The heavy, flat package was from Ottawa, Ontario, in Canada. Quickly tearing off the wrappings, I discovered with delight a portfolio by the famous photographer, Yousuf Karsh. Each page held one of his remarkable photographs, and on the back, the photographer’s comments on the subject and the sitting.
Wondering who had sent the book, I turned to the front and to my amazement discovered an inscription:
Inscribed for,
The Reverend Billy Graham,
whose inspired message has
brought comfort and hope to
so many thousands around the
world. With the good wishes of
Yousuf Karsh
March 29, 1971
As I gathered the torn wrappings, I noted the customs sticker.
“Autographed by the author” is what was written to describe the value of the contents.
I recently reread an essay I had written at the age of 14 when I was a sophomore at the Pyengyang Foreign School in what is now Pyong Yang, North Korea. It is titled “The Name of Jesus,” and it closes by quoting Revelation 3:12: “… and I will write upon him my new name.”
The essay concluded. “If His present name is so wonderful, what will His new name be which He has promised to write upon us if we overcome in this world?”
Some of us, however, feel more overcome than that we are overcomers. And we can find comfort in Dr. Way’s translation of Philippians 2:13: “Ye have not to do it in your own unaided strength; it is God who is all the while supplying the impulse, giving you the power to resolve, the strength to perform the execution of his good pleasure.”
Our ultimate value will be that we were not only created, compiled, and, as it were, written by the author. Our true value will rest in the fact that we have been autographed by the Author.
