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A Night in the Chestnut Tree, John G. Paton
Out of all our experiences on this earth, none will transform us like that of being met by Christ in the midst of our pain, our fear, our need. John G. Paton describes one such occasion he experienced while fleeing the clubs of the natives who sought to take his life: “I climbed into the tree, and was left there alone in the bush. The hours I spent there live all before me as if it were but of yesterday. I heard the frequent discharge of muskets, and the yells of the savages. Yet I sat there among the branches, as safe in the arms of Jesus! Never, in all…
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The Fringes of Victory, John G. Paton
Does loss haunt you? Does it cause you to be insecure about your relationship to God? John G. Paton (1824-1907) suffered losses beyond the experience of most. A month after establishing a mission station in the heart of the warring and human flesh eating people of the islands of Vanuatu, his wife died from complications of malaria. Two weeks after his wife’s death, his newborn son also died. Alone but for native helpers, Paton suffered great losses for the next three years: bouts of malaria, constant death threats, frequent native wars, a serious outbreak of measles purposely brought by a sandalwood trader to the islands to wipe out the natives,…
