CHAPTER 19
TOGETHER APART
The LORD watch between you and me, when we are out of one another’s sight.
Genesis 31:49
Spring 1941
As they had so often done, Eric and Florence put their daughters to bed at night, then stole away to their own room to talk. There never seemed to be any other time. The days were spent with work or with family and friends. And Tricia and Heather, of course, were always keen to hear.
Some things were best left out of a child’s equation, like war and the decisions it forced upon the adults who weighed its consequences.
As soon as the door closed behind him, Eric crossed to the dressing table, removed his watch, and laid it next to his wife’s hand mirror. His fingers traced the scrolled gilded outlines of the mirror. “Oh, Flossie,” he sighed.
“Should I make us some tea?”
He looked at her. She rested, her shoulders against the panels of the door and her feet crossed at the ankles. Eric couldn’t help but wonder whether she was too tired to walk the rest of the way into the room, or too afraid. “No. I’m fine.” He sat in the nearby chair and removed his shoes. “We’ve got to make these decisions, my girl.”
Florence sat on the bed, curling one foot behind her knee. “What do you think best, Eric?”
“We could stay here. Together. All of us. Keep up the work.”
“Or we could call our work here done,” she countered. “And go home to England or to Canada.”
“Or . . .” Eric raked his teeth over his bottom lip. Their third option was one he didn’t want to consider.
“Don’t say it, Eric.”
“I have to.” He looked at her fully. “You could return to Canada, and I can stay. Finish what needs to be finished.” He blinked. “Not forever. Just for a season.”
Florence shook her head. “I can’t think about it right now.”
Eric scooted up to rest his elbows on his knees. “I have to think about it, Flossie. Keeping you and the girls safe is the most important thing right now.”
And in the end —with God’s help —he knew the bulk of the decision rested on his shoulders. His alone.
But could they live with the consequences of that decision?
AS THEIR WORLD CHANGED DAILY, Eric feared that his family might be kidnapped. With his wife expecting their third child, and as a dedicated family man, he prayed harder and more fervently.
One question overshadowed all others: Could Eric put off making up his mind? With every day —and every moment of the day —that passed, he knew time was most surely of the essence.
The London Missionary Society had often functioned as a bureaucratic quartermaster for its deployed families. Unexpectedly, they demonstrated an open approach for how to handle the increasingly chaotic world stage. Instead of mandating what all missionaries must do, they allowed each to discern matters on their own and determine what would be best for each family. Some elected to stay, some to go, and others to separate. This was an emotional season for all, sorting out priorities, responsibilities, and the call of God, while watching their precious relationships with family, friends, and colleagues sever one by one.
Daily life moved forward, despite sociopolitical pressure. A father-daughter relay race against some of Patricia’s classmates in Tientsin had come upon Eric and his family. Naturally, “Team Liddell” was the odds-on favorite. As the first leg of the relay, Patricia had delighted in holding her father’s undivided attention during the “handoff.” In lieu of a brisk exchange, she opted to run around with the relay handkerchief in her hand, playing chase rather than keeping her father’s esteemed track record intact. This may have been Eric Liddell’s only DNF (Did Not Finish), and the afternoon ended with a brief chiding of Patricia. “Now, Patricia,” he said, “remember, we always want to do our best in everything.”
Eric always aspired to do his best —in everything. If he contained a shred of hubris, it may have asserted itself in his insistent perfectionism, which could and did rub certain people the wrong way. This characteristic would often rear its head during his decision-making process. The selfish route versus the selfless route had often been employed for major life decisions, particularly for ministry-minded people like himself. But delineating between the two motives was never easy.
After a decade and a half of service, Eric was one of the elder statesmen of the Tientsin missionary community. He did not want to completely carry his witness for Christ out of China, particularly at a time he believed it was most needed. He felt very strongly about that, and Florence agreed.
The godlier, selfless Christian path would be for Eric to serve God and stay in China alone. Or was that the selfish path? Did his roles as missionary and pastor trump his roles as husband and father? Sending his family to Toronto alone would put added stress on Florence, leaving her to raise three little ones on her own. Yet even in China, they were so often separated.
Still . . .
Eric and Flo ultimately decided that he would stay serving in China, and she and the girls would return to Toronto. Eric would remain for only one year —two at most, he assured her. They were both young and strong. Soon enough, they’d reunite, either in China to continue the work or in Toronto to determine what lay in store for them during their next season of life.
Either way, they’d be together.
Temporary separation had always been understood as a potential reality within the realm of missionary work. By staying, Eric could focus on gospel proclamation exclusively.
A lovely sunny day in May 1941 cast a shadow upon Eric’s family as they said their final farewells. Eric insisted that Flo and the girls make their voyage on a Japanese vessel, which they agreed would be the safest transport, so they made their way to Kobe, Japan, where the female Liddells had tickets to board the Nita Maru.
The day of departure, while Eric helped his family to their cabin, Florence kept her hand on her rounding belly. She didn’t feel well, but whether it was her pregnancy or the thought of leaving her husband behind in a war-torn country, she couldn’t be sure. Heather skipped about on deck, content with the lollipop her father had given her. Patricia, equally delighted with her treat, received special instructions from her father.
He sat the girls down next to their mother and whispered in Patricia’s ear, “Tricia, I want you to look after your mother, and I want you to look after Heather, and help with this new baby that’s coming, and I want you to do this —promise me that you will until I return.”
“I will, Daddy. I promise,” she replied.
Eric kissed them all, and after final, loving embraces, he made his way off the ship. Moments later, he turned to see his family waving madly at him from the upper deck.
“Good-bye, Daddy!” the girls shouted.
Eric waved back.
“I love you! I love you! Come home soon!”