Finding True
Happiness
June 23, 2003
On December 17, 1850, Captain Allen Gardiner and
six companions landed at Patagonia on the southern tip of South
America. They had made that long journey to bring the gospel to
a people so primitive that evolutionist Charles Darwin said they
existed "in a lower state than in any other part of the world."
Gardiner had prepared himself and his crew for the
mission. He had made two previous visits to the region and knew
that the natives were ruthless cannibals and the weather
treacherous.
The team included a doctor, carpenter, and a
half-years supply of food and other goods. His supporters in
England had committed to send a relief ship of food after six
months.
But something Gardiner hadn't counted on went
wrong. The month after his departure a ship to carry the next
six months provisions couldn't be found. No one wanted to make
such a dangerous journey.
On the frigid tip of South America, the
missionaries carried out their work. As supplies ran low they
began to scan the horizon for the sign of an approaching ship .
. . it never arrived. At least, not while they lived.
Those men faced a terrible test. Alone, in a hostile
environment, without food or other supplies, hunger and death
taunted them. Yet, they learned a lesson most of us never know.
When a relief ship finally arrived, the disappointed crew found
the missionaries dead of starvation. Clad in three suits and
with wool stockings over his arm to ward off the numbing cold,
Gardiner's emaciated body was found lying beside a boat.
What had that English missionary thought during
those first horrifying days? Had the horrible trial destroyed
his faith? Were his dying days filed with nothing but pain? At
one point he wrote, "Poor and weak as we are, we feel and know
that God is here. Asleep or awake, I am, beyond all power of
expression, happy."
Captain Gardiner lacked all of the things we so
often associate with happiness. Yet, he said, he was beyond
expression, "Happy."
He knew what we must learn. True fulfillment,
happiness, and abundant life are not tied to a life of luxury
and ease.
James the half-brother of Jesus tells us that God
gives true internal joy and abundant life to those who persevere
through trials. He wrote, "Blessed is the man who perseveres
under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive
the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him"
(James 1:12).
The "crown" of life referred to the experience of
abundant life. It talked about experiencing God's life in a
special way during hardship. It also spoke of a reward given to
believers in the next life. Those who trust in God during
hardship will not only be able to experience God's life in the
here and now but in the hereafter.
Allen Gardner discovered the secret of true
happiness during the most difficult trial of his life. And so
can we. It's found in the knowledge that weak as we are, God is
here.
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