A Good Example
Below is a story told by Hugo McCord. It is a true story, and one that warms the heart.
An Alabama girl, Catherine Laubenthal, and a Michigan boy, Ray Harshmann, both working for Uncle Sam, met at the Fourteenth Street church in Washington, D.C. On their wedding night they started family worship by reading and praying together. Ray and Cathy and their heavenly Father kept a rendezvous in reverence and joy.
When Ray went into the service of his country (WWII was breaking up homes), he and Cathy determined to pray for each other and each day, and to continue their regular schedule of Bible reading. In this way they would have the joy of knowing that, though miles apart, each would be reading the same chapter of Holy Writ.
MIA (missing in action) was the word from Europe to Cathy after the Battle of the Bulge. Grieved, hoping against hope, she continued her daily devotional, reading an agreed chapter. Dare she taste the thought that Ray might be alive? And might he be reading the same words? She continued to write letters to Ray. In all, 28 letters were returned to her stamped “MIA.”
Thanks to a kind Providence, Ray was a prisoner, undergoing rough treatment and thin diet, recovering from frozen feet, but alive! And when two years had elapsed, they were united again. After Ray and Catherine kissed, they found that, when worship time came, they were ready to read the same chapter! Neither had missed a day in prayer and reading. A husband in Europe, a wife in America, and a Father in heaven – these three, miles and miles apart, yet so close together.
– Max Patterson, 4438 South 89th Road, Bolivar, MO 65613-8012
