We are all missionaries. Wherever we go, we either bring people nearer to Christ, or we repel them from Christ. (Eric Liddell)

The thing I love most about the Sonlight curriculum that I use with the boys is all the missionary biographies they put in with the history books. Josh is study the Eastern Hemisphere this year and "Eric Liddell, Something Greater Than Gold" is one of the books that we just finished. I enjoyed it so much, I haven't been able to get it out of my head, I've been thinking about it all week. Now, I saw Chariots of Fire when I was a kid and knew that after Eric ran in the olympics he went onto be a missionary in China and died there, but that was about it. What I didn't know was that Eric was born in China since his parents were missionaries there. They faced many challenges with the different wars going on at that time. His family went on furlough to Scotland when he was six and Eric and his brother was put into a boarding school. His folks went back to China and Eric actually didn't see his dad again until he was 19! (his folks were hard core missionaries!). Eric actually played rugby for Scotland before he was a famous runner. I did know that he refused to run on a Sunday even with the chance of winning a gold. What I didn't know was that it seem the whole of Scotland was against him, calling him a coward. Yet he refused to give into the pressure, stood firm on what he believed, and won a Gold in another race anyway. He then became an absolute hero in Scotland which opened up the door for him to to spread the gospel all of the British Isles. He was this huge celebrity, at his prime, yet he decided to go to China and be a missionary teacher. He met his Canadian wife there.  After being there a few years the Japanese invaded China and Eric was asked to move to another area of China to help in a hospital and preach the gospel there. However it was too dangerous for his wife and daughters to go. So after prayer and consideration, he decided to head off and leave his family to enter this perilous province. He was robbed, shot at, and in constant danger yet manage to spread the love of Christ wherever he went. He and the other missionaries eventually had to leave as the Japanese took over the hospital.

They decided it was too dangerous for his pregnant wife and two daughters to stay in China so they headed back to Canada without Eric. Then Japan bombed Pearl Harbor causing Great Britain and the US to declared war on Japan. So of of course Eric along with all the other missionaries and people from the allied countries became "the enemy." Eric with about 1800 people (including Hudson's Taylor son) were put into an internment camp. They were pretty much left to look after themselves and weren't treated badly, they were even allowed to bring their own beds with them. Food was scare but no one was starving. Eric became "Uncle Eric" there to the many children and youth who he spent so much time with, teaching them, organizing sports, and keeping their moral up. He continued to show the love of Christ through his selflessness to those around him, bringing peace and joy. Six months before the camp was liberated, Eric got sick and died, it seems of brain tumor. He never got to see his youngest daughter, at least not in this life. Throughout the whole book it talks about how people just loved Eric, he was always calm, he never got angry, he always had time for people; a wonderful example of the love of Christ. Certainly a challenge to me! He was so dedicated to what God had called him to do. He could have returned to Canada when his family did but he decided not to. He took his calling seriously!

Now I am wanting to read some of the memoirs of the people that were in the prison camp with Eric, pretty fascinating stuff. My brother and his wife have named all his kids after famous missionaries (William Carey, Amy Carmichael, Elizabeth Elliott). If they get pregnant again, I'm going to recommend Eric Liddell, a truly amazing missionary!