The hardest book I ever read

I recently sat down to read a book that was highly recommended by a good friend. I don't know that I would have ever picked this book to read, myself, but as it was given to me I felt I ought to read it.

The book I am talking about is Give Us This Day by Sidney Stewart. It is the true story of a survivor of the Bataan Death March.

It took me a couple days to get past the first page or two, but then I was drawn in with a vengeance. It took the better part of a day to read the remainder of the book. I could not put it down. But OH how I cried!

I was warned that it was a hard read. It is most definitely NOT for the faint of heart. The night after I read it I could not sleep. My mind simply would not be quiet. It had too much to talk about and discuss with me.

It is an incredible story. I was profoundly moved by the underlying story of faith that carried this man through this horrendous experience.

Thank you, jb, it was/is a really good book!

"Sometimes, son, men know not what they do. They cannot help sometimes when they lose faith in themselves, sometimes even in God. But God is just. Your God is a just God."

---Father Cummings

Suddenly I felt stronger again. I reached over and touched [my friend's] body. It was growing cold now. I looked down at his face. It was strange to me that I had not noticed how very thin he had become, how sunken his cheeks were. He had suffered, he had wanted to live. He had been good, always kind and good. I looked up, closing my eyes, and I could feel God about me. I knew that God forgave him.

Christ's own words came to me like whisper:

'My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me!'

All at once I knew that God had taken [him] home. God was good.
----excerpts from Give Us This Day