THE GREAT DANCE

After reading several books by Ravi Zacharias, I wrote a letter to him, as I did to many authors in those days. I did not send the letter with the thought that Ravi will be busy and I will most likely not receive a response.

When Nabeel Qureshi died, the pain and anguish were unbearable, I wrote a poem for Nabeel. And somehow, I came to the conclusion that life is fleeting, I will have only one shot to send this letter to Ravi while still on it. I figured there was nothing to lose even if the letter was not replied. After digging the RZIM website, I found a more personal email and sent my email.

To my delight, I received a response. It was a beautiful day. It contained two attachments. Two articles titled “Living An Apologetic Life” and “On Leadership and Calling”.

Yesterday as people were writing Thank You Notes to Ravi, I had to check back that mail again. After reading On Leadership and Calling, I found myself crying. One of the most amazing legacies of Ravi’s life is his family. They love they shared with Margie. And the faith, love, and commitment of Margie herself. In that article, Ravi revealed that it was Margie who CHOOSES all his traveling engagements. You need to know that for most of the year, Ravi is traveling which means he’s not always with his family. It was shocking to find out that it was Margie herself who chooses and makes this happen. What love is this?

You read further how she shares her wisdom with him on several issues and holds him accountable for many things. That Ravi would let her choose the engagement is also a kind of family commitment that is very rare.

This is just beautiful. Awesomely beautiful!

As we reflect on Ravi, we should pay attention to his family legacy. One time, he tells the story of how he preached in 3 days weekend revival program and an avowed atheist attended. At the end of the weekend, the atheist told the Christian friend that he has never experienced any preacher like that, however, “I wonder what he’s (Ravi) like in his private life”! Ravi said this question has haunted him all his life and he has tried to live up to the message he preaches. Evidently, his private life was the expression of what he preached. The beauty of Christianity is that imperfect men can strive to become saints, and sometimes they succeed. Christianity is all about helping failing men to shine their light, we’ve seen a great light in Ravi and it shone in his family.

3 years ago, there was a sexting scandal against Ravi by a Canadian couple. The managing of that scandal is a masterpiece on handling sexual accusations in the 21^st Century.

As I think about Ravi, I think about Margie too! The irony in this is that Ravi seemed to be more submissive, and Margie was more loving. If their marriage was based on the 21^st marriage gender roles obsession, Ravi played the wife, and Margie played the husband. On their wedding anniversary, Ravi, Ravi posted a photo of him with the symptoms of Cancer all over him and Margie tightly hugging him and he wrote “In sickness and in health….”. This is the great dance of marriage.

I hope to one day have a great dance too, and you can be certain that Margie and Ravi will be inspirations for I and her. It is pleasing to know that he defended the faith and did all he could to live it. There will be another Great Dance again, and in that one, we will all be part of it.

The Great Dance.