A Heart-Rending Letter from Little Nick My dear respectable “Uncle” : Two unknown Greek boys send their love to you. I, Nicholas, who write this letter, am fourteen years old. My brother Abraham is eight. In 1947 the communists forced us to become refugees and we finally landed in Thessalonica. We are very poor because my father lost his right arm in an accident and now finds it difficult to earn a liv ing. I work all day in a grocery store for $5 a month, and in the evening I go to school. I want to be educated and become a good man. Dear Uncle, please forgive me for taking the liberty of writing you without knowing you. Our par ents finally consented to let us write, for they, too, cannot stand our suffering any more. We are ashamed, but what can we do? We understand that life in Amer ica is so different, and that people there like to help the suffering, es pecially children. We know that you love Greece just as we love America. A girl who lives nearby gave us your address as one who would help us. We know that you are sending clothes and shoes to the children of Greece. Oh, how we would like to have a suit of clothes and a pair of shoes to wear! Uncle, please go around and ask for some old clothes from children of the same age as we are. Tell them we are in rags and would like to wear warm clothes, too. And when they give them to you, thank them and kiss them with tears in your eyes on our behalf. If any child has a little sack to put our books in to protect them from the rain, please ask him to send that along, too. We shall pray to our dear Christ that the ' child who helps us will grow up to be a great man. Please, Uncle, do not forget us, but go around and, tell the little children about us in our great need. It will be the great est day of our lives when we are able to wear a suit of clothes. Our hearts are beating fast as we wait for your answer. We kiss you. N icholas and A braham T olios . Helping the children of Greece is a most important part of the work of the American Mission to Greeks, Inc. Will you join with us in pro viding for an orphan in our Or phanage ($15 a month), or educat ing a child in our Christian Day School ($10 monthly)? Our food stations for the little ones also need help ($5 will buy 40 lbs. of nour ishing food), and blankets are need ed (at $5 each). Write to Rev. Spiros Zodhiates, American Mission to Greeks, Inc., Dept. K, P.O. Box 423, New York 36, N.Y. (In Can ada: 90 DuplexAve.,Toronto 7,Ont.)
fromthe editor’s desk
V ision and Dream s i n Proverbs 29:18 we find these striking words, which have become fam iliar to many in our day: “ Where there is no vision, the people perish.” This is true in almost any realm o f life, but nowhere does it apply more aptly than in Christian service. Over 47 years ago, God gave a vision to the founders of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, and out of prayer and sacrifice, a school was born, founded on faith in the verbally-inspired Scriptures, and dedicated to the training of young men and women as ministers of the Gospel, missionaries of the Cross, and soul-winners everywhere. Those who carry on today in the place of those stalwarts who preceded them are pledged ever to guard jealously this holy aim. Friends who pray for the Bible Institute so faithfully, and who invest their earnings so sacrificially, may be assured that whatever outward changes take place in the school, whatever forward steps we may take, that we w ill always be first and foremost a Bible and Missionary Train ing School. A school with the major emphasis upon instruction in the W ord of God and methods of soul-winning, now with the added advan tages o f college and seminary training and a course in the School of Missionary Medicine, to meet the demands of these times. I call your attention to another remarkable Old Testament verse in Joel 2:28: “ Your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.” W h ile I am aware of the fact that the ancient prophet was speaking prophetically, I would like to apply this text to this subject. It is the prerogative of those who have lived over a long span o f life to look back and “ dream dreams” of past glories— to dwell more in the past than the present and the future. But the “ young men” (not neces sarily a matter of actual years) “ see visions” o f the unperformed tasks ahead. Theirs is the urge to scale heights as not yet attained, and to do as much, or more, for their generation as their predecessors did for theirs. The “ young men” should not chide the “ old men” for their dreams; neither should the “ old men” discourage the “ young men” in attempting to fulfill their visions. W e know the hearts of young and old are no different today from what they were a generation, or two, or three generations ago. W e know also that Christ alone can satisfy; that His blood alone can cleanse from sin; that on ly the Bible can answer the questions of life. But the world, with its heretical and neo-orthodox religious institutions is making a bid for today’s youth, and if we do not have open doors for them, these schools will. Even mission fields, where nationalism prevails today, have stated their educational requirements for missionary-teachers in no un certain terms, and mission boards accordingly are calling for college training along with knowledge of the Bible and related subjects. So we feel that it is in the will o f God for us to translate our vision into work able form for our age and generation. In other words, we have to put the vision into a more attractive setting calling fo r bricks and mortar and lumber and landscaping. Under God, we want to build, not for time, but for eternity and His glory. This is our vision— as old as the Bible itself. And this is the heart of the B io l a Campus Campaign. (For more informa tion see photo story on pages 46-49.)
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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