By Michael Huye
My friendship with David Manuel
began inauspiciously; I dialed a number. “Hello,” a voice answered.
“Is this David Manuel, author of The Light And The Glory?” I asked.
“Why yes it is,” he replied.
“Mr. Manuel, this is Michael Huye, Project Manager of the Patriots Memorial Center in Baton Rouge Louisiana, and you’re going to be the guest speaker at this year's Freedom Weekend!”
“Wow, that sounds marvelous! Now who are you again?”
David headlined our Freedom Weekend that year and in the spring returned to lead a seminar based on his book Once Upon A Prayer. His total reliance on the Holy Spirit and his candid honesty made him much loved by our congregation.
Over that weekend our friendship blossomed and over the next two years, grew deep and rich. Whether we were discussing his screenplay about Valley Forge, which I suggested be simply titled The Forge, or my writing projects, for which he was serving as editor, or even our debates regarding the Civil War, a debate which always centered around the sentence, If Stonewall hadn’t died... We always laughed and agreed that what was really most important was what the Father wanted us to do next.
When I received word last week that my beloved friend had died suddenly, my heart cleaved in two. This irreplaceable giant of American exceptionalism, this man whose novels proved our nation’s founding was built on nothing less than God’s grace and will, and my friend, was gone.
I am honored to have known David when his reliance on, and his faith in God were at their zenith. I urge all of you to read The Light And The Glory and discover that America, and her patriots, are a crucial part of God’s eternal plan.
By remembering our godly heritage, David Manuel kept the promise of our Founding Fathers alive, and in doing so, gave us the ability to secure it for the future, a future with one less giant to lead us.
Michael Huye is Project Manager with the Patriots Memorial Center at Christian
Life Fellowship in Baton Rouge.
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