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February 15, 2011
Obama Gives Highest Award to Christian Worker Murdered in Afghanistan
President honors the faith of an optometrist who "set out to heal the poorest of the poor."
President Obama today awarded the United States' highest civilian honor to Dr. Tom Little, a Christian worker for the International Assistance Mission (IAM) who was murdered in Afghanistan last August.
"Tom Little could have pursued a lucrative career," President Obama said during the ceremony for Little and 14 other recipients. "Instead, he was guided by his faith, and he set out to heal the poorest of the poor in Afghanistan. For 30 years, amid invasion and civil war, the terror of the Taliban, the spread of insurgency, he and his wife Libby helped bring Afghans—literally—the miracle of sight."
Little, an optometrist, was leading an eye care team in the remote northeastern region of Badakhshan when he and nine others were found dead last summer. According to Compass Direct news service, the attack's motive is still unclear. Though the Taliban, who claimed responsibility, alleged that the group had been proselytizing and carrying Bibles in the Dari language, the IAM insisted that neither was true.
Christian workers Glenn D. Lapp, of the Mennonite Central Committee, and 32-year-old Cheryl Beckett, a pastor’s daughter from Tennessee and a graduate of Indiana Wesleyan University, also died in the attack.
Little's widow Libby Little accepted the award on her husband's behalf. Last year, shortly before his death, Libby Little wrote an essay for Christianity Today's Global Conversation project. In her essay, she suggested that mission agencies were sometimes too quick to evacuate when a mission field grew dangerous, and missed "the fruitful door of opportunity to embrace suffering in service." She related two stories of times when she and Tom reaped benefits from sticking around in a troubled spot.
"God blessed those occasions and visited us with his power," she wrote. "His amateur followers, stricken with stage fright, forgetting their lines, were acting out in miniature something of his own Grand Narrative—Immanuel, God with us—in the miserable mess. The scenes set the stage for the Holy Spirit to work in a mighty way."
In his remarks, President Obama characterized Little as "a humanitarian in the truest sense of the word: a man who not only dedicated his life to others, but who lived that lesson of Scripture: 'Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.' "
Little's was the only posthumous Medal of Freedom awarded this year.
Comments
I am very touched by this article. What a good man Dr. Little was, and how wonderful that he should be honored in this way.
Posted By: alison | February 16, 2011 9:06 AM
A friend of mine was a good friend of Dr. Little's in college, and from what I understand his and Libby's lives have long been marked by devotion to Christ. The Medal of Freedom is surely deserved, but pales in comparison to the crown that Tom has already received and placed back at the feet of his God.
Posted By: Samuel PG | February 16, 2011 9:10 AM
May Crhistians be encouraged to lay down our lives for the needs of others. It was greatly deserved. Dr.Little's greatest reward is received in heaven, but thank you, president Obama, for the sensitivity of this earthy award. It speaks to many Christians.
Posted By: Debbie | February 19, 2011 8:31 AM
god bless America!!
Posted By: Antoinette Landouw | February 21, 2011 2:16 AM
And with apologies for the typing error i herewith correct my previous post - it should read God bless America!
Posted By: Antoinette Landouw | February 21, 2011 2:19 AM
When i read this article, I was really crying inside.I was really grieving, I pray that the Good Lord will help the widow and their kids the fortitude to bear the grieve.But one thing I know, they will eventually meet in heaven.I just pray that they should please keep their salvation and bear no grudge. CKA
Posted By: Ceekay | February 22, 2011 5:39 AM
But where is the condemnation of those in Afghanistan who are still killing and persecuting Christians? Where is the condemnation? He is a Muslim and as Christians we need to understand that fact....we are to be "wise as serpents but harmless as doves". Obama is an evil doer who supports abortion, partial birth abortion and homosexual marriage yet we still have "Christians?" who voted for him?
Posted By: K Ray | February 26, 2011 4:07 AM
Dear K Ray - It makes no difference what religion, if any, the American President professes; in fact, in his official functions he should profess no religion at all but dedicate his efforts to upholding the rights of ALL American citizens. That includes the rights of homosexual people who do not choose to be homosexual but are born that way just as heterosexuals do not choose their sexual orientation but are born that way. The greatest expression of Christian love is to let gays and lesbians live their lives in the most normal way possibile. Allowing homosexual marriage is the best way to encourage them to establish life-long relationships with the partner they love.
Posted By: Tom | March 1, 2011 2:59 PM
Dear Friend,
To those who does not know the work of charity and love, we should
teach them a lesson not to repeat it . That will bring the understanding the meaning of love. I really condemned the Taliban of
Afghanistan
Posted By: Meiripou Samuel Gengmei | April 13, 2011 7:28 PM