes, right? I've never felt that I had one or two particular heroes per se - that always seemed like such a loaded title - but, I do think that the church is an amazing source of role models and great inspirations in the faith. I was a given book several years ago called From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya. It is basically a history of missions, a book of role models - hundreds of pages filled with great men and women who served God boldly.

One of my recent role models is a woman at our church, Evelyn. Evelyn is in her eighties, and she has probably lived in this neighborhood the longest of anyone. Hunting Park was originally a German community, which is not surprising because we are direct neighbors to the old city of Germantown. Evelyn is one of the few remaining of the original German population; she is certainly a minority in this predominantly Black and Latino neighborhood. She has stayed all these years, despite the changes that have taken place.

Evelyn walks with the support of a cane. Just a few days after the earthquake in Haiti, she came knocking on our door. We probably live about 5 or 6 blocks from her house, yet she had made it to our street on a cold wintry day, and it turns out she was going door-to-door, collecting donations for Haiti. She came inside, complaining of how tired she felt and how all of this walking made her feel like she was fighting in the Vietnam War (ha :), yet so resolute in the work she was doing. She continued on her way after only a minute or two of reprieve.

Evelyn is amazing. What an inspiration and a challenge.