Note From The Board – Rod Robison – July 2025

The Power of Story

It was the Fourth of July some years ago.  My wife Jeannie and I took our four-year-old son Jordan shopping at Walmart. While she browsed the aisles, I took Jordan for a treat at the snack bar. The lady behind the counter appeared to be around seventy. I ordered a soft pretzel for myself and a slushy for my son. As she handed me my change, I noticed that she seemed distracted, unsure of herself. She fumbled through the cash drawer.

“I’m not myself today,” she apologized as she counted out the coins into my hand. “My husband passed away ten years ago today at five o’clock.” 

She glanced up at the clock hanging on the wall of the luncheonette. It was ten after five.

“I’m sorry,” I said, not really knowing how to respond but sensing that she wanted to talk about it. “Do you have anyone to spend the day with today?”

She said she had children and grandchildren nearby and would be watching fireworks with them that night. Still, it was obvious that particular hour was an especially lonely one for her.  

For the next several minutes, I listened while she shared memories of her husband. My son pulled on my pant leg, wanting to leave. My soft pretzel was getting cold. I asked her if her husband fought in the big war. “No, he was making airplanes at the converted Westinghouse factory,” she explained. 

“Well, then he did his part,” I assured her. We had a lovely time, her reminiscing and me imagining a time when life was much harder and freedom much more fragile.

Soon it was time to go. While Jeannie checked out, Jordan and I headed toward the exit. On our way out, I noticed one of the store’s greeters, a man probably in his late eighties, helping a woman with her shopping cart. I asked him if he was a veteran, and that was all it took. We talked for several minutes about his work in an Army hospital where he was placed in charge of a small field clinic after only a few weeks of medical training. Those were desperate times. He proudly lifted the sleeve of his shirt to show me his wound, not from battle, but from his slide into home base during a season playing for the St. Louis Cardinals. Fifteen minutes later, I was just a little richer for having listened.

A little lady behind a lunch counter and a greeter, both brimming with stories and a need to tell them to someone who cared. But I don’t think they just wanted someone to talk to. With age, I believe, comes a desire to pass on to the next generation a legacy of values and history that are best communicated through life stories. A drive to share memories replete with richness before it’s too late. Yet so much of that rich legacy will be left untapped—and we will be all the poorer—until and unless we do the simplest thing.  

Just ask.

Too often, we allow our life experiences, and the resulting wisdom gathered from them, to slip through our fingers, assuming that others could never benefit from what we might share. Or that, in the busyness of life, they simply don’t have the time or even care. We assume that our past disappointments and hardships are unique to us. 

Truth is, each of us has our own stories of overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds, and there is tremendous value in sharing our stories—our humanity—with each other. Connecting with others brings out our common feelings and allows each of us to grow emotionally and spiritually. 

That’s especially true when we acknowledge God as the writer of our stories. Imagine how much more we would benefit, how we would grow spiritually if we more often shared how God has worked in our lives over the years.  Sharing those stories not only reminds us of His faithfulness in our own lives, but by sharing those stories – those precious treasures – we enrich the lives of others. 

That’s why Unite 4 Africa shares stories of transformed lives with you in this newsletter each month.  We want to remind you of a couple of things.  One, that God can be trusted to bring transformation in your life as you surrender to Him and allow Him to write your story. Second, we want to encourage you that God is using you through your faithful giving to this work to write transformational stories in the lives of others a half a world away. The stories we share with you each month are a way we can introduce you to the people God is transforming because you care enough to give. 

If you haven’t had the opportunity to give recently, this would be a great time to share some of what God has blessed you with to bring Hope to the Hopeless, Water to the Thirsty, Families to Orphans, Medicine to the Sick, Empowerment to the Poor, and the Light of Jesus to the Darkness. 

Please take a moment right now to visit www.Unite4Africa.org/donate. 

Thank you.