The story that follows is only one-half of this article. Please stick around for some background and a little discussion on whether preachers should use such stories.
As I recall the story, here’s what happened….
During the Second World War, John Blanchard was stationed at the Pensacola Naval Air Station. One Sunday afternoon, he walked down to the base library and checked out several books. He took them back to his room and lay on the bunk flipping through them. One was a book of poetry.
Blanchard quickly decided the poetry was not very good, but what made the book special was the previous owner–clearly a woman, with wonderful flowing handwriting in green ink–had written in the margins. Her notes, Blanchard saw, were better than the poetry. He devoured the book and her comments. For the next couple of days, his mind kept going back to what he had read.
Blanchard noticed that the owner’s name was in the front of the book. Miss Hollis Maydell of New York City. He did a little sleuthing and found an address for her, then wrote a letter telling of finding the book and how he was fascinated by her comments. He invited her to correspond with him.