Men & Women of Faith: Eric Liddell

February's man of faith is Eric Liddell! Here is a visual of the letter that I sent to each child:

Here is the text of the letter I sent:

My dear Name,

Greetings in the name of Jesus. How are you and your family? We're doing well, thanks to God! The next story I would like to share with you is about Eric Liddell. One of Eric Liddell's favorite verses is 1 Samuel 2:30, "Those who honor me I will honor."

Eric Henry Liddell was born on the 16 January 1902 in the city of Tientsin (now Tianjin) in north-eastern China, the son of missionary parents working from Scotland. In the early 1920s, Liddell established himself as one of Scotland's top runners, regularly scooping not only the Scottish 100- and 220-yard sprinting tiles, but also in the 440-yard contests. This success made Liddell certain for inclusion in the British Olympic squad which set sail for Paris in 1924, and although he was strongly fancied as a contender in the 100 metres event, he was not destined to race in this, his strongest event. Due to his religious principles, Liddell refused to run in the 100m heats, which were held on a Sunday (Liddell instead spent that particular Sabbath preaching in the Scots Church in Paris). Instead, the he elected to run in 400 metres, a distance in which he was a good performer, but certainly not his forte. Liddell, however, was ready for the challenge, and, after sportingly shaking the hands of each of his competitors, the "Flying Scotsman" was off. An impeccable run saw the Scot not only collecting gold by a margin of some six metres, but also setting a world record of 47.6 seconds in the process. After his Olympic triumph Liddell threw himself headlong into missionary work, returning to China in 1925, to Tientsin, where he was ordained a minister in 1932. He married Florence Mackenzie two years later, with whom he had three daughters. With the Japanese invasion of China in 1937, Eric was now in Siaochang - occupied territory. In 1943 Liddell was interned by the Japanese authorities in a camp at Weishien. Life in the internment camp was hard, under a brutal regime. Some inmates, mainly oil company executives, managed to bribe the guards into receiving extra rations and luxury goods. Liddell shamed them into sharing these with the rest of the camp inmates. Unfortunately, Liddell was not destined to survive the war. He suffered a brain tumor shortly before the war's end, and died in the camp.

Love,
Hannah

For photos, I googled Eric Liddell's name and found some photos to include with the letter! And I also found a map of China to share with the kids.

Feel free to copy and paste this letter to your kids also!