Zwemer, poetry and a call to open our eyes

Here is a poem Zwemer wrote in his book A World of Muslim Childhood:   

The great world's heart is aching, aching fiercely in the night, 

And God alone can heal it, and God alone give light;

And the men to bear that message and to  speak the living word,

Are you and I , my brothers , and the millions that have heard.

Can we close our eyes to duty?  Can we fold our hands at ease,

While the gates of night stand open to the pathways of the seas?

Can we shut up our Compassions?  Can we leave our prayers unsaid

Til and lands which sin has blasted have been quickened from the dead? 

 

 

 

From Hand to Mouth.

Who said,that a missionary "often lives from hand to mouth"?

Samuel Zwemer,On various occasions in later life he made the remark, "I have always lived from hand to mouth, but it has been the Lord's hand and my mouth."

Zwemer gets a wife and a good one.

Bachelors Zwemer and Cantine were in Basrah when two Christian nurses came through on their way to Baghdad.  One, Amy Wilkes, was very attractive and was asked to pour tea.   Zwemer called her to see a passing caravan.  As she arose her foot caught on the shawl that was covering the packing case used as a table.  Most of the dishes came crashing down and she fled to the balcony in tears.  The report is that Zwemer "suggested it would be fine should she stay on and break the remainder of the dishes at her convenience."  In resolved pursuit, he arranged to be the Arabic teacher for the young ladies and you can guess the rest.
Amy was an amazingly suitable wife for Zwemer.  He said of her: ...she worked under "circumstances and in an environment of untold discomforts and physical hardships.  Naturally strong and self-reliant, she triumphed over everything bravely and hopefully.  Our small, uncomfortable, three-room leaky house, without screens in the midst of the town became a center of hospitality for Arab women and children....Looking back on those early years, what she patiently endured now seems incredible."

This is a poem he wrote about her:

"Her love was like an island
In life's ocean, vast and wide,
A peaceful, quiet shelter
From the wind and rain and tide.
'Twas bound on the north by Hope,
By Patience on the west,
By tender Counsel on the south
And on the east by Rest.
Above it, like a beacon light,
Shone faith and truth and prayer;
And through the changing scenes of life
I found a haven there."

Zwemer zinger

Samuel Zwemer was a Dutch American who poured out his life in love for his Savior and for Muslims.  I am  thrilled to the bone to be reading his biography Apostle to Islam.  Higher criticism of Scripture, especially in Europe, wrecked havoc on the church and weakened the stream of missionaries going out. Zwemer hated that higher criticism and likened it to "ants in Africa who would bite the life-germ out of a seed before they took it underground in their anthill, so it could not sprout."

Three Cheers for Reading Aloud.

Reading aloud is inexpensive. It is highly portable. It teaches language skills. It makes history come alive and gives hope. It can build character and implant faith. It gives us laughs. What’s not to love about it?
Recently I expanded on the benefits of reading aloud at 
http://www.visionarywomanhood.com/the-joy-of-reading-aloud/

Why my father was right about Harlequin Romances

When I was a teenager, I read many, many Harlequin Romances.  I am not bragging.  I am confessing.
My father never liked it, and I wish I had been more into pleasing my father and less into pleasing myself.

Robert E. Lee did not like his children reading fiction.  He wrote to his wife:

Let him [his son Rooney] never touch a novel.  They print beauty more charming than nature, and describe happiness that never exists. They will teach him to sigh after that which has no reality, to despise the little good that is granted us in this world and to expect more than is given.

H.W. Crocker III says that Lee enjoyed many of the simple pleasures of life precisely because he forsook wallowing in "unattainable fantasies."  He understood that original sin was a reality to live with for the redeemed.
Though we may not adopt Lee's strict position on fiction, we should be wise as to the temptations that may accompany it.

The Love of Christ in his Intercession

"It is impossible fully to set forth the interest he takes in his people, or the concern he manifests for their welfare....May I expect every blessing to flow to me through this medium, and may I rejoice in this privilege when I can rejoice in nothing beside."     The Love of Christ by James Smith