I Can Dig Coal to the Glory of God
Poem★★★★★Jesus Christ clothes our routine way with meaning and lends to our most ordinary tasks an eternal significance. In the heart of the Illinois coal fields there is a church officer who has spent his days as a miner. When but a boy in England, nine years of age, he went into the mines to crawl under the ledges and bring back the precious coal.
Coming to America, some years later, he went at once to the Illinois coal fields. His waking hours have been spent as a toiler in an eternal darkness, where his life has been constantly threatened by foul air, poisonous gases, and overhanging ledges. Ever he has been loved for his winsome Christian spirit and long since honored by being elevated to the eldership in an important church. He once said to his pastor in reference to his humble task, “I can dig coal to the glory of God.”
The point
A coal miner's son from England, who went into mines at age 9, later became an elder. When asked about his life of danger, he said, 'I can dig coal to the glory of God'—his routine work had eternal significance.