http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=I%20John%203:1&version=NIV
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+15:13&version=NIV
As a father and grandfather, there are some stories that tear me up when I read them. The following is one of them. I read it in the book, Battlefields And Blessings, by Terry Tuley.
The Battle of Gettysburg was one of the most important yet awful of the entire American Civil War (1861-1865). 8,000 soldiers were killed. 27,000 were wounded. Another 11,000 were captured and taken prisoner. All from one, 3-day battle. One of the men who fought in that battle was Amos Humiston. Humiston was a sergeant in the 154th New York Volunteers. His body was found on the battlefield following the battle. In his hand he was clutching a photograph of his 3 little children. Unfortunately, Humiston didn’t have any identification on him. His comrades who had survived the battle had since moved on. So no one knew who he was. No one was able to let his wife and children know that he had fallen in combat. That he had given his life for his country. And ultimately for them.
Fortunately a doctor, John Francis Bourns, obtained the photograph. He had a copy of it made. Then he began circulating it in the hope that someone would recognize the children and be able to identify the fallen soldier. Newspapers across the country helped in the effort. Although the technology was not yet available to print the photograph, the newspapers printed a detailed description of the children. One such description was ran in The American Presbyterian where it was read by Philinda Humiston of Portsville, N.Y. As Philinda read the description she thought it sounded like the photograph that she had sent her husband. But she couldn’t be sure. She also hadn’t heard from him in 4 months. Could it be that the fallen soldier was her husband? So Philinda wrote Dr Bourns who sent her a copy of the photograph. When Philinda opened the envelope and saw her children in the photograph she knew right away that her husband Amos was dead.Historians later put the rest of the puzzle together. Several months before the historic battle Humiston had received a photograph of his 3 children; 8-year-old Frank, 6-year-old Alice and 4-year-old Freddie. For a soldier, away from home and facing death, the picture was an inspiration to him. In a letter to Philinda a couple months earlier, Humiston had written, "... I got the likeness of the children and it pleased me more than any thing that you could have sent me. How I want to see them and their mother is more than I can tell. I hope that we may all live to see each other again if this war does not last to long." It turns out that Humiston had been seriously wounded on the first day of the battle. Somehow he managed to drag himself to a solitary patch of ground. It was there that he pulled out his children’s picture. To gaze upon their sweet, innocent faces. It was what he was looking at when death overtook him.
Even now as I write these words hot tears trickle down my cheeks. What a sad story. But how inspiring it is at the same time. A dying man whose last thoughts were for his children. How precious! What a wonderful picture of love What a picture this also is of the love of God. For us! It was love for us that kept God from wiping out humanity after Adam & Eve sinned. It was love for us that caused God to send His only Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for our sins. What can be said about the depths of His great love? How does one begin to describe it? Or who can fully experience it? This love is for me. For you. The love of a Father for His children.
Lord, what can I say about Your love for me? How do I begin to describe it? How do I go about understanding it? Or experiencing it? It is so far beyond my comprehension. Nonetheless I thank you for it. A love that motivated You to go to such extreme measures to rescue me. May my understanding and appreciation of Your great love for me grow each day. And may I love You in return. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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