At this time of year we remember those
who gave their lives in sacrifice during past wars. Within many of the soldiers ranks were young men who had a faith in God. Here
are tow short stories of faith, valour and miracles.
First Story - Lives lived for
God
Florence volunteered at the Wesleyan
Methodist Chapel in her village near Chesterfield every Sunday. She ran
the Girls’Bible Class: young girls from the village
would come to hear Bible stories and sing and pray together. She wanted tofollow God’s way in all she did. The chapel was a big
thing in her life.
There was a nice young man, Albert,
who led the Boys’ Bible Class, and they became good friends. True love
blossomed, and the two young volunteers got married. They kept on teaching
Bible class together. Not so long afterwards, in 1916, when they were expecting
their first baby, the government was asking every fit young man to come forward
and join the army.
Albert and Florence agreed he
should volunteer to ‘serve his king and country.’ But at the recruiting
office, when they found out that Florence was pregnant, they sent Albert back
home. Perhaps they knew his wife would need him most when the new baby was
born. ‘Come back when the baby is three months old’ they told him.
Albert and Florence were blessed with
their new tiny baby Mary Estelle. She was lovely. When she was three months
old, Albert went back to the recruiting office again and was accepted for
service. He was assigned to the London Regiment, Post Office Rifles. After his
training, he went to the Western Front. A few months later he was dead. Albert
was killed at the battle of Passchendale. Florence
was a widow, aged only 23, and baby Mary Estelle had lost her dad before she
was one year old.
Florence found comfort after Albert’s
death from her strong faith. She was glad when a young soldier who used to be a
member of Albert’s Bible Class found her, and told her about the last time
he saw Albert, a few days before he died. The soldier had been injured and was
being carried away on a stretcher when he saw Albert. Can you guess what he was
doing?
“He stood in an open field with an
open Bible and a group of young men around him. He was just finishing a
talk to the young soldiers, and then he led them in singing a hymn.
‘Rejoice, the Lord is King. Your Lord and King adore.” Cynthia, Albert and
Florence’s grand daughter, made a comment: “That was something really good for
my grandmother to hang on to. She knew that he was still, at heart, the
leader of the young men’s Bible class to the very end. In the war, he was still
preaching, encouraging young fella sand trying to keep up morale. I like
to think that in that terrible time he didn’t keep the faith: the faith
kept him.”
Second Story - Saved By
the Bible
George Vinell served as a Bombardier
in the Royal Artillery. He carried a Bible in his pocket which gave him
spiritual comfort even in hard times during the War. It also saved his life. On
17th July 1915 he wrote home to his mum
and dad sending a pocket Bible with his letter. The Bible had a hole in it,
made by a piece of shrapnel.
George came into his sleeping
compartment and took off his tunic at
about midday when he heard a shell flying in close. It exploded and threw bits
of metal around the compartment. One went straight into his tunic, but
because the Bible was in the pocket it didn’t get through. George threw
himself to the floor while another shell exploded on the compartment and then
ran for the protection of the trenches. He wrote ‘as soon as we heard the next
shell coming I flattened myself in the bottom, not
caring about the dirt, until it was over.”
When he got back to the sleeping
compartment, there were ten men dead. As well as the shells, four bullets had
come in: George felt hugely fortunate because one had hit his pillow, one had
hit the floor where he had been lying just a moment earlier. Then he picked up
his tunic, and found the shrapnel, aimed at his heart, but stopped by his
Bible. He reminded his mum and dad of his last letter, where he had
written that he felt ‘safe in the hands of God’ and wrote: ‘Here I
am, without a scratch, safe and well’. The shrapnel had gone through the
whole Old Testament, and the point of it stopped at Isaiah 49 verse 8.
George read the verse, which said ‘I will preserve you.’
It felt like a miracle.