Be Still, My Soul

Be Still, My Soul

He ran the race set before him.

ON FRIDAY, July 11, 1924, twenty-one-year-old Eric Liddell won the four-hundred-meter dash at the Paris Olympics, as chronicled in the Academy Award-winning movie Chariots of Fire. The next year he went to China to teach at the Anglo-Chinese College at Tientsin.

In 1937 Eric began working in Siaochang, traveling back and forth to Tientsin to be with his family. In 1941, sensing that the political climate was changing, Eric believed it was no longer safe for his family to remain in China. He sent his wife, Florence, who was expecting their third child, and their two daughters back to her parents’ home in Canada. On March 12, 1943, Eric and hundreds of other “enemy nationals” were interned at a Japanese prisoner of war camp at Weihsien in Shantung Province.

About eighteen hundred people lived in the camp with buildings in shambles and streets littered with beds, radiators, desks, and more. The soup line stretched for seventy yards and typically entailed a forty-five minute wait. There were roll calls twice a day, but in between the prisoners were allowed to organize regular activities such as entertainment programs and church services.

Soon after Eric arrived at Weihsien, three hundred students from the Chefoo School of the China Inland Mission, all separated from their parents, arrived at the prison. These children became Eric’s focus. He organized a school in the prison camp for the children and served as their mentor.

Among Eric’s official tasks were teaching math and science at the school, administering camp athletics, and acting as chief translator. He was also a warden for 230 unattached men, women, boys, and girls, which meant he was responsible for their presence at roll call.

In January 1945 he began having debilitating headaches and went to the camp hospital. The doctors said the headaches were likely caused by influenza or severe sinusitis and sent him back to his living quarters. Annie Buchan, a nurse and longtime friend of Eric and his wife, had him readmitted to the hospital, where he began having severe neurological symptoms: halting speech and partial paralysis of his right leg. Even though they suspected that he might have a brain tumor, the doctors treated him for a stroke. He showed some signs of improvement.

Then on February 21, 1945, he had a spasm of choking and coughing. Later in the evening he had another attack and was attended by a doctor. Eric’s friend Annie Buchan checked in on him. After observing him, she went to the next room where doctors were discussing Eric and said, “Do you realize Eric is dying?” They replied, “Nonsense.” Annie returned to Eric’s side and took him in her arms as he whispered, “Annie, it’s complete surrender.” As she watched with tears streaming down her face, he had a convulsion, then slipped into a coma and into the arms of Jesus. An autopsy the next day revealed that Eric had an inoperable tumor on the left side of his brain. He was only forty-three.

Ten days later the Weihsien prisoners held a memorial service for Eric. After his death a slip of paper was found. On his last afternoon he had written the first line of his favorite hymn, “Be Still, My Soul,” on it. The mourners sang it together.

Be still, my soul! The Lord is on thy side;

Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;

Leave to thy God to order and provide;

In every change He faithful will remain.

Be still, my soul! thy best, thy heavenly Friend

Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

Be still, my soul! the hour is hastening on

When we shall be forever with the Lord,

When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,

Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored.

Be still, my soul! when change and tears are past,

All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

Reflection

How do you react to the emergencies and tragedies of life? Are you able to rest in the fact that God is in control and that he does all things well?

Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act.

Psalm 37:7