All our steps are ordered by the LORD. Proverbs 20:24a (NRSV)
Carl Heine (1944)
Led by Love
Falling in love – first with the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean, and then with a Christian woman he met there – led Carl to finding faith in Christ. He went on to become known as the foremost Protestant missionary of the Marshalls.
His travels with the merchant navy took Carl from his home in New South Wales, Australia, to the Marshalls, Micronesia, in 1892. Tragically, the beloved wife whom he met there died after a short period. Carl left the island and joined a mission organisation, with which he was ordained a minister. From then on he dedicated his life to the furtherance of the Gospel in the Marshalls and eventually assumed the leadership of the church there.
With the outbreak of the Second World War, the Japanese military arrived on the Islands. All the missionaries there were taken out by their missionary organisations except Carl, who chose to stay faithful to his post. In early 1944 Japanese soldiers found Carl and took him and his eldest son, Claude, to be executed.
O God, who art the author of peace and lover of concord, in knowledge of whom standeth our eternal life, whose service is perfect freedom: defend us thy humble servants in all assaults of our enemies; that we, surely trusting in thy defence, may not fear the power of any adversaries; through the might of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Book of Common Prayer 1549, Morning Prayer