Because Some Stories Need to be Told

There are stories that just need to be told!  This is one of them.

There is a wonderful South African couple in our church.  Recently they were excited to learn that the wife's nephew, Sandesh, and his family from South Africa were coming to visit them.  She had not seen him in many years, but she had been a great influence on his life during his adolescence.  Knowing that he was a devout Hindu, and that his wife and children were also devout, the couple began to pray that this visit would be more than a family reunion.  They prayed that during this trip the nephew and his family would see and feel the love of Christ and ultimately come to know Him as Savior and Lord.

The nephew and his family spent twenty days in their home.  Twenty days of being loved by someone who knows the love of Christ.  They came to worship services and heard the Word of God preached.  The Uncle and Aunt even went to the point that they left Christian books in the couples room.  They never pressed or confronted, they simply loved.  When the time came for the nephew to return to South Africa there had been no apparent conversion, but seeds had been deeply planted.

Read closely the account from the Uncle:

"Before he went home at the end of December, he took a book left in his room by my wife which speaks about the Blood of Jesus. He went home and the SHED BLOOD of JESUS CHRIST caused the final nail to be driven into his heart bringing him to his knees and accepting Jesus Christ as his Savior. Oh! How precious is our Lord and what mercy he has!

Sandesh heart was moved by:

a.       the deep love he received in our home; love he said that he has not had for many, many years and this brought us to tears; he understood for the first time experiential Christ centered relationship.

b.      the word of God and the Spirit of God as ministered by Pastor Madden in church where he could experience Christ;

c.       an unknown stranger who came up to him after one Sunday morning service and said to him: During the service God spoke to me and said I need to give you this gift ($100.00); God talking directly to him in view of Sandesh having an unspoken need that was fulfilled."

  And now read Sandesh's own words:

"My personal experience at your Church when a member of Praise Cathedral church gifted me 100 dollars,was more than just that.The Lord knew i wanted a pair of boots and he sent it through somebody I barely knew.This is what he said to me,"The Lord wanted me to give this to you " that's it!!
I was happy,I didn't offend him by not accepting the gift.Yes I bought a pair of boots and moved on.

When I arrived back to SA,I kept going back to that particular experience .One morning while in prayer ,I broke down and the thought came to me "that a transaction for my soul was made" and I had accepted.

Since,I have a deep yearning to know and listen,read and meditate to the living word.they say that the truth will set you free.From a belief standpoint,I get the" truth"now.

By reflecting on the last 5 years of my life,the ups and downs,strife and struggles and more importantly and emptiness because of no relationship with a God.As a Hindu ,there were too Many.Too many prayers,festivals ...but nothing striking the heart and evolving a change from a human perspective.

Last week ,I went down on my knees,in total prayer and accepted with all my heart Jesus as my Lord ,and gave him command over me and accepted his" transaction " for my soul.I am certainly not the same,At 42 years old...I had to be accountable to someone...and that is now Jesus Christ.

Generally ,it would be difficult to get up at 1:45am and switch on the computer even to watch a movie,leave alone Watch a sermon! But I did,I wanted to .
I cover myself each morning with the blood and my family before leaving home.For the 1st. Time in my life ,when I am praying now,its real and alive.
As I steadily build a relationship with Jesus Christ,I wanted you to know that you and Mosie have been instrumental in sowing these seeds during the course of the last 20 years."

As we rejoice over this work, let it inspire us to seek the Lord for more testimonies of His grace and power being revealed in people's lives.  In the words of Andrew Murray "beware, in your prayer, above everything, of limiting God, not only by unbelief, but by fancying that you know what he can do.  Expect unexpected things, above all that we ask or think.  Each time you intercede, be quiet first and worship God in His glory.  Think of what he can do, of how he delights to hear Christ, of your place in Christ, and expect great things!"

AMEN! 

