Nothing stopped Chaplain Charles McCabe’s ministry for God.

While in college at Ohio’s Wesleyan University, McCabe would often skip classes to conduct revivals.

When typhoid struck his beloved uncle, McCabe dropped out of school to take care of him. In doing so, he contracted typhoid himself — which plagued him with ill health the rest of his life.

Well-known for his ministry to the wounded and dying on the battlefields of the American Civil War, McCabe was captured and imprisoned at the infamous Libby Prison. When released from prison, McCabe became one of the country’s leading fund-raisers for building churches, though he referred to himself as “doomed to raise money.”

Often called the “Singing Chaplain,” McCabe is credited with being responsible for making the Battle Hymn of the Republic the rallying Union hymn. When President Lincoln heard him sing he said, “Take it all in all, the song and the singing, that was the best I ever heard.”

McCabe lived for God. He let nothing — not poor health, poverty, or imprisonment — keep him from going about his Father’s work. And God richly blessed his faithfulness. May we be able to say the same!