Two Mothers

In my sermon this past Sunday I shared the following story:  There once was a man who had two mothers.  Both mothers loved him and were good to him.  They both did what they thought was best for his upbringing.  One of those mothers adopted him and gave him a palace in which to live.  She had the finest teachers in the land brought in to teach him.  He had every toy a child could ever want.  He had servants, the best food, and clothes.  Nothing was spared. His other mother, the one who gave him up for adoption, was a slave.  His people had been slaves for 9 generations. She wanted a better life for him.   She could give him few material things, but she gave him what she had -- her time, her love, her faith, and her prayers.  And when Moses became a man he had to choose between those two mothers – a choice that was made more difficult because he loved them both.  The Bible reveals his choice:  “Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather his slave mother.”  (Hebrews 11:24)  You see the slave mother gave him what matters most, her love, time, and a deep faith in God.  What are we giving our children?  What will our children take with them into life?  Our society convinces us that the only list that counts includes -- music and dancing lessons, sports, name brand clothes, pool memberships, and the like – none of which is wrong.  But if that’s all there is, what will sustain them when the storms of life come? 

It Is Well With My Soul!

When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul!

It is well ... with my soul!
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

One of my favorite hymns, "It is Well with my soul", was written by Chicago lawyer, Horatio G. Spafford. You might think to write a worship song titled, "It is well with my Soul", you would indeed have to be rich and successful. But the hymn's words were not written during the happiest period of Spafford's life. On the contrary, they came from a man who had suffered almost unimaginable personal tragedy.

Horatio G. Spafford and his wife, Anna, were pretty well-known in 1860’s Chicago, because of Horatio's legal career and business endeavors and because of their prominent support and close friendship with D.L. Moody, the famous preacher. It was 1870 when things started to go wrong. The Spaffords' only son was killed by scarlet fever at the age of four.  Horatio had invested heavily in real estate on the shores of Lake Michigan, but in 1871, every one of these holdings was wiped out by the great Chicago Fire.

Aware of the toll these disasters had taken on the family, Horatio decided to take his wife and four daughters on a holiday to England. And, not only did they need the rest -- DL Moody needed the help. He was traveling around Britain on one of his great evangelistic campaigns. Horatio and Anna planned to join Moody in late 1873. And so, the Spaffords traveled to New York in November, from where they were to catch the French steamer 'Ville de Havre' across the Atlantic. Just before they set sail, a last-minute business development forced Horatio to delay. Not wanting to ruin the family holiday, Spafford persuaded his family to go as planned. He would follow later. With this decided, Anna and her four daughters sailed East to Europe while Spafford returned West to Chicago. Just nine days later, Spafford received a telegram from his wife in Wales. It read: "Saved alone."

On November 2nd 1873, the 'Ville de Havre' had collided with 'The Lochearn', an English vessel. It sank in only 12 minutes, claiming the lives of 226 people. Anna Spafford had stood bravely on the deck, with her daughters Annie, Maggie, Bessie and Tanetta clinging desperately to her. Her last memory had been of her baby being torn violently from her arms by the force of the waters. Anna was only saved from the fate of her daughters by a plank which floated beneath her unconscious body and propped her up. When the survivors of the wreck had been rescued, Mrs. Spafford's first reaction was one of complete despair. Then she heard a voice speak to her, "You were spared for a purpose." And she immediately recalled the words of a friend, "It's easy to be grateful and good when you have so much, but take care that you are not a fair-weather friend to God."

Upon hearing the terrible news, Horatio Spafford boarded the next ship out of New York to join his bereaved wife. Bertha Spafford (the fifth daughter of Horatio and Anna born later) explained that during her father's voyage, the captain of the ship had called him to the bridge. "A careful reckoning has been made", he said, "and I believe we are now passing the place where the de Havre was wrecked. The water is three miles deep." Horatio then returned to his cabin and penned the lyrics of his great hymn.

The words which Spafford wrote that day come from 2 Kings 4:26 (read all of chapter 4). They echo the response of the Shunammite woman to the sudden death of her only child. Though we are told "her soul is vexed within her", she still maintains that 'It is well."  Spafford's song reveals a man whose trust in the Lord is as unwavering as hers.

It would be very difficult for any of us to predict how we would react under circumstances similar to those experienced by the Spaffords. But we do know that the God who sustained them would also be with us. 
                                                                                                                                               (Author unknown)

A Quiet Place To Pray

"A life without a lonely place, that is, a life without a quiet center, easily becomes destructive.  When we cling to the results of our actions as our only way of self-identification, there we become possessive and defensive and tend to look at our fellow human beings more as enemies to be kept at a distance than as friends with whom we share the gift of life."     (Henri Nouwen)