Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Achievement (03/08/12)
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TITLE: Well Done, Good and Faithful Servant! | Previous Challenge Entry
By Jennifer Porter
03/15/12 -
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I was raised by a humanist mother and atheist father and my greatest teenage rebellion was asking Jesus to reside in my heart! If I had shaved my head and dyed my skin green, my open-minded parents would have been more accepting of their youngest daughter. That is another story.
I started researching my family’s genealogy about five years ago and got hooked. At first it appeared my mother’s paternal line was completely faithless, and I was thankful for God’s grace that plucked me from this Faithless tree.
Then, my investigation led me to my fourth great-grandfather and I saw true achievement! By the world’s standards, James Burd Patterson was successful in every way. It was however, when I discovered his obituary and personal testimony that I recognized true and lasting achievement in the heavenly realms.
Burd was born to into a wealthy and powerful Quaker family on his mother’s side. He developed the process of mining under lakes and because of this he became a very wealthy man in his own right. On the surface, he was an ordinary man who happened to be rich, but it was what he did in private that defines his achievement on this earth as heavenly bounty.
He built a six-thousand square foot house over a small stream, when asked why, he replied, “It is the best way to keep perishables cold.” The basement was an odd shaped maze with stone-faced walls. Only the runaway slaves and his wife knew that beyond the iron grate was a path that led to freedom!
It is Burd’s obituary that really set this ancestor apart. As a wealthy man, he did not strive to be personally exalted, he did not brag about his generosity. After a short chest cold, he died suddenly and the whole town turned out to mourn.
A young man got up and said, “I was told never to reveal this to anyone, but Mr. Patterson recognized my gift with numbers and said… “Son, you will never work in the mines again.” He said, “I intend to pay for your schooling, but you are to share this information with no one.” The accountant looked at the crowd and began to cry; proud that he’d kept Patterson’s secret. What this accountant didn’t know was that everyone Burd helped was there to share his or her own story.
One after another, dozens of people had similar stories. He had used his wealth to help orphans, widows, hospitals and schools, but always kept his actions in secret. Every single person came to the funeral to share their story, thinking they were the only one who benefited personally from this man. It was only on his death that his generosity was revealed.
I was nervous about researching this man, I expected an evil tyrant, after all, he was rich! In fact, even his wife and children did not know about his secret generosity until his death. Moreover, they were angry that he frittered away their money on this lower class of people instead of leaving it to his own family!
My family did not honor this grandfather with stories of his generosity; he was forgotten.
In the end, J. Burd Patterson does not have a town named after him, a school, or even a street. If you see BURD or PATTERSON, it is another family member who gained that honor by preening for the cameras. What remains is his home, built specifically to help runaway slaves through Pottsville, Pennsylvania, complete with a small plaque.
His Granddaughter, my great-grandmother Anna Marie, ran away with a handsome scheming charlatan, who got her pregnant with the hopes that he would cash in on her fortune. Instead, she was disowned completely and was bitter until the day she died. Thus, my mother’s family went through a season without God, without his restorative grace.
When I came to Christ at the age of seventeen, I was a freak. But today, thirty-five years later I can thankfully say that most of my family has come to Christ; even my ‘open minded’ parents.
As I have continued my research, I found some embarrassing skeletons right along side those who have stored up their treasures in heaven. I look forward to meeting these saints one day and hope one day my Lord will look me in the eye and say, “Well done, good and faithful servant”.
All True!
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