Anna Resurget

Today would be Anna’s 27th birthday. Time sure does fly. Everyone was so young in the picture above. Anna was three. I won’t give the ages of the others, but they were younger then, too.

I don’t know whether I had thought about this before, but I think that all my memories of Anna now are good ones. It’s not that I had bad memories of her in the past, as if I was dwelling on her faults or shortcomings. Not that at all. Rather, in those times when I think of Anna now, I find that the act of remembering her is good. It is not painful in a way.

Let me try that again. Every semester at school, I take a section of class time to tell my students a few stories about our children, Sam and Anna. I tell them about the Great Devotion Rebellion that took place when we lived in Salatiga. I’m sure I’ve told that story here, but maybe I’ll tell it again sometime. I also bring Anna’s Bible to class with me to show the students some of the notes that Anna had made in the margins. There is a lesson there for adult believers who can hear the questions and comments that a seven-year-old follower of Jesus might make. Again, I’ll share that again here another time. My point right now is to say that I have told those same stories to my classes for, I think, 32 semesters. While it is emotional for me now to do so, it does not have the stabbing pain of the past. My feelings now are mostly gratitude that I was able to know this wonderful child.

And yet this morning at church, we sang In Christ Alone. I sang that song about Anna’s faith this morning. When I change the pronouns so that I am singing about Anna, I never make it through this verse near the end of the song without tearing up. Here are the lyrics with my change. (I know that it ruins the rhyming, but we can’t have everything.)

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in her
From life’s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands her destiny
No pow’r of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck her from His hand
‘Til He returns or calls her home
Here in the power of Christ she’ll stand

This song, when sung about Anna’s faith, reminds me that all of Anna’s days were in God’s hands from the time she was born, right up to the moment of her death. Not only that, however, but that same care that God had for her during her life continues even after that life was over, continuing to the present and into eternity. Also, the faith that Anna had in her lifetime with us still continues unabated now and into the future.

I want to take this opportunity to remind you, or to let you know for the first time if you are new here, that we have an endowed memorial scholarship fund established in Anna’s memory at Southeastern Seminary. The fund specifically aids international students. You can make tax-deductible donations here.

Related to that note, I want to let you know that our president, Danny Akin, will be retiring soon after more than 20 years of faithful service leading SEBTS. I arrived here in 2009, so our time has largely overlapped. In fact, it was mainly because of Dr. Akin that we were able to come here in 2009. He had met us at a meeting in Thailand the summer after Anna had passed, and he knew of our situation then. When an opening for an OT professor arose the following year, he recommended that I be contacted about the position. His kindness and concern changed the course of our lives in ways we would not have foreseen.

I realized a few weeks ago that Dr. Akin had never heard all of the stories that I share with my OT classes about Anna, nor had he seen her Bible. So this past week, Timberley and I were able to meet with Dr. Akin in his office so we could share a very sweet time with him. He has been a joy to work with over the years.

Anna C. Borger Memorial Scholarship Fund – Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary