The Final Race

by Eric T. Eichinger

  [112] Mary Taylor Previte, “A Song of Salvation at Weihsien Prison Camp,” Weihsien Picture Gallery, August 25, 1985, http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/Mprevite/inquirer/MPrevite.htm.

  [113] David McCasland, Eric Liddell: Pure Gold: A New Biography of the Olympic Champion Who Inspired Chariots of Fire (Grand Rapids, MI: Discovery House, 2001), 286.

  [114] D. P. Thomson, Eric H. Liddell: Athlete and Missionary (Barnoak, Crieff, Perthshire, Scotland: Research Unit, 1971), 212.

  [115] Eric Liddell, The Disciplines of the Christian Life (New York: Ballantine Books, 1985), 120–21.

  CHAPTER 27

  A LIDDELL EPILOGUE

  I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God.

  Job 19:25-26

  A WEEK INTO HER KNOWN WIDOWHOOD, Florence summoned the strength to write back to the London Missionary Society. She knew she had to move forward. She had three precious little ones to consider, and she knew what Eric would have expected of her. She wrote to Mr. Cocker-Brown:

  Dear Mr. Cocker-Brown:

  It is over a week since Dr. Armstrong and Mr. King came to break the news to me that you had sent by cable. I wanted to write before this to thank you for your sympathy and that of the L.M.S. Fellowship which you also extended to me in that cable.

  It was a stunning blow and I still can hardly believe it, but I have been very conscious of the prayers and thoughts of countless friends over in England and Scotland and here too.

  My first reaction was, “That is why he has been so near me lately.” I have dreamt more about Eric in the last few weeks than I have all the rest of the time I have been home. Every time (in the dreams) he was here we were all terribly happy and everything was so vivid. My reaction was “That is just wishful thinking getting the better of you.”

  Then in making plans for the summer and autumn I seemed to come up against a stone wall. Plans that seemed excellent at first seemed to get blocked. I don’t know when I have been so conscious of a restraining hand and I simply couldn’t understand it. I felt sure there was going to be some change in plans but I couldn’t see what.

  The thought flashed into my mind, “Could it be that Eric is really coming home and we may have to go over to England to meet him? No that’s wishful thinking again.” Never once did I have any premonition of this and even after I knew I was so vividly conscious of Eric being happy. I could just see his sunny smile and twinkling eyes.

  It has been a strange and wonderful experience. At times I have been numbed and overwhelmed by a sense of unreality—of pain—of fear for the future and then there has come welling up from within that power of faith which has carried me through. My faith has been wonderfully strengthened. In looking back I have so much to be thankful for. God has provided so wonderfully—we have been so happy and I know that He is working out his purpose and that good can come out of even this.

  I have been overwhelmed by the kindness and thoughtfulness of my own immediate family—relations, friends, China friends, and people I don’t even know.

  My heart aches for Jenny, Rob, and Ernest. I wish they could have been at the Memorial Service that we had last Saturday. Beautiful, sincere tributes were paid to Eric by Mr. King who was repatriated from Weihsien and by Mr. Faichney who was the Minister in Union Church, Tientsin, for five years and was a great friend of ours.

  I have just been hearing today of tributes paid to Eric’s memory in several of the churches here on Sunday.

  Please forgive me for rambling on like this. I have never had the pleasure of meeting you but I always remember how highly Eric spoke of you and how he enjoyed his visit in your home in June ’40 while on deputation in the South of England.

  I just wanted you and the other friends to know that I have been very conscious of your prayers and sympathies but you must not grieve for us.

  I feel that Eric and I had as much happiness in our few short years together as many couples have in a whole lifetime and I thank God for the privilege of being Eric’s wife.

  I only hope that the children (they have been perfectly sweet and such a comfort to me) will take after Eric and follow in their Master’s Footsteps.

