From Kate Cochran
The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the king of Israel!”
Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written: “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.”
At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.
John 12:12-16
I love to read, and The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom is a book I come back to every few years. The account of her faith during such a dark time in history is always such an inspiration to me. I once read an article where Corrie Ten Boom was asked if it was hard for her to stay humble with the success of her memoir, and she replied:
“When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday on the back of a donkey, and everyone was waving palm branches and throwing garments onto the road, and singing praises, do you think that for one moment it ever entered the head of that donkey that any of that was for him?
“If I can be the donkey on which Jesus Christ rides in his glory, I give him all the praise and all the honor.”
When I read the book yet again last month, I reflected on this response and what it might look like in my life for me to be the donkey—humbly carrying Jesus into the world.
I thought about our Kids Hope USA mentors for whom we pray faithfully. At times, it might be tempting to think that our Kids Hope USA student’s changes in attitude or circumstances are a result of our prayers or our mentor’s presence. But we also know that it is God who is reaching the hearts of our students.
He has equipped and empowered each of us to uniquely partner with Him in the work He is doing. Oh, what a gift it is that we get the privilege of seeing Him glorified as we carry Him into our student’s world!