Daniel 7: 1-18 (links validated 9/12/22)

Horatio Spafford knew quite a bit about calamity—about things falling apart. He was a wealthy and successful lawyer and businessman who lost a significant amount of his fortune when the Great Fire of Chicago destroyed most of his real estate holdings. Two years later, Spafford planned to travel to England with his wife and four young daughters, but at the last minute he stayed, intending to follow shortly behind them. Partway through its journey, the ship carrying Spafford’s family sank and, though his wife survived, all four of Spafford’s daughters drowned. Soon after hearing the news, Spafford left for England to meet his wife, and legend has it that, as his ship reached the place at which his daughters died, he wrote this hymn: When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll; whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul...