Seventy-nine years ago – June 6, 1944 – was D-Day when a massive landing of allied troops at Normandy began the downfall of the Nazi regime. The challenge to democracy and freedom represented by Adolf Hitler and his co-conspirators was now facing the onslaught of liberators seeking to push back the darkness of tyranny and bring hope to those held in bondage.
As we in the SBC family gather in New Orleans, let’s be reminded that the amphibious boats built to carry allied soldiers ashore in Europe and also in the Pacific were constructed in that city. The famous Higgins boats were the brainchild of Andrew Jackson Higgins. He designed and oversaw the building of thousands of those essential landing craft vessels. Without them, the cause would have been hampered.
There are many things for us to learn from all of this history. One lesson is that one person with a vision can make a difference in the outcome of world events. Andrew J. Higgins was one who knew that democracy had to prevail in this titanic struggle between freedom and totalitarianism. He made a difference and if led by our Lord we can as well.
But Higgins did not build the boats by himself. Everyone had a job to do. The assembly line workers were vitally important in the mass production of this difference-making vessel. Everyone labored together knowing the cause was so paramount.
Most of us will not be history-making figures, but we are all important in the cause of reaching people for Christ and helping them to become faithful followers of Christ. We are laborers together in this eternally important enterprise.
Every Christian has a calling to share the Good News. Working together we can pray fervently, give sacrificially and go faithfully. This is our moment to face the tyranny of sin and evil with the liberating Gospel of Christ. Let us seize the opportunity for the glory of God.
The public domain photo of Andrew Jackson Higgins is from the 1944 pamphlet “In Service to America… 10,000 Higgins Boats.”