  Yours sincerely,

  Florence Liddell[116]

  By autumn of 1945—mere months after Eric’s fellow prisoners at Weihsien had been liberated by American allies—Florence had begun to move confidently in Christ, following in her “Master’s Footsteps.” Eric’s life insurance policies and his LMS pensions had been sorted out. Florence set her eyes toward nursing again, determined to be the best mother she could be for her and Eric’s three daughters.

  At that time, when multitudes of women in North America were busy greeting their husbands, now home from the war, Florence received one last envelope from the Canadian Red Cross Society. A chill came over her as she gathered the strength to open it. She knew it would most likely be the last communiqué she would receive from her beloved Eric.

  Her intuition was correct.

  Dear Mrs. Liddell,

  We are enclosing three Red Cross messages, which have just been received in this office.

  We felt sure that you would want to have these messages in spite of the distress they would cause you.

  Yours sincerely,

  Miss M. E. Breckenridge[117]

  Enclosed were Eric’s final three communications to Florence. Trembling, she found her favorite chair, then sat to examine them.

  AUGUST 24TH, 1944

  Large airy room with eleven others. Healthy, enjoying some reading. Constantly remember and picture you all. Dearest love to all, everything sufficient. Longing for you, love.

  Eric.[118]

  Florence placed the first one to the side, then opened the second.

  AUGUST 27TH, 1944

  I have received some of your letters and have news up to January. The hot summer is over, we are enjoying the cooler autumn already. I constantly picture you all. This may reach you at or near the anniversary of your father’s death. You will know that my thoughts and prayers will be with you—and especially with Mother. Give her my special love. I see Tricia, cycling, swimming and skating, and Heather following fast in her footsteps. I wish I could hear them read to me! Maureen,—I long to see her—She looks fine in the snaps. I long for you Dearest—and the time when we shall start a home together again. May it be soon!

  Love, Eric.[119]

  Then, finally, she began to read the post Eric had painstakingly managed to get to her the day he passed from life to glory.

  FEBRUARY 21ST, 1945

  Was carrying too much responsibility. Slight nervous breakdown. Am much better after month’s rest in hospital. Doctor suggests changing my work. Giving up teaching and athletics and taking on physical work like baking. A good change. So glad to get your letter of July. Mrs. Longman is much better. Bear and Nelma making preparations for marriage on April 18. Will send particulars later. Wish you could enter into the celebrations. Joyce Stranks has been a great help to me in hospital, keeping me in touch with the news. Enjoying comfort parcels. Special love to yourself and children.

  Eric Henry Liddell.[120]

  Florence couldn’t help but see that the last bit of correspondence had been dated the very day Eric entered eternal rest, the day he had somehow found the strength to walk to the post.

  She reread the final correspondences from her husband, imagining him as he penned them, wrapped in the hope of their seeing each other again.

  And so they would.

  She slipped the letters back into the envelope they’d come in, then sat back in her chair and pondered the intimacies of the Master they shared.

  And his promises. Each and every one.

  [116] David McCasland, Eric Liddell: Pure Gold: A New Biography of the Olympic Champion Who Inspired Chariots of Fire (Grand Rapids, MI: Discovery House, 2001), 289–90.

  [117] M. E. Breckenridge to Florence Liddell, unpublished lett
er, October 16, 1945.

  [118] Eric Liddell to Florence Liddell, unpublished letter, August 24, 1944.

  [119] Eric Liddell to Florence Liddell, unpublished letter, August 27, 1944.

  [120] Eric Liddell to Florence Liddell, unpublished letter, February 21, 1945.

  EPILOGUE

  THE FINAL 100: THE RACE BEFORE US

  WHILE SERVING AS A MISSIONARY, Eric received a letter from a friend in Britain inquiring what type of books he would like to be sent for him to read. Eric responded, “The kind of books I would like most would be, biographical. There are a lot of small books like that, biographies about great men. I think that kind of book always helps one most to do better.”

