
11 Aug Marked for Life
In her book “The Girls Who Stepped Out of Line,” Retired Major General Mari K. Eder tells the stories of women who played a vital role in World War II, but received little to no acclaim for their efforts. One story is a bit different from the rest in that the subject was a child during the war. And hers is a truly remarkable story.
Mary Taylor Previte’s parents were missionaries to China in 1941. The day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese troops took Mary’s school at the China Inland Mission at Kaifeng. In 1942, 10-year-old Mary and the other children were taken to an internment camp where they would remain until liberated at war’s end in August 1945.
She was reunited with her parents, and they returned to the States, settling in Michigan. The next year, on a trip to Canada, the then 14-year-old Mary would lose her right hand in a circular saw accident. Her parents did all they could to instill in her that the disability wouldn’t keep her from doing most things other children her age were doing.
That encouragement, combined with her childhood experience as a prisoner would help propel her to national notoriety in the field of corrections. Previte would become a reform-minded administrator of a juvenile detention facility, the Camden County New Jersey Youth Center. She would use her missing hand to help youth understand that one mistake at 14 years old can mark them for life. Whether she realized it or not, she also set for them the example that a youthful mistake, while marking you for life, doesn’t have to keep you from having a meaningful life, especially as a Christ-follower. In this world, people will judge us by the marks left by mistakes of the past. Jesus never does:
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. Romans 8:1-2 (NIV)
Anytime we see “therefore” in God’s Word, we need to ask, “what is the therefore therefore?” In broad terms, Paul is referring to the first seven chapters of his letter, most of which focus on the reality that those of us who have received Jesus have died with Him and rose with Him as a new creation and are no longer shackled by sin. Specifically, Paul is referring to Chapter 7, where he explains that the laws handed down from Moses were never meant to save us. In fact, the inability of the Israelites (and anyone else) to perfectly follow the law is what leads to Paul’s “therefore” in Chapter 8. What does that mean for us, and what does it have to do with Mary Taylor Previte?
We all have a past. Some of us are marked by mistakes we made in our youth. Some have more recent marks. That might be a criminal record, addiction, marital infidelity and a host of other things. Yes, this world will judge you for those marks; but when you are in Jesus, He will never condemn you for your marks. Past marks, present marks, and marks still to come. Confess your mistakes and you are forgiven. This should give us a degree of joy and comfort that words can’t describe.
In addition to her work in juvenile corrections, Mary Previte would be elected to the New Jersey General Assembly, where she focused on juvenile justice issues. I encourage you to let God use your scars of the past to propel you to the future He has planned for you.
Pastor Jerry Bader
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