The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1927, Page 99

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

99

SSS eee
ooo OOOO www awa —(—f —\S\wvwn—mn—m

work. But like a prairie fire the truths of God’s
holy Word spread from place to place, reaching also
Nyland, Ala.

To serve the people at Nyland meant night ser-
vices. Our little band of workers had full schedules
on Sundays, so each Tuesday night the writer
traveled thirteen miles with horse and buggy to
reach the Alabama River, thirteen miles of wilder-
ness and mud. Crossing the river was negotiated
in a skiff owned by an old colored man. The four
miles beyond the river to Nyland were made on
horseback. Tow vividly these trips stand out in our
mind! ‘Too often the weather was bad, the wind
would be howling through the trees; there were the
lowhanging, ominous clouds, inky blackness along
the paths winding through the pine-forests, rumors
of enemies lurking in secluded spots, and the stum-
bling, faltering horse!

And then, all this repeated late at night after
services, the dangerous crossing in the leaky skiff,
the grumbling of the old ferryman, awakened from
his sleep by us at midnight, and those thirteen lonely
miles beyond the river! Occasionally our horse
would stop stock-still in the road, raise his head, and
snort at some object unseen by us. How happy and
thankful we were when, at two or three o’clock in
the morning, there appeared in the distance the light
of the little village — our destination !

Such thoughts came to our mind again as we
saw “Aunt” Fannie Steele in church last Sunday
morning. For it was after one of these trips that
the Savior got into her heart and saved her. And
had our efforts brought no other fruit, this one soul
saved would more than compensate us for our labor.

Like thousands of others, so Aunt Fannie lived
in a little hut among the pine-covered hills near
Nyland. Her eyes were growing dim, her body weak,
her limbs feeble. Sitting in the home-made rocker
by the fireplace during the long, rainy winter days
and evenings, Aunt Fannie had time to think —
think as she had never thought before. Looking
back, it was clear the world had not given to her
wealth nor pleasure. A glance around the room in
which she sat was convincing. Then there were sins,
many, many of them which she could still recall.
«What shall I do?” she thought. Beckoning her not
far away was the grave, the grave and — judgment.
Not pleasant thoughts for Aunt Fannie. She was
' afraid to die. :

News of meetings held on Tuesday night at Ny-
land in a log cabin by a Lutheran preacher reached
the ears of this old grandma one night as she sat in

-her rocker by the fireplace. It stirred her into

—

action. She came to hear. She came again and —
again. Glorious words she heard, words about a
Savior, a gracious Savior who died for sinners.
God’s Spirit sealed the message in her heart and
made her happy. Now she had hope, the glorious
hope of everlasting life in heaven. Gazing vacantly
into the flames that played about the burning logs in
the fireplace she thought such happy thoughts,— of
Jesus, Savior, salvation, forgiveness through His
blood, that home eternal in the heavens!

Then poverty and old age drove Aunt Fannie for
shelter to the home of a daughter miles from her
church. But she refused to be separated from her
Lutheran Church. She could not read her Bible,
the more reason why she should hear her pastor
preach. What mattered it that she must use her
few pennies for a railroad ticket, that early, in the
dark of morning, she must stumble along the road
to find the station, that, because she had no clock,
she arrived at the depot hours before the train was
due, or that the nearest station to the church was
three miles distant! Aunt Fannie came to services.
And God strengthened and increased her faith.
A shining light is Aunt Fannie in the sin and dark-
ness of the Black Belt.

Aunt Fannie’s heart is full of Christ! It over-
flows! She talked. She talked incessantly. Always
about her Lutheran Church. On the road, in the
homes, wherever she happened to be, Aunt Fannie
told others of the loving Lord whom she had found.
They laughed at her. They mocked her. They ridi-
culed her. But Aunt Fannie was not to be silenced.
Unafraid and unashamed, she talked more, always
by word and. deed confessing Christ.

And it bore fruit. To-day there stands at Lami-
son, far back in the clay hills of Alabama, a colored
Lutheran church. We preached there last Sunday
and found Aunt Fannie in the audience, radiant.
That church there is the fruit of the testimony of
this faithful soul. Through her, God opened the
hearts of people there to accept the message of sal-
vation. Nor is that all. Hight miles away is another
Lutheran church. There large numbers have heard
and accepted the wondrous story of redeeming love.
Aunt Fannie brought the Lutheran Church to
Arlington. God alone knows how many precious
souls have been brought to Christ by the testimony
of this aged grandma.

Aunt Fannie sits before her fireplace and rocks.
It is in the home of her daughter. Her eyes are very
dim. Her body is getting weaker. Her limbs are
feeble. But on her face there is a look of peace and
joy such as the world cannot give. Death looks her