How many times do we forget the great people of this world? What happens to those who once inspired loyalty, once led nations, once brought heroes into the world? Too often when they grow old we decide that they have outlived their usefulness, and they are set aside to be forgotten.
How many men and women sit inside their homes day after day looking out at a world that is going on without them? How many of these people have hair-raising stories, romantic tales, inspiring testimonies and glorious memories just waiting for someone who cares to listen? How many of them die with their stories yet untold, and no one the wiser?
I found myself wondering about Byron and Esther Bristol, two elderly neighbors of mine who I rarely saw. They were in their nineties, living alone in a little house not far from mine. I knew a little bit about them: they had been artists and had a ministry for college kids in Florida, then they moved to the Ozark Mountains of Northwest Arkansas to establish a Christian community. But snatches of conversation had piqued my interest, and I set out to get the whole story from the man who knew more about it than anyone else.
I started talking to Mr. Byron. I visited him and asked questions, taking notes of his answers. And he talked, yes, he talked for hours, and the more I learned the more I wanted to share. Someone else had to hear these stories, and what better way to tell a story than to write it down in a book?
This is the story of two remarkable people, Byron and Esther Bristol, who started out as ordinary human beings, but let God turn them into something beautiful and extraordinary.
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