Mercy

This unusual story of Samuel August Maverick was told by the Ripley's Believe It or Not people. This is the man who gave us our English word maverick, which means a contrarian, or dissenter. Once, in the 1830s, Maverick became enraged that a man interrupted his father at a public speech. He challenged the man to a duel and shot him. That was not terribly unusual. What was unusual is that Maverick took the wounded man home and nursed him back to health. We don't know what motivated Maverick, but how often have we in some fashion wounded a friend? We should try to heal the wounds we have caused. Better yet, we might try to avoid wounding them in the first place.

 

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J. Michael Shannon is professor of preaching at Cincinnati Bible College in Cincinnati, OH.