The Night of the Great Leaving-A Reflection on the Book “God in a God-Forsaken Land”

​     A cold crescent moon reflected on the small lake on a November night in 1874.  The little lake near August Hertwig’s cabin was rimmed with early ice. Frozen glass-like shards created tiny fairy-sounds along the ever-widening glaze around the margins of the shore. 

​     The waterfowl which had been August’s vocal friends for the summer, took flight in the moonlight, heading south.  Silence permeated the scene now; the great leaving struck a sudden loneliness in the solitary pastor’s heart.  The power of the Word gave comfort as winter closed in on his new home:  “Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.” Psalm 25:16