Church Historian in the Making

Annalise is a little scholar. She loves to learn anything she possibly can about everything from Science to History. Her favorite subject, however, is the Reformation. Her interest began with bedtime stories that I used to tell her about Martin Luther and the Reformation in Germany. From then on, her favorite bedtime stories have centered around Reformers and godly preachers of the past. This past year, for Christmas, Daddy and Mommy bought her a book called Reformation Heroes. It was written for more of a teenage audience, but Annalise's understanding is definitely equal to that of most teenagers. That book has become a special book that she and I read together at bedtime. She has shown an amazing comprehension and recall of each of the stories that I read to her.

One day Jonathon asked her about Martin Luther and she answered that she liked Zwingli better than Luther. That was a surprise, as Luther has been her hero for a long time. When Jonathon asked her about it, she replied that, "Luther believed something a little funny about the Lord's supper." I had previously tried to explain to her the various beliefs held about the Lord's supper; the concepts are difficult, but at least she seemed to understand to some extent. I am still trying to get her to learn all of the terms: transubstantiation and consubstantiation etc. :-)

A few days later Jonathon started to talk to her about Edward VI. In the course of the conversation, he mentioned that Edward became king when he was only ten years old. Annalise's eyes widened and she exclaimed, "That's the same age as King Richard." When Jonathon told me about her comment, I wasn't sure what she was talking about, but I looked it up in the book and found that sure enough, Richard II, husband of Anne of Bohemia (whom we had read about a while before) became king when he was 10.

Another night, not that long ago, I was reading to her about John Foxe. She turned to me and with a matter of fact air began to reel of the timeline, "So then it is Peter Waldo, John Wycliffe, Anne of Bohemia, John Huss, Martin Luther, and then John Foxe." I had to look at the timeline to check her out on her order and she was right.

I am thrilled that she is picking up so much of this information, but the real acievement is not in the attainment of vast knowledge just for knowledge sake. We are surrounded by "so great a cloud of witnesses" and my hope is that the study of the godly lives of those who have gone before will ever serve as an encouragement to her to "run the race" with perseverence. I want their lives to point her to the God who is "the same yesterday, today, and forever".