We’ve all heard of Abraham Lincoln and what he did to abolish slavery. Did you know, though, that he wasn’t the first president to hold that stance? After John Quincy Adams served as the 6th president of America, he became a member of the House of Representatives and spent his time fighting slavery. (Fox) However, Lincoln receives more attention because he was successful while Adams wasn’t. And this is a tendency I have; to determine someone’s importance by what they’re doing and whether or not they’re successful.

We did not experience “summer” as the rest of the world did this year. I certainly intended to, but God had other plans. On April 18, a day forever seared in my memory, two Turkish believers and a fellow German worker were murdered by five Muslim men in Malatya, the city we lived in. That afternoon my life changed drastically, and I had never felt more alone. Our family sat with the German children that now had no father, and the wife and the fiancée of the Turkish men, isolated from family and most friends by their faith. No words came to my mind, just tears.