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Pure Gold

1/30/2020

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Eric Liddell, 1902-1945

​Be still, my soul,
The Lord is on thy side.
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide,
Through every change, He faithful will remain.
Be still my soul, thy best, thy heavenly friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.
--Be Still My Soul, Katharina A. von Schlegel, 1752 

​I’ve never seen the 1981 biopic “Chariots of Fire.” For most of my life, I’d never even heard of its subject, a Scottish runner and 1924 Olympic gold medalist named Eric Liddell.
 
But then at the turn of the millennium, I was soundly saved. I started a monthly Christian Music Hour for nursing-home residents, and became immersed in the old hymns that they loved. In the process, I fell head over heels for “Be Still My Soul,” written in 1752 by German hymnist Katharina von Schlegel. And I learned that it was the favorite hymn of this fellow Liddell.
 
Not interested in track or the Olympics, I didn’t pay much attention. But his name stuck with me. And as I memorized the lyrics to “Be Still My Soul,” I occasionally wondered about this man who shared my love of this beautiful hymn.
Be still, my soul; thy God doth undertake
To guide the future as He has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence, let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul; the waves and winds still know
His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below.
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Then, a couple years ago, I began to read articles about, and biographies of, great Christians of the past. And soon my mind and heart were filled with the stories of people like Adoniram Judson, William Carey, John Bunyan, Lottie Moon, John and Charles Wesley--men and women who lived and died for Christ's Great Commission.
 
It was a month or two ago that Maranatha Baptist University professor David Saxon and his wife Jamie recommended a biography of Eric Liddell, Pure Gold by David McCasland. I quickly found a used copy and added it to my Must Read stack.
 
Here’s the story in a nutshell.
 
When Liddell won the gold medal in 1924, the world was his oyster. Or it would have been, had he been interested in the world. But he wasn’t; he was interested only in serving the Lord. And so, having been born in China to missionary parents, it was to China that he returned after winning the gold.
 
Liddell’s was not a spectacular missionary story. He didn’t carve out new territory for Christ in uncharted lands, as did Judson in Burma. His work didn’t necessarily lead to millions of converts over the generations, as did the efforts of Carey in India. Instead, Liddell spent his years in northern China teaching, coaching various sports, sharing the gospel with the residents of remote villages, and being a godly and beloved role model to all who knew him.
 
When World War II reached the Pacific, Liddell was among the hundreds of foreigners who were confined to a Japanese prison camp in Weihsien, China. It wasn’t a horrific place—nothing like Auschwitz or Dachau or any of the other monstrous camps run by the Nazis. But it was a prison nonetheless, separating him for three years from his beloved wife Flo and their three daughters, who had escaped to Canada.
 
It was in this camp that 43-year-old Eric Liddell unexpectedly died, months before the end of the war in the Pacific, of a brain tumor. 

Be still, my soul, though dearest friends depart
And all is darkened in the vale of tears;
Then shalt thou better know His love, His heart,
Who comes to soothe thy sorrows and thy fears.
Be still, my soul; thy Jesus can repay
From His own fulness all He takes away.
PictureEric Liddell's wife Flo and their daughters Heather, Maureen and Patricia
Pure Gold is not quite perfect, in my mind anyway. I prefer my biographies to be strictly factual, and author McCasland rather frequently imagines his subjects’ innermost thoughts and feelings in novel-esque fashion.  
 
But it is a wonderful book nevertheless.
 
I think one of the main reasons I loved Pure Gold is this: In many ways, Liddell was a very ordinary man. He was intelligent but not a great genius. Nor was he known for astounding bravery in the face of enemy attacks or for a spectacular sense of humor or light-up-the-room personality. He was apparently as reserved as he was humble. But those he lived and worked with seem to have loved and respected him beyond measure for his kindness, his concern for others, his self-sacrificing conduct, and his overriding love for, and complete surrender to, our Creator God.
 
