A few days ago, Emailmeditation #3228 told the story of William and Wilhemina Kruse, South Dakota pioneers, who lost nine children to diphtheria in 1894. Upon reading it, my friend Tim emailed to tell me that the story was very personal for him. He sent me a brief account of his family faith history.
This is a terrific story, for many reasons. It is, like the story of the Kruse’s, the testimony of a family’s powerful faith that gave them the strength and the hope to endure a most terrible tragedy. It is the story of how faith is shared, and then passed on, through the generations. And it is the story of a simple farmer who lived every day in the name of Jesus. This is the story of the Hansons, as told by my friend Tim Hanson.
Osten Hansen was born in Lyster Sogn, Norway in 1846. When he was 20 months old, his father died. He went to work as a farm hand at the age of 6. He was illiterate. Another farm hand taught Osten to read using the Scriptures. Thus, Osten learned to read and came to faith. He got into the habit of lacing up his boots “Ina Jesu Navn” which means “In Jesus’ Name,” so that he walked with the Lord throughout the day.
In 1867 he loaded all his belongings into a steamer trunk and traveled to the United States, entering at Ellis Island. He made his way to Viroqua, Wisconsin where there was a settlement of Norwegians, and homesteaded. He married Guri Prestegaard and the two of them started their family, living in a sod dugout. He continued to lace up his boots in Jesus’ Name.
They lived 12 miles from the church, and every Sunday their family made its way to worship,
loaded into a lumber wagon drawn by 2 oxen, with their lunches packed. By 1881, they had 7 children, and built a house on their farm. In a matter of two months, six of these children died of black diphtheria. A year later, the 7th child died of the same illness. There were no hearses to carry the bodies of their children away. They hung black curtains in the windows of their home to warn travelers to stay away, and buried their children in a make-shift cemetery at the farm. (On the right is the page from the Hanson family Bible that recorded the children’s deaths)
Osten and Guri started over, and had 6 more children. My grandfather, Arthur, was the youngest of these 13 children. Osten often said that he hoped at least one of his children would become a minister, because he and Guri would not have endured the loss of their family had it not been for faith in Jesus. Arthur was the only child to go to college. He served in the Navy in WWI, crossing the Atlantic 4 times on ship. He graduated seminary and became a minister. He married Marie, and had 4 sons – Paul, Rolf, James and John. All 4 sons became ministers. James, my dad, had four sons. Two of them, Nathan and John, became ministers as well.
I’m so grateful for the faith passed along to me by my mother and father. This abiding faith in Jesus that we have known from childhood can be traced, in large part, to an unknown farmhand in the hills of Norway who befriended Osten and shared his faith.
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The story tells it all. There is not much one needs to add. Except this: I am left with the wonderful image of this faithful man, Osten, lacing up his work boots each day “In Jesus’ Name;” so that he could ‘walk with Jesus’ throughout day. (Pictured below is Osten, near the end of his life in 1933, probably still lacing up his boots, or, tying his shoes, in the name of Jesus. Pictured under the prayer at the end is Osten’s Bible.)
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Colossians 3:17 — Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
II Thessalonians 1:12 — We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Acts 19:5 — On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
I John 3:23 — This is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.
Ephesians 5:20 – Give thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Philippians 2:10-11 — At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
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TRADITIONAL NORWEGIAN MEALTIME PRAYER:
“Ina Jesu navn går vi til bords,
å spise, drikke på ditt ord.
Deg, Gud til ære, oss til gavn,
Så får vi mat i Jesu navn. Amen.”
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“In Jesus’ name we go to the table,
To eat and drink according to His word.
To God the honor, to us the benefit,
So we receive food in Jesus’ name. Amen.”
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(The story was first posted in the 11-4-2019 blog at: https://www.dwelling114.org/ ; there titled “From One to Many—How Faith Works”)
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