James 3:5 – “Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!”
The primary application of James 3:5 deals, of course, with the damage that a loose, careless tongue can create. But there is, perhaps, another way of looking at the text. Our good deeds, like the tongue, may sometimes seem small, but the action produced by them might have a powerful “matter,” effect, or result that is also kindled.
There is a story from World War II that appears to be such a case. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, a woman named Vera Staples took a job at the Firestone plant in Akron, Ohio to help the war effort. She would write as often as possible to her son Elgin, who was a signalman third class aboard the U.S.S. Astoria, a cruiser stationed in the Pacific Ocean. She was proud to learn about the Astoria’s participation in the battles around Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands and kept track of its whereabouts in the news. But some days later, Vera was crestfallen to learn that the Astoria had been sunk at the Battle of Savo Island and that hundreds of sailors had perished. Her heart was broken, for she heard no follow-up as to whether her son was one of the many casualties. But Elgin was still alive. It was only weeks later that she learned that he had survived, thanks to a rubber life belt cinched across his waist and an amazing act of Providence which preserved him while he struggled for his life in watery darkness, surrounded by sharks. That life belt kept him afloat for some hours in the rolling sea.
Later, in October 1942, he was interviewed by the United Press about his narrow escape that terrible night when the Astoria went down with so many lives. Elgin said, in part, that as he floated in the darkened Pacific waters after the Astoria went down, something amazing happened. “There was a ship nearby, and I thought she was an enemy ship. She kept shooting all around us. She turned her searchlight full on me, and boy, I was scared to death. I thought sure they'd pick me off. It wasn't until later I learned she was a friendly ship and was shooting the sharks away from us." When Elgin returned home he showed his mother the rubber life belt that had saved his life. She gasped as she ran her fingers over the inspection numbers on the belt, tears streaming down her face. “That’s my number, son; I inspected this belt!” Some quote her later as saying that she was only one of three in the line that inspected those belts, but it appears to be a nearly miraculous act of Providence that she (and perhaps two others) inspected his particular life belt.
“When I finally took my thirty-day leave, I went home to my family in Ohio" Elgin said. "After a quietly emotional welcome, I sat with my mother in our kitchen, telling her about my recent ordeal and hearing what had happened at home since I went away. (She) informed me that 'to do her part,' she had taken a wartime job at the Firestone plant. Surprised, I jumped up and grabbed my life belt from my duffel bag, putting it on the table in front of her.
'Take a look at that, mom,' I said. 'It was made right here in Akron at your plant.'
She leaned forward and, taking the rubber belt in her hands, she read the label. She had just heard the story and knew that in the darkness of that terrible night, it was this one piece of rubber that had saved my life. When she looked up at me, her mouth and her eyes were open wide with surprise.
'Son, I'm an inspector at Firestone. This is my inspector number,' she said, her voice hardly above a whisper.
We stared at each other too stunned to speak. Then I stood up, walked around the table and pulled her up from her chair. We held each other in a tight embrace, saying nothing. My mother was not a demonstrative woman, but the significance of this amazing coincidence overcame her unusual reserve. We hugged each other for a long, long time, feeling the bond between us. My mother had put her arms halfway around the world to save me.”
A great matter. A great mother. A great act guided, no doubt, by a great God. May we Christians realize and remember always that no good deed is, in God’s eyes, too insignificant to be noticed. Cups of cold water. Five loaves and two fish. A few dollars slipped into a needy person’s hand. A kind word. Behold how great a matter!