  What Eric couldn’t have realized at the time was that he was becoming one of those “great men” or that his story would inspire countless others to indeed “do better”—to run the final race in such a way as to win a much greater prize.

  Many have been inspired by Eric’s captivating life and ministry—including me. As an eight-year-old Christian possessing the same first name as that of the Flying Scotsman and sharing a zeal for running, I became an instant fanatic of Eric Liddell by watching Chariots of Fire. I thought the parallels ended there, yet at that time my race had barely begun. Amazingly enough, I also happened to run collegiately. I served in my church’s youth ministry, and I served as a missionary in China, where, like Eric, I met my wife. I went on to study theology and ultimately became a pastor and a writer.

  As such, it has been one of the absolute highlights of my life to meet and communicate with some of Eric Liddell’s family, including his three daughters. I will never forget trading stories with them over lunch while looking into their eyes, which had once looked into his. Because I believe we need more people in the world who value the level of sacrifice, humility, integrity, and general churchmanship that Eric Liddell possessed, carrying the torch of his story is a particularly important leg of my race. His life pointed to Christ in a steady, unique, and powerful way, and perhaps, somewhere, there is another eight-year-old who needs to learn that.

  The legacy of Eric Liddell is the legacy of all Christians—to run their own race of faith and to share that faith as best they can, passing the burning torch to the next runner. Each runner from generation to generation runs in his or her own way, as each Christian faces a unique set of circumstances.

  Our final race is before us with a great prize realized within the forgiveness of sins and eternal life that abounds for all through the death and resurrection of Christ. The cost counted through the race of faith is entirely worth it, if for no other reason than to see a glimpse of the multitude of lives that are eternally saved by grace as a result along the way. Yet there are many hurdles we face and obstacles we need to train for, just as Eric did.

  Eric Liddell’s many challenges would have been much more difficult had he not prepared for them. His early life in boarding school apart from his family prepared him for his missionary years separated from his wife and children. His reluctance to embrace fame enabled him to endure solitude on the mission field. His openness to other strains of Christian thought, particularly of the Oxford Group, gifted him with flexibility to loosen his rigid grip on legalism and ease tension in the internment camp. Eric didn’t always know how his decisions of the moment would impact the race he ran, but in each moment, by seeking to live a “God-controlled life,” he was able to run well even when he was surrounded by trouble and uncertainty.

  Eric’s obedient witness of Christ’s grace serves as a reminder to us when we face our own times of increasing trouble and uncertainty. Through the strengthening of faith in Christ, we too are able to build our stamina and run with purpose toward the finish line of our own races. Every race demands training, and the race of our lives is no different. As the apostle Paul reminds us, “Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly” (1 Corinthians 9:25-26). An imperishable prize awaits those who run well. So just as Eric prepared—even without realizing it, by being fed in the faith and through his continual acts of faithfulness—let us “press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14).

  And the man who ran so well and revered the Lord’s Sabbath rests with one last treasure of truth for us—the eternal eighth day Sabbath, which helps us prepare in our own race and keep our eyes on the ultimate prize amid the unique challenges we face in such times as we are called.

  In the book of Genesis, the description of the first six days of Creation is completed in the saying, “There was evening and there was morning.” Yet on the seventh day, a Saturday—the Sabbath day—this phrase is not used. There is morning, but there is no mention of evening. God begins resting, and the reader is left in suspense. The seventh-day Sabbath’s rest is only fulfilled much later—when Christ himself rested in the tomb. Jesus Christ, who takes the place of all sinful mankind from the first Adam, becomes the second Adam. Christ died on a Friday, the sixth day; he rested in the tomb on the seventh day; and he rose again on Easter Sunday, completing the seventh day, thereby beginning an eternal “eighth day.” Sunday the eighth day becomes a new Sabbath day for worship in which we await Christ’s ultimate return—a day that will have no end.

  Some today have called Eric Liddell a martyr, yet that designation isn’t quite accurate. While no one would dispute Eric’s character or that he died during his missionary work, Eric Liddell succumbed to natural causes, not hostile forces ending his life because of his Christian faith.

