Stand By Me

When the storms of life are raging,
Stand by me (stand by me);
When the world is tossing me
Like a ship upon the sea
Thou Who rulest wind and water,
Stand by me (stand by me).

Stand By Me – Charles A. Tindley

At one of the grandest hotels in the world, The Grand in Taipei, Taiwan (formerly known as Formosa) three older ladies traveling together were sitting in the coffee shop and asked me to join them for lunch (people tend to be nicer when they are away from home). A Chinese lady, about my age, came over and put her arm around my shoulder, she said, “Dr. Morris, this is goodbye, I am leaving on another assignment.” I stood, took her hand and kissed it, told her I would never forget her. One of the ladies at my table said, “I think that she had a real affection for you.” I said, “yes, she has been my guide here in Taiwan, one of the most remarkable women I have ever met.”

I was a student at UNC Chapel Hill when Mao and his hordes started moving across mainland China killing a reported 66 million as he turned Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek's police-state nationalistic country into a police-state communist country. Back then, not like today, there were few communists on the university campus, but one of my professors, Dr. John Meyers, was a real communist, doing everything he could to convert a few of his better students to communism. I remember how he would show me the battle lines as the communists moved and as Chiang Kai-Shek retreated to Formosa.

The General Chiang Kai-Shek, Madame Chiang Kai-Shek and their puppets were more interested in saving Chinese art collections and wealth than saving the country, moving everything to Formosa. I understand all the caves on the island of Formosa are filled with historical Chinese art and wealth, the art that was left has been sold by the communist government. I was fortunate enough to buy some (such as ancient silk embroideries, carvings) because I was one of the first Americans admitted to mainland China after the reopening by President Nixon, I have discussed this in other commentaries.

The Godless communists, very anxious to destroy all elements of the Christian church, for many generations China had been the objective missionary zeal of Christians throughout the Western world (Lottie Moon, Charles Judd, Pearl Buck, and hundreds of others). My guide, Ms. Wang and her family were Christian, she told me about the “Red Guard” indiscriminately shelling the city but deliberately going to the homes of the Christians and executing them. All were trying to escape the genocide. Ms. Wang had a 14 year-old daughter who desperately wanted a brother, and in her 42^nd year, Ms. Wang gave birth to a son. Ms. Wang's daughter grabbed her brother and ran for asylum trying to hide in a nearby orchard. Ms. Wang hid in a large pipe under a bridge, and magically escaped the terrorists. She later saw pictures of her husband, her daughter holding her brother, and other Christian friends as they had been lined up on a wall and shot to death. Ms. Wang escaped to Formosa. Most of the Generalissimo's family and administrators were Christian Methodists, and in this nationalistic country, she had found employment as a guide because of her linguistic knowledge. It was because of her that I was able to go into the Chinese President's home. I don't remember much about Chiang Kai-Shek's home except I have never seen so many beautiful chairs in one living room.

We often think it is impossible to recover from the storms of life, such as the death of children, the destruction of a civilization, or even blindness. The verse of scripture I have given so many times to so many people: and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28) Remember, there are stipulations: those who love God, and are called according to His purpose. I thought about that this weekend when about 62 tornadoes hit the state of North Carolina...killing, destroying, breaking the hearts of many good people.

When General Cornwallis was moving through South Carolina, it was “the mongrels” (which he called them), the North Carolinians, with their ancient weapons (muskets) that kept him from reaching Virginia and that almost certain loss of early colonial Americans to the British in the Revolutionary War. It was Dolly Madison, a native of Gilford County, wife of President Madison who grabbed the Stuart portrait of George Washington and saved it in the burning of the White House by the British in the War of 1812. A copy of the portrait is in the White House now, but thank God, the original is in the Smithsonian Institute. North Carolinians have always risen to the occasion.

I remember so well, in my uniform with decorations, I was one of the guests on “University Day” in 1961 when President Kennedy addressed the university in Kenan Stadium. How things have changed, President Kennedy riding with Governor Sanford in the governor's limousine from the airport to the university passing schoolhouses along the way. Children standing beside the road, all waving flags. President Kennedy looking over at the large group of disabled veterans and saying, “North Carolina has always sent its best to every war.”

On May 20, 1775, the first declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies was signed by the people of Mecklenburg County. Previously, on the date 1774, 51 women known as the “Edenton Tea Party” had signed a protest concerning the British Tea Act. Politically, physically, spiritually, most of the good things in American society were started in the “Old North State”.

Hurricanes have battered the Outer Banks, fires have ravaged the mountains, farmers will tell you that crops are either too wet or too dry, but through it all and in spite of the duress and despotism of the corrupt Democrat political machine lasting over 100 years because we are a tough people, because we are a religious people we always get up and start over.