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Avijah Powers felt quite sure nobody would recognize him when he registered under an assumed name at the little inn. It
had been more than twenty years since he had left the town--a hard,
arrogant boy, running away from a good father and a devoted mother
because he hated goodness and loved lawlessness and his own way of life.
For years he had led the life of a vagabond.
Then
the spirit of adventure was aroused in him by the stories of the wealth
of the Klondike. He joined one of the earliest parties, in that
hazardous search for gold, and succeeded beyond his dreams.
Now
he had come back, with his old instincts, but with the wealth of a
millionaire, and some strange compulsion led him to the village where he
first drew breath.
He did not even know
whether his parents were living or dead. It was altogether likely they
were dead. With that conviction and without asking a question, he made
his way in the August twilight to the graveyard, and to the spot where
for three generations his ancestors had been laid.
Yes, there were new stones placed since he had been there. The sight moved him strangely.
He
bent to read the inscription on the first one. It was to the memory of
his father, "Died, 1884. ’Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.’"
The date cut the man to
the heart. His father had died a year after the only son had run away!
And his mother had been left alone!
But
perhaps she had followed her husband mercifully soon. Again he bent to
read, this time with tear-filled eyes, "Died, 1902. ’And God shall wipe
away all tears from their eyes.’"
His mother had been alone for eighteen years! She was but just dead -- in poverty, perhaps; certainly in loneliness. He drew himself up as if to shake off a hideous dream.
His mother had been alone for eighteen years! She was but just dead -- in poverty, perhaps; certainly in loneliness. He drew himself up as if to shake off a hideous dream.
But the other stone -
whose grave could that mark? They had no relatives except some distant
cousins. Perhaps some one of them had done for his mother what he ought
to have done in her long, desolate years.
Again he stooped to read - his own name. "Abijah Powers. Born 1870; died--. ’The only son of his mother, and she was a widow.’"
It was his own gravestone, set up by his mother when her hope of his return was dead.
Then
out of the depth of his memory there flashed up the story of the widow
of Nain, and the gracious presence which spoke the word of life to her
dead son.
How
many times his mother must have read and re-read the page, and how
frequently she must have prayed that her boy, bone of her bone, and
flesh of her flesh, might be given back to her arms!
The thought was anguish to
the graceless son, and it brought him to his knees beside his own empty
grave. With his hand resting over his mother’s head he wept as he had
not wept since he was a child.
They
were gracious drops. Out of the mother’s love, which had found its cold
comfort in the words of scripture for the grave that was no grave,
there came, indeed, the resurrection of the real, living soul.
The widow’s son went out
of the graveyard that night a new man. The world wondered what had
happened to him. Money did not often make a man over from a devil to a
saint; but that miracle seemed to have been worked in Abijah Powers.
Nobody
knew that the transformation did not come from the touch of Klondike
gold, but from the power of love -- reaching from beyond the vale, and
speaking from the cold marble of a gravestone.
What darkness would you have the light of the Lord touch? Do you have a great doubt as to the truth of all I say as concerns the power of your Lord and mine?
What difference is there in your life if you sit where you sit with half a faith and an empty soul.
Do you sit there with a scream inside you that calls out for God yet won't admit your lack even to yourself?
Do you have a problem that can't be solved? With His light you can bear it.
Do you have a fear you cannot get rid of?
With His light you can lose it.
So take the bumps and bruises, because they've come and they'll keep on coming, but don't try to take them alone.
Face death with the promise of immortality.
Face cynicism with the power of faith.
Face despair with a joy not moved by common circumstances.
Knock a hole in that darkness and the world is never the same again. Well, it's the same" but you're not.
I like the way William Herbert Carruth put it:
"A fire mist and a planet
A crystal and a cell,
A jelly fish and a saurian,
And caves where the cavemen dwell;
Then a sense of law and beauty
And a face turned from the clod
Some call it Evolution
And others call it God.
Yes, God loves you the way you are but he loves you too much to let you stay that way.
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STILL RECEIVING RAVE REVIEWS 8 YEARS AFTER IT'S PUBLICATION.
"Positive,
powerful utterances...skillfully enhancing our understanding and
appreciation of Lincoln while revealing the Divine source of his
strength."
Lt. Colonel C.A. Olsen (Ret.) Asbury College (Professor Ret.)
"The Spiritual Abraham Lincoln is an
extremely well written book that investigates what might be termed the
spiritual side of President Lincoln. It's both scholarly and very
readable. I came away impressed at Mr. Wyrick's portrayal of the
President and with an altered and enlarged vision of the man:'
William Hoffman, Award winning fiction writer; author of Blood and Guile, and Wild Thorn
"Wyrick
has authored a wonderful examination of the spirituality of one of
American history's most devoutly religious leaders...a pleasant and
readable book that has a rich depth of information."
Maynard Pittendreigh Presbyterian minister
"When
it comes to invoking religion in support of any of their decisions,
politicians need to sit at the feet of Abraham Lincoln. Reinhold Niebuhr
once called him 'America's greatest theologian.' Why so great? Because
he invariably distinguished between human works and the works of the
Almighty. As Wyrick
says, 'He wore the mantle of humility easily: because he was more
impressed with what God was doing in the world than with what he,
president of the United States in the midst of an awful crisis, was
doing. That is why in his last major speech he distinguished between
both human causes in the Civil War and the Almighty's 'own purposes.'
Lincoln would have agreed that it is better to leave God-talk out of
politics than to decorate human proposals with divinity. This is a book
for our American time. Through his careful study of Lincoln's career,
Wyrick compels us to remember that piety belongs in politics only when piety transcends politics."
Dr. Donald W. Shriver
Emeritus professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York. Author of An Ethic for Enemies: Forgiveness in Politics
"v. Neil
Wyrick's fine work allows the reader to appreciate Abraham Lincoln's
Christian commitment and his prophetic role in American history. Should
have a wide readership."
James H. Smylie Professor of Church History (Ret.) Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, Virginia
"Neil Wyrick's The Spiritual Abraham Lincoln should be read
by anyone attempting to understand the man who was probably the most
complex person to ever hold the office of president of the United
States. Dr. Wyrick is intent on demonstrating that the spirituality so
often expressed in Lincoln's writings and speeches was not merely lip
service to a Deity, but rather expressions of a profound faith in a real
God. It was this faith that provided the wisdom, compassion, insight
and sometimes steel that Lincoln would need in full measure
as he led the United States through the Civil War. Dr. Wyrick's clear
and unpretentious style of presentation is very much in keeping with the
character ofhis subject, and in so doing, Wyrick makes his point very
well that Lincoln, his beliefs, and the faith that formed them, are as
relevant to a troubled America in 2004 as they were in 1863."
Daniel Allen Butler, author of "Unsinkable"; The Full Story of the RMS Titanic, The Lusitania and The Age o f Cunard
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