  Besides, Eric was never one for noble titles.

  Martyr or not, Eric Liddell is at rest, but his race goes on. The Christian message and the missionary legacy he carried was handed off to him by previous runners. He ran with it well, then faithfully passed the baton, inspiring countless other saints to do the same.

  Eric Liddell’s God and Master, Jesus Christ, is the firstborn of the dead, and he will deliver this same promise of a resurrection and everlasting life to all who believe and rest in him upon his final return. This is the hope in which Eric spent his life. A hope he confessed in the creeds tens of thousands of times throughout his life and taught in innumerable ways to any and all who would listen.

  He who has ears, let him hear.

  Rev. Eric Eichinger

  AFTERWORD

  When you speak of me, give the glory to my master, Jesus Christ.

  Eric Liddell

  Eric Liddell touched and inspired many people throughout his life, and he continues to do so. Eric’s life was a race, and though it concluded all too soon, his message of Christ’s love and grace was passed on to more people than he could have possibly imagined. The legacy he carried did not die, for it was not his alone; it had been passed down to him. He merely offered his best, sprinted forward full tilt with it, and handed off the relay baton to the next waiting runner to carry on. In 1981 the incredible bombshell film Chariots of Fire was nominated for seven Oscars and won four of them, including Best Picture and Best Original Score. It thrust Eric Liddell back into circles of relevance and influence in dramatic form. Today, he and Florence—both with the Lord—have three children, nine grandchildren, and fifteen great-grandchildren.

  Florence Liddell took several years with her three daughters in Toronto, Canada, slowly and steadily trying to heal from the tragic loss of their beloved Eric. She continued working as a nurse. Eventually she remarried, to Murray Hall, a widower himself. Their marriage produced another daughter, Jeannie. Murray died in 1969, leaving Florence with feelings of loneliness once again, yet Eric remained in her heart. Florence made a few visits back to Scotland to see Eric’s relatives. She died at peace in 1984.

  Rob Liddell continued as a surgeon in Scotland with Ria and their children, James Ralph and Peggy. Both children became doctors as well. Rob was naturally well-liked and successful in his professional life in Scotland, but in 1958, Rob and Ria moved to Australia, where James R
alph was working in medicine. Peggy remained in Scotland and proved to be instrumental and supportive with assisting the start of the Eric Liddell Centre.

  Jenny Liddell Somerville and Ernest Liddell both remained in Edinburgh all their days. Jenny happily married and had two daughters, Rosemary and Joan, in addition to her stepchildren. Her daughter Joan has said that her mother was always very supportive of her famous brother’s running, and it bothered her how she was portrayed in Chariots of Fire. Ernest endured a head injury during World War II. Though it plagued him the rest of his life, he did marry and had a daughter, Susan, who lives in Edinburgh.

  Patricia, Heather, and Maureen Liddell, the three daughters of Eric and Florence Liddell, continue to reside in the surrounding metropolitan area of Toronto, Canada. They all unitedly and yet uniquely testify of their parents’ special love for each other as well as of Eric’s exuberant charm and missional heart for people. During their early years, they experienced understandable grief over the absence of their father. While they were delighted about the surprise success of Chariots of Fire, they would have gladly traded it for a childhood spent with their loving father. One by one, as they heard some of the amazing stories of how he touched the lives of so many youth from the Weihsien camp, they grew to understand his being there. In time, they received the opportunity, through a Day of Discovery documentary trip back to China hosted by historical author David McCasland, to walk in the very footsteps of their parents. The documentary film inadvertently brought great peace and healing.

  David Patrick Thomson retired from full-time ministry in 1966. The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland remembers him as “one of the outstanding leaders of the Church in this generation.” D. P. authored many books, two specifically about Eric. He died in 1974 and is still regarded as Scotland’s Evangelist.