"Ships that pass in the night/ only a signal shown and a distant voice in the darkness," Longfellow wrote in his epic poem, Emma and Eginhard. He speaks of the minimal signals given to vessels on the ocean which pass each other in the blackness of night with "only a look and a voice/ then darkness again and a silence." The two boats going to different destinations proceed on their own singular missions, each with little regard for the well-being or final port of the other.

A witness for Christ, whom I never saw and never knew, has been an enormous blessing to me.

I recall my mother telling the story of how Emma Steinhagen, a good friend and neighbor, sat her down one day before I came along and explained, I imagine, over a cup of coffee at our kitchen table the difference between nominal church membership and a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ. She told her how belonging to a church alone will not cut it. She explained that mother needed to humble herself, confess her sins and be saved, in the pattern of I John 1:9.

Not long after that my mother, Mary Hazel, sacrificed her pride and knelt at the altar in a revival meeting. There, with many tears, she gave her heart to Jesus. Her conversion brought dramatic changes in her outlook, her priorities, and her spiritual impact on her family and others around her. She became a Christian role model and woman of devotion to Christ in a way that is another story in itself.

Her witness and her prayers had so much to do with the salvation of her offspring. Many of them have served, or are serving now, as missionaries, teachers, and Christian business people, spreading the light of Jesus' love in the two generations since her conversion. All this continues in our family because Emma, a lady of little "importance" in the world, who called out to my mother, as it were, with a loud "Ahoy, there. You are headed to the wrong port!"

I sometimes wonder what our family and I would have become had Emma not told my mother about knowing Jesus Christ as Savior and friend.

Emma, who is in heaven now, is surely one of God's heroes. She may have been little known, but she will be long remembered, because she had the remedy my mother needed and the courage to speak when the Holy Spirit prompted her.

We know the remedy for the emptiness and sin that plague people among our acquaintances. We know the joy of forgiveness and the promise of Heaven. We can be messengers of grace by helping someone to come to Jesus if we, like Emma, will be Christ's ambassadors when the Holy Spirit taps us on the shoulder. Or, Heaven forbid, we can go quietly on our way, without a word of hope to a lost friend, passing, "like ships in the night."

—Jesse E. Pitts

Please note: All facts, figures, and titles were accurate to the best of our knowledge at the time of original publication but may have since changed.