Remembering

Remembering —

Today, April 9, 2011, marks the 16th anniversary of the homegoing of my dear husband, Allen Smith. Though these many years have passed, his memory remains and I wanted to take a moment to recognize his faithful contribution to our family and to the ministry of the Pilgrim Institute. He served this ministry faithfully and at great sacrifice. Though his quiet demeanor often left many, who did not know him well, ignorant of the heart with which he served.

Recently, I came across a journal which he had kept during a visit to Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1983, as we prepared ourselves to lead an historic/literary tour later that year. Not disposed to writing, I enjoyed the depth of appreciation which his words represented and I am sharing a portion here, unedited:

Plymouth Rock — “Not impressively large, physically, it is nonetheless a monumental marker of great significance in the chain ever moving westward. ‘Not much of a rock,’ was a fellow visitor’s comment. This was promptly followed with ‘one of them must have stepped hard on it to make that crack in it.’ Thus within the first few moments of reaching that historic site, I was aware that many Americans are disappointed in the physical size of the monument and simultaneously either unaware of or untouched by the historic import of the place. From there we crossed the street and ascended the stone step up the side of the hill to the first burying ground of our forefathers. When mentally reviewing the records from that historic first winter and then seeing the granite sarcophagus in which the collected bones of those first pilgrim victims repose, I am made humbly grateful that their faith could envision and bring to be a small ‘stepping stone as it were’ on the pathway to a settlement, a colony and finally a nation filled with the greatest liberties ever yet held by mankind. On that granite monument are the names of those who, having reached an unknown continent, yet were not long permitted to enjoy the bounty that dominion over that portion of earth would surely have been theirs in the years that were in time to follow. They had given their property, efforts and ultimately their lives to obtain a place for a new nation to be formed.”

Yes, it took great sacrifice to produce this nation and, in retrospect, I realize that it takes great sacrifice to establish a ministry, but I am grateful for God’s goodness in giving me this godly husband for some 36 years and the vision which we shared for restoration of this great nation, America. My prayer is that God will continue to bless and that God’s Hand of Providence will be remembered in our nation and in each individual life who may read these musings. — Ruth Smith