This is not a movie review.

Movie reviews only go to two thumbs up.

This is my reflection about LWR's role in tsunami recovery. I give it four thumbs up!

I thought about it when I looked at the photo showing four thumbs up.

Then a new thought: three thumbs link to three faces, but there is a fourth thumb up.

To whom does it belong? In this case, probably another boy, a friend of the other three.

But sometimes Lutheran World Relief gets a thumbs up for the work it does in tsunami recovery from people we don't know nor will never know.

That's okay.

But there's a corollary thought here.

LWR is not obsessed with getting credit. Not every wheelbarrow, not every temporary house needs to show the name of the donor. In fact, LWR prefers it that way.

Yes, Jesus told us to let our light shine so others might see it. But at another time, Jesus told those doing alms to do them quietly. Perhaps William Barclay, the Bible commentator, had it right when he said, “When tempted to hide, show; when tempted to show, hide.”

LWR has long been thought of as the best kept secret of the church. In part it is because LWR has sought the quiet, servant role for itself.

And that, too, might just merit four thumbs up!

*Thiemann is a former LWR Program Director for Asia and the Middle East.  He served for six months as LWR’s Tsunami Consultant in India.

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