My story starts when I turned awkwardly to look at the new score board in the nearby University Arena, someplace where we have regularly attended various athletic events for the past 17 years. Our current season started in August, and we were there. The announcer was introducing the glorious new score board, and the thousands in attendance all looked at it as the lights came on. I was sitting directly under and somewhat to the side of the new score board, and when I stretched my neck to see it I knew right away I had hurt myself.

That was eight months ago, and I have struggled with my neck and the discomfort it has since presented everyday. I have been to all kinds of doctors and trainers, prayed for relief as have others on my behalf, and while I am somewhat better, I have not had complete deliverance from my woes. I simply hurt all the time, just a dull ache that transverses my shoulders and my neck. The pain never goes totally away.

The discomfort climaxed in January when my wife took me to the ER around 1:00 AM one night. They took some X-rays, gave me an injection of morphine, a prescription for valium, and sent us home where I slept for two weeks. As that season came to an end, I found that I had lost all my leg strength, and that I could not stand. My balance was gone, and I was in danger of falling— I did fall five times.

I weigh more than I should, and more than my wife can lift, so she needed help to get me upright or seated. My wife somehow came up with two men to lift me each time I fell. She followed that up with a wheel chair, then a walker as I started to improve, a chair for the shower and a cane. Now I walk almost like I always did.

My plight meant I needed help for the simplest things, and I watched with gratitude and admiration as my wife assumed the responsibility to provide all I needed. That included getting into the shower with me and washing me. This went on for three or four weeks.

We have been married a long time, and I wondered what I would have done without my bride who took care of me with a tender grace—an expression of care that meant I was important. Jesus told us about the difference between a shepherd and a hireling. I get to talk to people about their lives and marriages, and I have experienced the value of a spouse who cares. We have one daughter who lives on the island near us, and she told me that she thought she was losing her dad, that I was on my deathbed. My wife told me she too believed that I was dying.

God was gracious, and has restored me almost back to where I was before they lit up that scoreboard. While I now expect full restoration, I experienced some significant learning in this incident.

I learned how valuable, wonderful and good it is to have someone who cares for you when you are down, when there is a crisis and you need help. I urge you not to wait until crisis comes, but to begin to express that caring for your spouse starting right now and by so doing, to build a relationship that will reward both of you all day everyday.

Leona Choy, Andrew & Emma Murray: An Intimate Portrait of Their Marriage and Ministry (Winchester, Virginia: Golden Morning Publishing, 2000), 269 pages.

This book did not disappoint me. Historical biographies that are both easy reading and entertaining are, after a hard day’s work, to be valued. This is one such biography. Written in a style that is both popular and easy to digest, it is at the same time a book that leads the reader into an ever deepening appreciation and admiration of the subjects, the Rev. Andrew Murray and his wife Emma. No reader should be afraid of this book. It is accessible and understandable to anyone who can read.

Before absorbing this book, my knowledge of Andrew Murray was only fleeting: I had read one of his books, but was aware of little about him. Leona Choy’s work so captured my interest that it drew me onto the internet, where a few of Murray’s works are freely available, and this has led me into a treasure trove of rich, spiritual Christian writing at the hands of this leader of the South African church and “higher life” movement at the beginning of the twentieth century. Murray’s works have a devotional depth and love of Scripture that make them an invaluable for Christians today, especially for those wishing to engage with issues of spiritual renewal who come from a Reformed background.

This engaging biography has an invaluable appendix containing a bibliographical listing of Andrew Murray’s works. To be fully recommended as both an entertaining and edifying read.

Reviewed by James Purves