Do you enjoy a good story? I know I do. If you’ve read my blog, A Lifelong Love Affair, then you know I get most of my good stories from books. I love mysteries, history, biography. I love inspirational books, and of course, the Bible and Bible studies. I especially love stories of people who inspire me.
Sadly, since Jim and I moved here, we spend a lot of time in the car. Just about anywhere we need to go requires at least a half hour drive, often on crowded highways. But, long ago we adopted the practice of reading stories on the journey to entertain, inspire, and redeem the time
In the last month or so we read two books while on our long drives: Hero of the Empire, a biography of the young life of Winston Churchill during the Boer War in South Africa. The other, The River of Doubt, was the account of an expedition to explore an unknown branch of the Amazon River by then former President Theodore Roosevelt. The author, Candice Millard, wrote them both in such a way that you could imagine being there! Non-fiction that reads like fiction.
Of course, Winston Churchill was very well known to us as we grew up in the post WWII years, but we knew almost nothing about the rest of his life. Hero of the Empire follows him through the war between the Boers of South Africa and Great Britain over the control of land occupied by the Boers. Although he preferred to be in the military, Churchill enters the war zone as a war correspondent so that he can be in the thick of things.
What we found interesting about his young life was his overwhelming sense that he was destined for great things in the future. That sense of destiny made him fearless to do all he could to insert himself in the heart of battle, engaging in it to such a degree that he was captured and treated as a prisoner of war.
Churchill was fearless, to the point of being reckless, because of a supreme confidence in the glorious future he believed he had ahead. In order to guarantee that outcome, as he saw it, he headed off for South Africa, found the place of fiercest battle, and ran into the thick of it, confident that by distinguishing himself, his reputation would one day propel him into a seat in Parliament.
The other biography, The River of Doubt, is a gut-wrenching account of a very dangerous and almost impossibly difficult exploration of an unknown branch of the Amazon in Brazil, an expedition that included Theodore Roosevelt and his son Kermit, and many others.
The planning for the exploration, left to others by Roosevelt, was a comedy of errors which left the men lacking the proper boats, food and medical supplies for the journey. In addition, the river was so much more difficult to navigate than anyone imagined that only half-way through, supplies were nearly totally depleted, and the men riddled with malaria and other diseases that made continuing nearly impossible.
Both stories were adventures of great magnitude and danger, riveting to read, but neither had the impact on us than that of the most recent story we shared together.
Before all the quarantines for the Coronavirus were put into place, Jim and I drove only about fifteen minutes away this time, to see a movie called, I Still Believe, based on the book of the same name. It tells the story of well-known Christian recording artist and song writer, Jeremy Camp and his wife, Melissa.
Jeremy was in his early twenties when he enrolled in Bible college in California and met Melissa. He was drawn to her by her obvious faith in Jesus and immediately fell in love. During the time they were dating, Melissa was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and began chemo treatments. Knowing that he wanted to marry her, Jeremy proposed, and they became engaged. After 6 months, she was declared cancer free and they were married, but only a short time later, her cancer returned. (There are other details, but I don’t want to spoil the story for you.)
What truly inspired us in this beautiful love story was the faith of this young couple, in telling others about Melissa’s illness and faith in Jesus, in asking for prayer, in trusting Jesus in the hope of a miracle. And then, Melissa’s faith in Jesus, even when the miracle didn’t come, and she knew she was facing the end of her life.
Since then, Churchill, Roosevelt and Melissa have been circling around in my mind.
There was Churchill, arrogant and self-confident, wanting to make a great name for himself, certain he had a great destiny – and he did. Britain needed him when faced with the threat of Nazi Germany. His life is a story of courage and determination in the face of battle.
There was Roosevelt. He had already made a name for himself by serving two terms as President of the United States when he left to explore the unexplored – and it almost cost him his life.
When hardships were becoming life threatening, Roosevelt wrote in his diary:
“If I had to die anywhere, why not
die in helping to open up to the knowledge of the world a great unknown land
and so aid humanity in general, and the people of Brazil. . .”
Personally, when I read Roosevelt’s story, I thought it was foolhardy. Certainly his courage and stamina and that of his companions was noteworthy – but the story didn’t inspire me.
The story that truly inspired me was Melissa’s. Melissa faced death confidently - not to make a great name for herself as Churchill did, or to risk her life for the sake of making an unknown river known, like Roosevelt.
Her words to Jeremy as she faced the last days of her life were:
If only one person’s life is changed
by my story, it will be worth it.
Like Churchill, Melissa knew she had a destiny. As she lay on her deathbed, she was confident of the soon fulfillment of all the promises of God for those who die in Jesus and she faced it, not only with fearlessness, but with joy. What Melissa cared about, and what inspires me, is those who would learn about the love of Jesus through her story.
She could have said something similar to what Roosevelt said when facing death in the Amazon:
If I have to die now, why not die in helping to open up to the knowledge of the world my great Savior, Jesus!
Melissa’s story points us to the KNOWN but unseen Kingdom of God, and its true and living King, Jesus. And that’s what her story inspires me to do – not just on my deathbed, but now in the land of the living.
If you don't know my great Savior, Jesus, but would like to, just ask me.
“For see to your calling, brethren, that not many (of you) are wise. . .not many mighty, not many noble. . . But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things that are mighty. . . . that no flesh should glory in His presence. But you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God – and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.” I Corinthians 1:26-30
No comments:
Post a Comment