No Kindness is ‘Nothing’

We’re watching one of our favorite movies, ‘Joyeux Noel.’ In one scene, a German soldier hands a lost wallet to the French soldier to whom it belonged. “Merci beaucoup,” says the Frenchman. Replying in French, the German says, “Rien,” basically, “It is nothing.”

I told my wife it brought back memories of my eleven-day stay in a Rouen hospital that began one year ago today. Repeatedly, the nurses did things for me that I was far too weak to do for myself. “Merci,” I would tell them. “Rien,” they would say. But it was always far from nothing. 

God saved my life in Rouen, enabling me to continue to share the good news that Jesus Christ died and rose to bring us the forgiveness of our sins and everlasting life with God to all who believe. And those nurses who insisted they were doing nothing were the loving hands of God.

Merci beaucoup.

https://www.chu-rouen.fr