“He wasn’t a great leader, or an inspired thinker,” wrote an unnamed internee in a personal diary, “but he knew what he ought to do, and he did it. He was a true disciple of the Master and worthy of the highest of places amongst the saints gathered in the Church triumphant.” (Page 285)
 
Liddell did some writing towards the end of his life, and Pure Gold contains many enlightening and uplifting quotes. For instance, he opened an essay entitled “The Key to Knowing God” thusly: “One word stands out from all others as the key to knowing God, to having his peace and assurance in your heart; it is OBEDIENCE … OBEDIENCE to God’s Will is the secret of spiritual knowledge and insight. It is not willingness to know, but willingness to DO God’s Will that brings certainty.”  (Page 241-242)
 
The book also quotes a number of moving tributes at memorial services following Liddell’s death. For instance, long-time friend A. P. Cullen said this:
 
“The most noteworthy feature in Eric’s life was the regular and rapid progress of his spiritual development. It is as phenomenal as the speed with which, in a 100-yards race, after being yards behind at halfway, he would catch up and pass the winning post an easy first, leaving the other competitors standing. In the athletic world, no one knows how he did it—it remains a mystery; but for his progress in the spiritual race, there is a very clear and definite explanation. First of all, absolute surrender to the Will of God … It was toward the attainment of that ideal that he directed all his mental and spiritual energies.” (pages 283-284)
 
Though I painstakingly nursed Pure Gold, not wanting it to end, I regretfully finished it early this morning. I’d been saving the last chapter but woke at 4 a.m. and, well, there the book was. Irresistible.
 
As I mentioned, I don’t like it when biographies imagine what the author couldn’t possibly have known. But in the case of Pure Gold, I will make one exception. It’s at the very end of the book (page 298), where McCasland imagines the thoughts of Eric’s widow Flo on the first New Year’s Eve following his death:
 
“Eric’s race was over, but hers had just begun. She vowed to run it willingly, eagerly, and, at the end, to throw back her head to finish in triumph and joy. Eric had gone on ahead, and one day she would be with him again.
 
“She needed neither hymnal nor piano as she softly sang: 

“Be still, my soul; the hour is hastening on
When we shall be forever with the Lord,
When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul; when change and tears are past,
All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.”

​A perfectly poignant ending to a close-to-perfect book. Highly recommended!
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Beware the Broad Way

1/21/2020

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“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14)

Some time ago, I was meditating on this passage when it suddenly hit me: How many American cities and towns have streets named Broadway?

I couldn't find a count online, but I've known some Broadways personally over the years. 

My hometown Broadway in Green Bay, Wis., was lined primarily by dumpy taverns. Legend had it that bars were not allowed west of this north-south street paralleling the Fox River, so it was the thirsty man's last oasis before heading out into the booming west side of the city. My gang didn't know if that was true or not; all we knew for sure was that Broadway was easy street for any underage drinker armed with a fake ID and a powerful thirst for the forbidden.

Then there's the most famous Broadway, in New York City. I haven't been there since I was a kid, but just glanced at what's running right now. Among the biggest hits: Wicked, The Book of Mormon, Hadestown, Beetlejuice, Bob&Carol&Ted&Alice (the musical, if you can imagine), and Rock of Ages (no, it's not about THE Rock of Ages; it's a "rock musical set in Hollywood in the 1980s, when it was all about big chords, big dreams and big hair!") So many ways to be amused, entertained and distracted from life's most important questions. 

I google-mapped "Broadway" in a random assortment of cities and found every last one to be run down and dotted with taverns. Precisely what you'd expect from "the way that leads to destruction." 

I'm sure there are plenty of exceptions, but still -- it makes me wonder what the biblically literate city planners of 19th century America were thinking when they named so many of our nation's streets "Broadway." 

I'm just eternally grateful that the Creator of the universe did what He had to do to persuade me to seek the narrow way "which leads to life." I hope that you and your loved ones have all done so, too.
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How an atheist handles sorrow

1/15/2020

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When I was an atheist, I found several different ways to handle the pain of life and loss. 

One of my early solutions, discovered in the wake of my beloved daddy's 1970 death, was illegal drugs. "Better living through chemistry" was DuPont's motto and mine. And until it occurred to me, at age 21, that the stuff might actually be dangerous, I was able to vanquish my sorrow by simply downing a pill or smoking a little marijuana.  

Alcohol followed. Nothing like a good cold beer or two or three to chase away thoughts of never seeing loved ones again. 

