The Most Trusted Man in Camp

In 1943, the Japanese military herded 1,800 civilians into the Weihsien internment camp in occupied China. Crammed behind barbed wire with dwindling rations and rising tensions, people showed who they really were. Petty theft crept in. Arguments over living space turned vicious. Trust became the scarcest commodity in camp.

Among the prisoners was Eric Liddell, the Scottish Olympic sprinter who had famously refused to run on Sunday in 1924. But nobody in Weihsien cared about gold medals. What mattered was character — and Liddell's was unshakable.

When disputes broke out over food or sleeping arrangements, prisoners sought out Liddell to arbitrate. He never shaded the truth for personal advantage. He never played favorites. He organized hockey games for restless teenagers, tutored children in science, and quietly gave away his own Red Cross parcels to those in greater need. A fellow prisoner later recalled that Liddell was simply "the most Christlike man I ever met" — not because he preached at people, but because his daily conduct matched his confession.

Liddell died in that camp in February 1945, five months before liberation. He never made it home. But he had lived every day as though he already dwelt on the Holy One's hill.

David's question in Psalm 15 — "Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary?" — finds its answer not in grand gestures but in persistent, costly integrity. The one who speaks truth from the heart and does what is right when no one would blame him for doing otherwise. Eric Liddell showed us what that looks like with skin on.