Getting to Know Your Hero

We all want a chance to meet our heros. But, probably not like this.

Ian Shaw tells the story of Andrew Reed, who was profoundly affected by George Whitefield and had the opportunity to visit his gravesite.

"In England Reed had preached from pulpits in which Whitefield himself had stood, seen his books and sat on his chairs, but none of this was to prepare him for just how close to Whitefield he was to find himself in America. His party was led down into the vault in which Whitefield was buried, where stood three coffins, that of Whitefield in the middle. His host, as was the custom of the time, then slid back the lid and there before his eyes was the skeleton of George Whitefield himself, Reed's great hero of his youth. He had hardly recovered from his surprise at this sight when his host leant into the coffin, lifted out Whitefield's skull, and handed it to Andrew Reed as the honoured guest! With characteristic understatement, Reed recorded his shock: "I could say nothing, but thought and feeling were busy."

(The Greatest is Charity, p.152)