Edge of the Wilderness - By Stephanie Grace Whitson Page 0,59

and stared up at the stars, wondering where she was that very night. He liked to think of her with the blonde child on her lap, rocking, singing a Dakota lullaby. When the thought rose that she was probably married to Simon Dane by now, he turned over on his stomach and tried to sleep. But somewhere in the distance a mountain lion was yowling. The horses were stomping about nervously, so Daniel got up. He added wood to the fire and brought the horses nearer. Tethering them to a bush where they could back up against a rock ledge, he settled back into his bedroll. When the mountain lion screamed again, closer, Daniel thought of Robert Lawrence. I am afraid, his friend had said, that you are letting the lions devour you. He finally fell into a troubled sleep.

Halfway through the night Daniel knocked his saddlebags nearly into his campfire. The acrid odor of hot leather woke him. He swore softly when he realized Robert’s Bible was scorched. Picking it up, he started to pack it away. Faith comes by hearing . . . and hearing by the Word of God. Robert Lawrence’s challenge came to mind. Since he wasn’t really sleeping anyway, he decided to reread the story of that other Daniel and the lions.

The beginning of the book of Daniel had always been hard to understand. That hadn’t changed, but there was one passage that spoke to him. He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth in him. Daniel sat back, wondering that if God revealed deep and secret things, why He hadn’t let him understand more of what was going on in his life.

He lay back, thinking about Robert’s insistence that what he needed was faith. Hebrews, chapter eleven, Daniel, Robert had said. Daniel added more wood to the fire. He leaned back against the sheer rock wall behind him and, stretching his legs out toward the fire, opened Robert’s Bible to Hebrews, chapter eleven.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen . . . By faith Abel . . . By faith Enoch . . . By faith Noah . . . With each new name, Daniel remembered the stories as told by the missionaries at Hazelwood Station. By faith Abraham . . . By faith Isaac . . . By faith Joseph . . . By faith Moses . . . Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions. . . .

Daniel stopped reading. His faith must be small, he reasoned. He had done nothing great purely because of faith. They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented . . . they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise . . . Daniel stopped reading and stared at the campfire. They received NOT the promise.

He reread the chapter. This time, different things leaped out at him. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen . . . without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Things were getting confusing. The chapter itself said that most of those people had not been rewarded at all. They had suffered and died and never received any of the promises God had made.

For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God . . . These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country . . . a better country, that is, an heavenly . . .

They embraced promises of heaven. That was how they survived. They accepted being strangers on the earth. A house not made with hands, Robert had said. A house not made with hands, Mrs. Dane had said. Daniel rebelled against the idea. He had wanted to be rewarded for what he had done to save white women and children during