Rommel

Erwin Rommel was the only Nazi who had a museum dedicated to his person and career. He was known as the "Desert Fox," for his deft maneuvering of tank forces in North Africa during the Second World War.
Rommel is also the name of one of my coworkers in my Americorps program. Elliot (one of my fellow interns who is also working for Americorps Hope for the Homeless) and I were talking with him in between training meetings today, and he shared some profound things about his life. Our conversation moved from talking about the Lakers to his own personal life story. He grew up in a strong Christian family in south central LA and became a successful Christian minister at a large church. Nevertheless, his strong upbringing and commitment to follow Jesus as a servant of the church did not prevent him from getting involved with drugs, and his life went down in a messy spiral. For 15 years he was caught in drug addictions, until he gave up his life again to God and has been sober now for a while. Rommel made a statement that really stuck out to me--something that makes me question my own commitment to Jesus. He said that he never thought he would get into drugs--he thought he was immune to stuff like that. He took his Christian life for granted, and that opened up the door for Satan to tempt him and bring him down. He challenged Elliot and I to not take our holiness for granted--to continue seeking God and not to ever think that we are immune from sin. Quite a sobering word. I am looking forward to getting to know Rommel and my other Amercorps comrades better (most of the Americorps members with Hope for the Homeless have been homeless recently and are on their way to trying to find some stability).