The Hand of God

 

 

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Romans 15:13 Contemporary English Version

¹³ I pray that God, who gives hope, will bless you with complete happiness and peace because of your faith. And may the power of the Holy Spirit fill you with hope.

 

A couple weeks ago I was visiting Solusi University in Zimbabwe. Dad had gone there in 1954 to turn this mission station into a university to train local leaders to take over the work. Adventists in the country now number over a million members—a witness to the success of this endeavor. As I stood in the church Dad built, the Dean of Students, Dr Ndlovu, asked me preach for the Sabbath service there in two days.

I should have said no right then. As a professional mathematician, I can’t make a sermon with an otherwise full schedule in the next 36 hours. But I let him twist my arm. I decided to simply tell the story of Solusi as I remember it. So, between all my other engagements, I stole a few minutes here and there to jot down the history on my phone. I was twelve when we went to Solusi. So I remember much of that famous African Adventist mission from that time forward. I concluded my talk with the great hope of Christians everywhere: Jesus died to forgive us our sins and cleanse us form all unrighteousness. I felt inadequate, to say the least. Adding to the stress, electricity went out Friday night and caused me several extra sleepless hours.

At 5:12 Sabbath morning the alarm on my phone went off. I got up to shut it off before it woke my wife, Sylvia. But the alarm shut off by itself in my hand. Then I searched my phone—I found no evidence that any alarm had been set. After about 12 more minutes, I said to myself: There’s no way that I’ll go back to sleep now. Furthermore, I need to go through my sermon, which I haven’t had a chance to do yet. It must have been set by the hand of God. He must want me to think about the notes I have written.

The electricity was still off. So I went into our bathroom, closed the door, and spoke out loud the message I wanted to deliver later that morning. Of course, the phone had its own power. I rearranged things, deleted some and added others. I thanked the Lord profusely for giving me this time. When I stepped in front of the believers later, I did so with confidence and enthusiasm.

I count this experience as a real privilege to deliver a message in the church Dad built over 50 years ago.

 

Lord, thank You that we can follow in the footsteps of the pioneers who served you so sacrificially.

 

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[1] Picture of me preaching in the Solusi Church that Dad built. ©Uni Clarke 2023

Show Hospitality to Strangers?

 

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Hebrews 13:2 Good News Translation

² Remember to welcome strangers in your homes. There were some who did that and welcomed angels without knowing it.

 

During our stay in Iowa City while I was working on my doctorate, I also served as a church elder for the little Adventist church there. The duties were fairly minimal. Since our pastor had two churches, he would only come to ours every second week. It frequently became my duty to preach a sermon on Sabbaths he wasn’t there. An unexpected, but common duty, one not listed in the Church Manual, was to host Adventist travelers through the state who needed a room for the night. The telephone number of the church was the head elder’s number.

One such traveler was an old couple in a beat-up car. They were missionaries in some far-eastern country who were on furlough and were headed back to the mission-field. We had a very blessed visit with them. They shared lots of stories of faith that moved our hearts and served as fodder for a sermon or two. Evidently, they enjoyed it, too; a couple years later they stopped by on a second furlough, and we had another rewarding evening. Sylvia loved visiting with and hosting them. We shared Christmas letters for several years.

On one occasion, such hosting backfired. A young fellow came in who told us he was a church member from down in Texas. He had the brogue to match. He arrived in time for lunch and ate ravenously. It was obvious why he weighed well over 400 pounds. He made some evident slip ups as he was describing his activities in his home church. For example, he referred to communion as a sacrament; he ate meat at church potlucks—which rarely happens. [My Dad remarked on more than one occasion that if someone really wanted to learn how to prepare vegetarian meals, they should come to a few Adventist potlucks to find delicious dishes.] When he referred to going to church on Sunday, I asked him about it. He quickly added that he was only recently baptized and still used the old terminology, occasionally.

My brother and family happened to be visiting at the time, and we let the visitor take a nap in the room they were staying in. When we went to call him for supper, he had disappeared. Later my brother found that several hundred dollars had been taken from his billfold that had been in the room while the guest was napping. It was a costly way to discover that our guest was not one of God’s angels!

Lord, thank You for blessing us with Your “strangers.” May we not turn away those You send because of one bad experience.

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[1] https://dailyverse.knowing-jesus.com/hebrews-13-2                 

A Time to Comfort

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Ecclesiastes 3:1

New International Version

 ¹ There is a time for everything,
   and a season for every activity under the heavens:

 

Tippy was a loving black Labrador retriever. Like many in her breed, she was extremely intelligent. She had lived with us for a number of years and was an integral part of our family.

We lived on Main Street, and I used to worry that our pets might get run over by all of the heavy traffic. One Sunday Tippy got out of the house and dashed away. I hurried downstairs and called for her, not knowing where she had gone.

I walked out to the front of the house and called again. Then my heart about stopped. I saw her on the other side of the street running to meet me. The street was empty, but just as she started across the street, a lone car came whipping down the street at about twice the speed limit. The driver didn’t try to brake or show any sign that she was watching the road.

She struck Tippy and threw her twenty feet or more. Tippy got up and limped over to me. She lay her head down on my foot as I tried to comfort her. Within a minute blood came out of her mouth, and she quit breathing.

I stood there stunned with unrestrained grief and remorse that I had called her when I did. Tears welled up inside of me, and some flowed down my face. Everything about me was blurred.

The woman who had been speeding stopped and came over to me. I recognized her as the wife of the conference treasurer. She didn’t recognize me, nor did she try to. She admitted to being distracted as she was driving and not watching the road. She asked about the dog, and I told her that she had died.

“You know,” she continued, “this is a good illustration of how tenuous life is…”

Heartlessly, she launched into a sermon about death and being ready to meet our creator and judge. She warmed quickly to her subject, lecturing me on the coming judgment. 

I stood there numb. Tippy’s head still rested on my shoe where she had died, loyal and obedient to the last. Blood had soaked through my shoe and onto my foot and pants. And this heartless Christian fanatic went on and on about my soul. I resented her callousness and her lack of human sympathy. Anger welled up within me that anyone could be this unfeeling.

Finally, I said something about having to take care of the dog and turned my back on her. She walked back to her undamaged car, still lecturing away. Little did she know that if I had not already had a personal encounter with my loving Lord and Savior, I would then and there have sworn never to have anything to do with Christianity. Any religion that could leave someone so unfeeling, unsympathetic, and unkind would not be for me.

Lord, help me to be sensitive to the fact that there is a time and a season to say things and a time to refrain from doing so!

 

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[1] https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/woman-drags-dead-dog-through-8147076