He died for me, a man said at a boy’s grave

27 07 2013

For many years after the Civil War an Illinois farmer used to visit a soldier’s grave at Nashville, Tennessee, tending it and planting flowers with much devotion every day. If some stranger asked him: Is that your boy?’ he would answer: ‘No, he just lived in our town. You see, when the war came I had seven small children, and my wife was not strong. I was drafted for the army, there was nobody to carry on the farm, and they would have nearly starved without me. We were in terrible trouble about it, and the very day I was going to report at camp my neighbour’s boy came and offered to go to the war for me. He said he had nobody depending on him, so he could go better than me. He went, and was wounded at Chickamanga, and died here in the hospital. This is his grave.’

Then he would point to a rough inscription, which he had cut with his own hand on the tombstone: He died for me.
Christians are a bit like the Illinois farmer. They believe that Christ died for them. Thus, they in turn, live for Christ.