And when all else failed, a good long cry often provided some relief, especially when it was propelled by the most maudlin hits of the hippy era. As I reported in Heaven Without Her: 

[It] seemed as though the entire music industry was conspiring in those days to remind me that life was hopeless and that sorrow would always be the rule. Amidst all the bubble-gum ditties and drugged-out rock of the early 1970s were heart-wrenching songs like James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain” and Gilbert O’Sullivan’s “Alone Again (Naturally).”

And then in 1974, Helen “I Am Woman” Reddy released “You and Me Against the World” – a song in which a mother is apparently telling her daughter that, once one of them has died, it’s pretty much over:
 

"Then remembering will have to do,
Our memories alone will get us through …"

 
What marketing types now call the “takeaway” was pretty clear: One day death will separate us, and that’ll be it: memories only, no hope for an eternal reunion.

I played that song over and over again late into the decade, trying in vain to cry the sorrow out of my system once and for all.


These were all just temporary fixes, of course. It would take me another quarter century, and a killer heartbreak, to seek comfort beyond my own thinking, and that of our culture's thought leaders.

Thank God, I found it at last in the truth of His word. 
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Don't let worries keep you awake

1/8/2020

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Seems that there’s plenty to lose sleep over these days. Whether it’s the rising cost of living or a loved one’s illness, a child’s unbiblical lifestyle or the very survival of our nation, we each have a list of concerns that can keep us awake at night. 
 
Sometimes the solution is simply to pray. “Be anxious for nothing,” the apostle Paul told us in Philippians 4, "but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” The result? “The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
 
I can’t count the number of times I’ve reminded myself of this passage in the wee hours of the morning. It invariably gives me peace for at least a few minutes, until my personal bugaboos creep into my thoughts once again.
 
What’s the solution?
 
For me, it’s meditating on God as He has revealed Himself in the Bible—especially His character and His promises—and then taking Him up on His word through prayer.
 
Specifically, I ponder:

1. His omnipotence. He is all powerful, after all. Which means that “With God, all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). 

2.  His sovereignty. As the Creator of the universe, the Lord has supreme authority and complete control over it all, from the functioning of the tiniest mechanisms in our cells to the traits, position and behavior of every last star and galaxy. Matthew 10:29 puts this concept into terms we humans can easily grasp: “Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will.”  

3. His omniscience. He knows it all, including everything about us as individuals. He knows about that dormant cell that’s going to wreak havoc in Mrs. Anderson's body 23 years from now. He knows all about the worries that consume Mr. Zemke, including what each concern's outcome will be. And He knows every last thing about you, down to each thought you've ever entertained.

In fact, God knows us better than we know ourselves. As King David pointed out in Psalm 139:16, from the moment he was conceived, “Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.” 
 
4. His love. Next time you find yourself tossing and turning, remember this: “And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.” (1 John 4:16).  

Want proof? “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). He so loves us that God the Son, Jesus Himself, suffered and died on the cross to pay the penalty for mankind's entire sin debt. And He invites us all to avail ourselves of this payment simply by repenting and trusting in Him.
 
As a result, in the Bible He commands us, about 365 times in almost as many different ways, not be afraid. My personal favorite: “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32).
 
In a nutshell, then, God is omnipotent, sovereign, and omniscient, and He is love. Which means that, at the very least:

  • He is able to do absolutely anything in your life, including changing your circumstances.
  • He is willing to do so, in order to achieve His purposes.
  • No matter how frightening or upsetting it may be to us today, with our oh-so-limited understanding, everything He does will work together to the eternal good of all His children.
 
So next time you’re tossing and turning, remember that He is allowing those distressing circumstances, for His perfect purposes, according to His perfect timing. Take some time to meditate on Romans 8:28: "all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose."
 
By all means, go boldly to His throne of grace, bare your soul and ask Him for strength, wisdom and peace (Hebrews 4:16). Then follow King Solomon’s advice in Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”
 
Sweet dreams, dear reader. 
4 Comments

    Kitty
    Foth-Regner

    I'm a follower of Jesus Christ, a freelance copywriter, a nursing-home volunteer, and the author of books both in-process and published -- including Heaven Without Her. 

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