MEASURING POINTS AND WAY MARKERS (I)

For a while some of my blogs will be an ongoing dialogue with the questions and statements that have shaped my life.
Maybe just a few at a time and perhaps even in random order, they will mark some formative moments in my walk with God.

First I heard them.
And since then I keep feeling them in my heart.
They are questions and statements that have become measuring points and way markers in my life and career as a missionary.

“Will you take the place of my son John that died in Tibet where he was helping me tell people about Jesus?”
I was sitting on the lap of missionary Victor Plymire in our Wayne, Michigan, living room when God called me to be a missionary.
“I will, Brother Plymire,” I answered.
I was four years old and I knew something important had just happened.

* * * * * *

“Life is just a mass and duration of confusion and hurt.”
I listened to this lie from hell in my late teenage years yet my merciful God has let me live a joy-filled, jam-packed life in service to Him.

* * * * * *

“The fool has said his heart, ‘There is no God.’”
My young wife and I had just had a fight about my needing to serve God. She had reminded my about my “Plymire promise.” I swore and declared, “My kids will never be preacher’s kids!”
But from that moment on--subtle and sure--under my anger I knew that one day I’d stop trying to tell God He didn’t exist and serve Him.

* * * * * *
“Will you trust me with your life?”
Many times I heard the Holy Spirit whisper this appeal deep in my soul.
I finally said, "Yes!"

* * * * * *

“I’ll go where you want me to go, dear Lord…”
And then I heard my voice and my heart sing these words many times at the altar. Again, God knew I meant it.

* * * * * *

“Jean, I made a commitment tonight.”
I told my wife on the way home from a missions service at our church. I had promised God I’d answer the call He gave me on Brother Plymire’s lap.
“So did I. Is yours about missions?” she answered.
That old blue 65 Chevy van was filled with electricity as we drove on home knowing our lives had just made a dramatic turn.