I recently had the opportunity to visit Beaufort, South Carolina, for the annual gathering of State Baptist Foundation Presidents. Amid our meetings, strategy sessions and prayer, we had a bit of time to explore the area’s history. Founded in 1711, Beaufort played significant roles both in the Revolutionary and Civil War due to its location among the Sea Islands. It also played a unique and shameful role in the slave trade. During those difficult days, true heroes like Harriet Tubman and Robert Smalls rose above oppression and sought the freedom and dignity of each person. Every American should commit to learning more about their contributions to our American experience.
As I walked along the tree-lined street of antebellum homes, I began to wonder about the lives of the people who first built them. Unfortunately, only a few homes remain from the 1700s; however, many homes from the 1800s survived, as the town was spared the destruction due to its early capture by the Union.
What were the people like? How did they view the world? While people today would share many things in common, our experiences are still vastly different. From electricity to air conditioning to the internet to travel. My few-hour flight cut days, if not weeks, spanning from the frontier of Missouri to the intercoastal town. (Remember, Louis and Clark, did not begin their journey until almost a century later, in 1804.)
I bet people have changed a considerable amount in your lifetime alone, much less over the multiple centuries. What remains the same is likely the most significant. Yes, the style of architecture comes and goes, fashion trends develop, and even our taste in food (the “low country boil,” the food of the poor, is now found on affluent menus of the well-to-do.). But people’s needs to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ and respond remain the same.
While it was nice to see the homes and other historic buildings preserved, it should be a stark reminder that most who lived in those homes have already begun living eternally in some other home, Heavenly or otherwise. I wonder if they wish they had left more to remind people of eternity rather than their beautiful old mansion.
Am I leaving enough to point others to Jesus? A historic home with my name on it and an old tree I planted long ago might provide some temporary shade and intellectual curiosity on an early April afternoon for a passerby. Still, a gift from my estate could help a child with no family hear about Jesus’ family at our Children’s home. Or provide compassionate care to a senior adult as they get closer to eternity. Maybe a gift to one of our great Missouri Baptist universities who, train a doctor to be guided by their faith and pray with a patient who comes to know Christ before surgery. These will last longer than any old house in Beaufort.