A Legacy of Love: In Memory of Christine Eggers
Some people say their security is in Jesus Christ and their treasure is in heaven. Christine Eggers lived like she really believed it.
Growing up in the wake of the Great Depression followed closely by World War II, some might attribute her life-long frugality to an upbringing that necessitated it, or to her years as a missionary in Nepal. But we know her thrift in later life had far less to do with practical matters than spiritual ones.
After the markets had recovered from the depression, many of Christine’s peers wholeheartedly embraced the revival of the prosperous “American Dream.” Her dream was of a different sort – one that involved far less comfort and security, for she dreamt of being a missionary nurse in then-closed Nepal.
Christine packed her bags and made the long journey to northern India. In 1953 after two years of language study and working at an orphanage, she was transferred to a hospital in Raxaul. The hospital was a quarter mile from the border of Nepal. One year later as the “forbidden Kingdom” first opened its borders to foreigners; she would be one of the first to enter Nepal – as a nurse and an ambassador of the Gospel.
For over a dozen years, Christine worked in a hospital that specialized in two things: treating Cholera and birthing babies. Although infectious bacteria and obstetrics aren’t typically found in close proximity to each other, Christine found this hospital provided abundant opportunities to share the Gospel with people during the most joyful and most challenging times of their lives.
In the late 1960s a demand for medical care in other areas of Nepal would take Christine to a different hospital many miles away. In faith, she left the familiar to follow God’s call to yet another foreign place. Only a few years later, she was expelled from Nepal by its Hindu monarchy in the wake of its first (and failed) attempt at democratic governance. Again, Christine found herself uprooted.
Finding herself back in the U.S. after more than two decades of serving in an under-developed nation, Christine had a choice to make. She could go back to nursing school and earn a comfortable salary and pension, or she could respond to the needs at the mission’s U.S. headquarters – working in an administrative capacity to support other missionaries. In faith, she chose the latter option.
Christine chose to live humbly – content in the modest lifestyle that her salary afforded. When she received an inheritance following the death of close family members, she continued to live frugally and even began supporting other missionaries financially.
The Lord called Christine home in 2008. She had completed her good race. Even in her death she demonstrated her generosity of spirit by leaving a significant estate gift to further World Team’s ministry to the unreached. No one supposed that such a modest woman possessed the means to leave such a significant gift. Christine had set aside her earthly inheritance so that others would have the opportunity to come to know her King Jesus.
Christine’s story is inspiring to those of us who still press on in the battle while here on earth. As we labor together to extend that promise of eternity to others, let’s encourage one another to good deeds and pray with one voice, “Let your kingdom come!”
