When we moved into our home in Massachusetts we discovered the former owner left behind a wonderful old leather-bound set of Encyclopedia Britannica published in 1910. I learned it was a classic edition. While doing some research this evening I wondered what scholars thought about my topic exactly one hundred years ago. So I pulled down volume XIII – Harmony to Hurstmonceaux. While doing so I remembered as a child we had a set of World Book Encyclopedia, not quite in the same league as Britannica, but respectable for a child. I used to wonder what it was like to be so famous one got an article about oneself in such books. This evening I turned page after page of such names without recognizing one name. I realize my education is limited but really I should know some names.
Who or what was Hurstmonceaux? Why should I care? Does anyone in the 21st century care? Probably the people who live there care. It is a village in England. In 1818 Percy Shelley wrote the famous poem, Ozymandias about an old statue in the desert.
“And on the pedestal these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!’
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
Greatness and fame are a fleeting thing in this world. So tonight I think of my childhood curiosity about fame and realize the only place I want my name is in the Lamb’s Book of Life mentioned in the book of Revelation. There is Someone in charge of that book who will never forget us. Let the ages pass and we will not only live in His memory but be alive forever in His kingdom. How grand!
Written by Roger Bothwell on September 2, 2010
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org