In 1424 at the age of 12, it is said, the great French farmgirl turned warrior Joan of Arc (Jeanne D’Arc) was given visions from God. These visions compelled her to take a leadership role within the French army and, by the age of 16 enter the battle field leading her soldiers to significant military victories that likely led to the end of The Hundred Years War and turned the tide of a seemingly endless stream of English victories.

 

Her military style was characterized as bold, possibly even reckless and incautious but certainly effective. It is the style of one who has a certainty that others do not. The style of one who believes they are living out of God’s desire and will. Eventually she was captured at the age of 18 after being unhorsed by an arrow. Reports say she continued to fight even after being surrounded after ordering a retreat of her own troops (she herself refused to retreat). Her family could not afford the traditional ransom and the French King chose to not intervene – effectively selling her to the English where she was tried for heresy.

 

During her trial she was asked if she knew if she was in God’s grace and she responded: ‘If I am not, may God put me there; and if I am, may God so keep me." demonstrating a wisdom that shocked and furstrated her interogators. She was convicted of heresy and while in prison awaiting her punishment she was raped. At the age of 19 she was burned alive at a stake, all the while focused on a cross she asked to be built and held before her.

 

The story of Joan of Arc is the story of a teenage girl who was passionate about the will of God and desiring to follow it as best she could. It is also the story of a certain kind of greatness. Not the obvious kind reflected in her military fame or her theological astuteness but rather the kind of greatness that one finds by simply seeking God and responding.

 

Each of us, whether we are teenage girls, or boys or adults have within us the capacity for this kind of greatness so often overshadowed by the clouds of the world and circumstance. But each of us has God calling to us and desiring a willing heart in response. Are we meeting that challenge? This is a question worth some thought I think.