An Opportunity For Christian Fellowship
A recent letter from Brother Joe H. Blue of Salem Arkansas, contains this paragraph:
"My wife has been bedfast for eight months. She is very weak. She can't turn herself in bed. I think I am having the hardest time of my life. I am having a great burden."
That statement was not written for publication. It was not a call for help nor an effort to arouse pity upon the part of the brethren that they might pour thousands of dollars into an extended hand. It is a simple statement of fact in a personal letter.
Brother Blue is one of our worthy veterans of the Cross. His life has always been above reproach. His preaching has always been faithful and true to The Book. He has upheld the truth in perhaps as many debates as any living man. He has preached in many small and weak places. He has never promoted nor exalted himself before the brethren or the world or sought notoriety or published glowing tributes about himself and his work. Always courageous, sacrificing, and humble, he has done a vast amount of good for the Cause of Christ and patiently awaited his reward over on the other side.
Brother Blue's wife has borne much of the burden of his life and work. She has stayed at home, reared the family, run the farm very largely, and kept things going while Brother Blue went out to preach the word. Always she has encouraged him to go and always he has known that he could count on her to "keep the home fires burning" without any fuss or coddling.
Brother Blue is now aged, and his companion has been helpless in bed requiring his constant care. As he has tirelessly and tenderly cared for her these many months, never leaving her side, his calm faith in God has never wavered; but on the contrary has been an inspiration and a blessing to all who have known the situation. I do not know what his financial status is, but I do know that he is living on what little savings he may have had or what help he receives. He is not drawing a pension or salary from any source. His work in life is very largely done. He has no prospects of any great beneficence. He is not whining or complaining nor is he asking for help.
In this very letter he sent along $6.00 to renew his subscription to the Gospel Guardian for two years. Well — I am sending his $6.00 back to him and paying for the subscription myself and in addition I am sending him a small personal remembrance for what he has meant to me since I first met him and heard him defend the truth in a country school house in northeast Arkansas in 1926. I am telling our readers this because I feel that among them there are those who have known and loved Brother Blue that will want to do likewise. It isn't a call for charity — he probably doesn't need that — but it is a call for an expression of appreciation to him and his good wife for the sacrifices they have made, the hardships they have endured, and the faithfulness of their service to the Cause of the Master through all of these years. Will you join me?