Augusta, Georgia' figures in the modern media each year. It's golf course annually hosts one of the four great world Tournaments. It is known for its pristine beauty - a far cry from a windy links course on the coast of Britain, for example.
Augusta is, for America, an old city. It sits on the border of South Carolina. In the mid 1800s it was part of the increasing influence of the Baptists, though also pointedly in their North-South divisions regarding slave ownership.
Pastor Joseph Binney and his wife arrived at its First Baptist Church because they had been unable to stay in Burma (today, Myanmar). Ill health had cut short their missionary endeavours.
The safer environs of Augusta did not turn out to be safe however. In 1854 an epidemic of Yellow Fever arrived in the city. You can be vaccinated for Yellow Fever today - but there is still no medical cure if the mosquitos win.
Deaths were reported, and the people of the city fled. The Binneys left the city but lived nearby, Joseph returning each day to minister to the sick and dying. The missionary who had been defeated by ill-health, was found in its midst.
Almost inevitably, Joseph eventually caught the fever.
He survived.
He not only survived, but recovered sufficient strength to leave Augusta - and return to Burma as a missionary!
Here was a man, a family, whose calling was stronger than their challenges. May we be like them.
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