Just In Time

By Tim Poirier

Henry Franz Schuberth was born in 1868 in Germany. He moved to the United States in his early 20s. Henry worked as a Bible worker giving people Bible studies and also sold Adventist books in California. In 1894 he was asked to return to Germany to work at a school, but also to take charge of the publishing house in Hamburg.

One day at the publishing house there was a meeting. It was suggested that they do some missionary work in the evenings in the city after they finished working. Henry was in favor of the plan and urged others to accept it. But one man didn’t like the plan. He spoke against it. Soon people were taking sides. The meeting was no longer happy because people disagreed with each other. Later meetings were the same. People just couldn't get along.

Henry was concerned. He didn’t like that so many people disagreed with each other. One Sunday he asked some workers to come to a meeting in the chapel on Monday evening. He wanted to talk things through and see if they could find a way to agree again.

On Monday morning Henry went to his office. On his desk there was a letter with an Australian stamp on it. In the corner was the name E. G. White. Henry knew that stood for Ellen G. White. She had moved to Australia a few years earlier. He opened the letter quickly because he knew whatever was in it was important. As he read the letter, he was very surprised.

That evening it was time for the meeting. He asked the workers, “When did I call this meeting?”

“Yesterday,” they said.

“Well,” said Henry, “this morning I found a letter on my desk that had been mailed from Australia. It was from Mrs. White. Do you know what is in the letter? She writes to us about the very thing I wanted to talk to you about!”

Henry read Mrs. White’s letter to the workers. They were surprised too. Here was the very advice they needed. At once the man who had started the problem stood. He told the group he was sorry for his actions. Then someone else stood and said the same. One by one spoke until by the end of the meeting they were all in agreement.

“You might think I wrote to Mrs. White about our problem,” said Henry to the group. “But I did not. It takes about six weeks for mail from Hamburg to reach Australia. And our problem only started three weeks ago! So, Mrs. White’s letter left Australia three weeks before our problem ever started and arrived just on the morning when we needed help.”

Everyone was happy to have received the letter. They knew that Mrs. White could only have known about their problems before they happened if God shared it with her. It made them glad to know that God cared so much about them, He made sure a letter arrived just in time.

Adapted from “That They All May Be One,” by Tim Poirier. This story first appeared in Adventist World, March 2024, p. 24-25.