Friday - February 10, 2017

Woodlawn Family Bible Study
FRIDAY

BIBLE READING:  John 15:13

 Ernest Gordon wrote a book entitled, Through the Valley of the Kwai, a true-account of the World War II Japanese prison camp that the movie Bridge Over the River Kwai was based on. In the prison camp, which housed Americans, Australians, and Britain's, there was a Scottish prisoner by the name of Angus McGillivray. The camp itself had become a very vicious area. Men would cheat each other and steal from each other. Men that slept on their packs would have them stolen out from under their heads. It was survival of the fittest, until the news of Angus McGillivray passed through camp.

 Being a Scottish soldier, Angus was part of a system that was taken very seriously. Each Scottish soldier had a buddy in camp called a “mucker.” They believed that each one of them were literally responsible for his mucker surviving the prison camp. Angus’s mucker, though, was dying, and everyone had given up on him. Everyone, that is, but Angus. Someone had stolen his mucker’s blanket, so Angus gave him his and told him that he had “just come across an extra one.” Angus would take his food rations to his buddy and force him to eat them, all the while telling him that he was able to get some extra.

 As Angus’s mucker began to recover, Angus collapsed, slumped over, and died.  Doctors discovered that he had died of starvation complicated by exhaustion. He had given everything he had for his friend. His food, his shelter, and even his life. As word of     Angus’s death circulated, the men began to focus on his fellow man. They all began to pool their talents and create a university, a hospital, a library system, and an orchestra. It helped all of them survive.

 We often talk about the scripture that tells us that there is no greater love that one can have for another but to lay down his life for his friend. We always picture it as dying for someone, but Angus lived in a way that he did little things that put his friend first. It eventually ended with him laying down his life.  

 Application: What little things are you doing today, or tomorrow to show your love for your family, your friends, and your Christian brethren?

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