Hudson Taylor's Amazing Words

Recently I read again the words of Hudson Taylor.  I had read them years ago, but reread the book Found Faithful and was once again humbled by such a profession of truth and faith.  It's a little long of a read for our generation (aka, not a sound byte), but it's well worth it:

"If God has called you to be really like Jesus in all your Spirit, He will draw you into a life of crucifixion and humility, and put you on such demands of obedience that He will not allow you to follow other Christians; and in many ways He will let other good people do things that He will not let you do.  Other Christians and preachers who seem very religious and useful may push themselves, pull wires, and work schemes to carry out their schemes; but you cannot do it; and if you attempt it you will meet with such rebuke and failure from the Lord as make you sorely penitent.  Others may brag on themselves, on their work, on their success, on their writings, but the Holy Spirit will not allow you to do any such thing, and if you begin it, He will lead you into some deep mortification that will make you despise yourself and all your good works."

"Others may be allowed to succeed in making money but it is likely God will keep you poor, because He wants you to have something far better than gold, and that is a helpless dependence upon Him, that He may have the privilege (the right) of supplying your needs day by day out of an unseen treasury.  The Lord will let others be honored and put forward, and keep you hidden away in obscurity, because he wants some fragrant fruit for His coming glory that can only be produced in the shade.  He will let others do work and get  the credit for it, but He will let you work and toil on without knowing how much you are doing, and then to make your work still more precious, He will let others get the credit for the work you have done, and this will make your reward ten times greater when Jesus comes."

"The Holy Spirit will put a strict watch over you, with a jealous love, and will rebuke you for little words or feelings, or for wasting your time, over which other Christians never seem distressed.  So make up your mind that God is an infinite Sovereign, and has the right to do as He pleases with His own, and he may not explain to you a thousand things which puzzle your reason in His dealings with you.  He will take you at your word and if you absolutely sell yourself to be his slave, He will wrap you up in a jealous love and let other people say and do many things which He will not let you say and do."

"Settle it forever that you are to deal directly with the Holy Spirit, and He is to have the privilege of tying your tongue, or chaining your hand, or closing your eyes in ways that He does not deal with others.  Now when you are so possessed with the Living God, that you are in your secret heart pleased and delighted over the peculiar, personal, private, jealous guardianship of the Holy Spirit over your life, you will have found the vestibule of Heaven!"
Hudson Taylor
From "Found Faithful", by Elizabeth R. Skoglund, pp. 177-179

My Greatest Practical Joke

My humor sometimes is sick! I attended a funeral this week of a dear man whose daughter and son-in-law are long time friends of ours. While sitting in the funeral, I found myself smiling uncontrollably as I reflected on a practical joke I had played on his daughter over fifteen years ago. It is my greatest of all time.

A group of forty or more young adults were attending a Sunday School Christmas Party at her house. She and her husband were our teachers. It was my first visit to her house and I was amazed to find her house was decorated in COWS! Really, cows were every where! Porcelain cows, plastic cows, pictures of cows, cow dishes, cow cups, even a cow shower curtain!

Not long after the party had begun, discussion was stirring about what the class had bought the teaching couple for Christmas. Then it hit me, we should have bought them cow stuff. Knowing it was too late to go find any at a store, I realized something: she had so much COW STUFF, we could probably take things from her house, wrap them up, and she would never know! So as the party went on, an accomplice and I went room to room taking cow stuff, placed them in wrapping tissue, and put all in a large gift bag.

The time came to open the gifts. There were the usual gift cards, books, etc. Then last, the huge gift bag that we had filled. The husband reached in and took out the first item, unwrapped it carefully and exclaimed "look honey, they bought us a Cow Coffee Cup". Then he reached for another, "look honey a Cow Coffee Creamer......a cow light switch.....a cow plate and saucer....".
With each gift the husband was excited but the wife was looking puzzled. One time she whispered to him "we have one of those". By now the whole class is ready to bust but somehow held it together.

He reached for another item and pulled out something that apparently either she had made or had personal markings on, because as soon as it was unwrapped she said "that's mine". He argued back "no honey, it's a gift" and they whispered back and forth things like "smile, these are gifts" and "that's mine, I know that's mine". Saving the best item for last, finally he unwrapped the huge and cumbersome Cow Shower Curtain. She stood up, said I know that's mine, and the whole house busted a gut laughing!

I'm sure I'll be repaid for that mischief someday, but whatever comes, it was worth it!