I'll come running,

Friday, June 12, 2009 / 8:41 PM

Dying We Live

I reread She Said Yes by Misty Bernall again today over breakfast. It made me remember why this is one of my favourite books: it's truly inspirational, without being overly cheesy. It's not a mushy memoir or biography, or a teary letter from mother to daughter to inform the world what a martyr Cassie Bernall was.

In fact, Misty Bernall emphasized that while her daughter was, by definition, a 'martyr', those who knew her would know that Cassie wouldn't have accepted that title. To quote Misty, "before she was a martyr, Cassie was a teen." I think that quote's pretty awesome.

[To those who aren't aware, Cassie was a teenager just like you and me. She once dabbled in the occult and went through a difficult period with her family. She transferred schools twice; the first time to a Christian schoolstudent at Columbine High the year two students went on a killing rampage throughout the school. She happened to be in the library studying that day when the killers put the gun to her head and demanded to know if she believed in God. After a moment of hesitation she answered firmly, "Yes". According to a witness the killers asked her why she did, but did not give her a chance to respond before shooting her in the head.]

One of my favourite chapters in this book is titled Dying We Live and it's one of the most inspirational ones. It's about how Cassie committed not only her death, but her life, to God and how living for God is much, much harder than dying for Him, contrary to what we might believe.

Misty took it upon herself to find a quote for each chapter to begin with, and Dying We Live begins with a very beautiful poem by Sadhu Sundar Singh. Here it goes:

It is easy to die for Christ.
It is hard to live for him.
Dying takes only an hour or two,
but to live for Christ
means to die daily.
Only during the few years of this life
are we given the privilege of serving
each other and Christ...
We shall have heaven forever,
but only a short time for service here,
and therefore
we must not waste the opportunity.

I think it's truly beautiful and encompasses the whole of the chapter, especially -not just including- Cassie's faith.

In the chapter Misty recognizes the many people who displayed bravery in the face of fear that day (April 20 1999, if I'm not wrong) but whose acts did not receive the international acclaim that Cassie's "Yes" did. The chapter also zooms in on the very message written in the poem above: that Cassie did not only say "Yes" on the last day of her life; she said "Yes" every single day of her life and that's what counts.

Dave, a pastor [I think] at Cassie's church, said something really memorable at one of his first Sunday services after Cassie's death. It was,

The world looks at Cassie's "yes" of April 20, but we need to look at the daily
"yes" she said, day after day, month after month, before giving that final
answer.

The book also has a foreword by a favourite author of mine, Madeleine L'Engle, which says,

"Do you believe in God?"
"Yes."
Cassie could not have answered that question if she had not already asked
it of herself many times and answered Yes many times, and each time answered it
affirmatively. The Yes came deeper and deeper from her heart and mind and soul,
so deep that she could say Yes even though it endangered her life. And, in the
end, cost her her life.

I think that's heavy enough thinking material for one day, but if you ever do have a chance, I 200% recommend you to pick this book up: She Said Yes, by Misty Bernall.

I'll come running,