THE SEARCH: A STORY OF ROMANCE, RESTORATION, AND REDEMPTION

By DAVID L. SOWERS

This story is about a young minister, Charles Fisher, who submits an unusual ad to the St. Louis Star in which he requests a "Christian maiden" to correspond with him. In the process, Caroline Scott, a young schoolteacher, sees the ad and, after a lot of soul-searching, decides to respond to it. Ultimately, they not only correspond but actually

• Language: English
• Publisher: DAVID L. SOWERS
• Release date: Nov 14, 2023
• ISBN: 9798869000347

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The Search

A Story of Romance, Restoration, and Redemption

David L. Sowers

Copyright © 2023 by

David L. Sowers

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. NO part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted in writing from the author.

ISBN: 979-8-8690-0035-4

Printed in the United States of America

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my wife, Brenda, on the occasion of our fortieth wedding anniversary.

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

Proverbs 31:30-31

Preface

My wife, Brenda, and I purchased a house on 523 S. Fifth Street in Moberly, Missouri in the spring of 2003. In one corner of the living room, a section of floor about three feet wide by seven feet long needed replacing due to termite damage. I discovered that the builders had used newspapers as a barrier and pad between the hardwood floor and the sub-floor. Upon closer examination, I saw that all the papers were from the same newspaper, the St. Louis Star, and were from the same date, January 15, 1915, the year the house was built.

I started reading through the newspaper and discovered the personal section. In the personal section was an ad placed there by a minister. The ad read, "Young minister would like to correspond with Christian maiden about 24 to 30, who can play or sing. Must have good character; prefers peach or real light complexion, blue eyes, raven black, red or light hair, weight about 140. None but thoroughly consecrated need answer. Best references and everything confidential. He wishes name and address withheld, but The Star will forward any letters accompanied by this clipping." I was fascinated by this ad, especially by how it was worded!

Like the accounts the late Paul Harvey would relate, I often wondered about the rest of the story. Did any young woman ever write to this minister? Did he eventually find a wife through his posting of this ad? Did he ever receive any letters of response at all? We will probably never know.

However, I thought it would be fun to write a fictional account of what might have happened. So, I began writing and this short book became more involved and took some additional directions other than those I had originally anticipated. For one thing, I wanted to be historically and culturally accurate as to what was going on at the time, what people ate, how they traveled, etc. This required some research which turned out to be interesting in itself.

Second, I already knew that there was a lot of conflict within the leadership of the churches and seminaries as German higher critical thinking had, by this time, permeated the halls of American seminaries and universities. The acceptance of these critical conclusions regarding the integrity of Scripture negatively affected American biblical scholars in their confidence in the truth of Scripture. This loss of confidence in Scripture’s historical integrity then filtered down into many of the young men who studied in these seminaries, which then affected their congregations. Issues connected with this conflict comprise some of the dialogues in this book. Many of these issues are still being debated today. One’s decisions concerning these matters have serious, and, I would maintain, even eternal consequences since they affect s one’s willingness, or not, to trust in Jesus Christ for salvation.

The authors and books mentioned in this fictional work are real people and real books. I wanted to be as historically accurate as possible so all references to specific books, authors, and persons are from January, 1915 or earlier. The only place where I have deviated from this policy of using sources older than 1915 is in using the New King James Bible for easier comprehension for today’s reader rather than the King James Version which was in common use at that time. The italicized words used in the NKJV, italicized because they were not in the original Hebrew or Greek but needed for a smooth translation into English, are not italicized in this book to remove possible confusion. The reader can compare a NKJV Bible with the biblical quotes used in this book to see which words are italicized if desired.

If you, the reader, should someday hear of the true rest of the story, I would like to hear from you! Or, if you want to talk about some of the ideas presented in this book, I would like to correspond with you at [e-mail]. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy and benefit from this fictional account.

The Search

It was cold that Monday morning in mid-January. Charles shivered as he reluctantly got out of bed. The house had grown quite chilly overnight as the coal furnace had devoured most of its fuel. He made his way down into the basement and pulled the cord, turning on the light. He shoveled some coal into the huge iron monster that heated the large Victorian parsonage he had called home since last May when he graduated from the Disciples’ Divinity House at the University of Chicago. He liked the house, and he loved the people he served in the local church. Everything seemed to be going great, except for one thing: he was very lonely.

He thought about his loneliness as he got ready that morning. True, it was that over the last eight months, some of the Christian women in the church had tried to introduce him to their daughters, granddaughters, or nieces. Besides his embarrassment at their efforts, the young women were either too young, or too old, or simply weren’t as pretty as he wanted his wife to be. In addition, not one of them could play the piano and he desperately needed a pianist for services at church. Not only that, but he wasn’t sure any of these women were aware of the rigors of ministry. His salary was low, his hours often long, not to mention the sting of occasional criticisms that bothered him, and he knew would bother a potential wife even more.

He sighed, opened the front door to a cold blast and hurriedly picked up the snow-covered January 11th issue of the St. Louis Star. He brought it in, dusted it off, and after preparing some breakfast began to peruse the paper. The front page, as usual, was filled with reports coming from the front lines in Belgium and France. He had barely begun his ministry the previous June when word came that war had erupted in Europe. It amazed him that a war involving multiple nations could occur simply because a Bosnian Serbian nationalist had assassinated Archduke Francis Ferdinand and his wife. At the same time, he knew that there was more to it. Tensions had built between the major European powers over many years and this tragic assassination was merely the spark that had lit the tinder. Many had thought the war would end quickly but the opposing armies had settled into a deadly trench warfare that absorbed and digested lives by the hundreds of thousands. As he contemplated these things, he suddenly realized that he was allowing negative and hopeless thoughts to dominate his mind: not the right way to start the morning given the fact that of all people, he should know that God was with him. He recalled Colossians 1:27: Christ in you, the hope of glory. Lord, help me to remember your presence with me and the wonderful hope that I have, despite my personal loneliness and despite the great turmoil in the world.

With a renewed spirit, he continued through the paper until he came to the personal section and an idea hit him. His New Year’s resolution