Friday 4 September 2009

A Piece of History


We have a wonderful family tradition in that we take it in turns to read a special book to our girls mostly on a Saturday night. They are usually special books to us, eg 'Paddington Bear', 'Little House on the Prairie', 'Wind in the Willows' to name a few. We take great delight in choosing which book we will read when it is our turn.

At the moment I am in the reading seat and we are reading 'No Mountain too High' - a biography about the English Missionary Gladys Aylward. It is a children's version but hard details are not left out (for instance: the bombing in her town in the Shansi Province). The girls are really enjoying it and take delight in reading the chapter headings to see what is coming next.

Tonight, we read about a Missionary called David Davies who booked Gladys into a Conference in order for her to have some rest. (Nowadays, some of us choose to go for a spa day but that is a whole other post!) Many years ago when my husband was in Bible College a whole library of books were sent for the students to look through and take what they wanted. He picked up an old battered copy of poems covered in a brown envelope. The book was shelved for quite a number of years before my husband took a good look at the book. All the way through are very finely written notes about someone's incarceration in a variety of different POW camps in China. All though the book comments have been made beside the poems. This book belonged to David Davies; the same Missionary who met Gladys Aylward. Amazing - piece of history in our hands. Fantastic - to think this man suffered but came through WWII and carried on serving God.

We showed our girls the book and their eyes were wide with wonder. Our eldest has asked my husband to make sure she gets it when he dies! I love my girls and hope this tremendous interest in things continues as they grow and the world throws up its temptations.

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