God's tools for shaping lives

In pre-television America, reading became and remains my favorite pastime. I am not sure if my parents took the preacher’s sermons about the demonic influence of television seriously, or if we were too poor to own the newly emerging entertainment vehicle. Books and a library card became my most valued possessions in the 1950's. As a boy I rode my bicycle over one mile to the Benjamin Franklin Branch of the Detroit Public Library, near the corner of Gratiot and Six Mile Road. There I checked out a stack of books, rode home with the bike’s basket loaded with new material, and stretched out on the living room sofa where I entered a world full of adventure and vicariously experienced another person’s life. By the time I entered high school I had read most of the biographies on the shelves of the branch library. The stories of presidents, military leaders, American legends like Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone, inventors, or world class athletes all captivated me. Between biographies I read and fell in love with Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.

In that season of my life, a small, but important collection of books mysteriously appeared near the place I read. Biographies of great Christians materialized. I became acquainted with C. T. Studd, D. L. Moody, Charles Borden, David Livingston, Adoniram Judson and others. The stories of faith and sacrifice captivated me. I was introduced to books authored by Dr. Oswald J. Smith. Oswald J. Smith was the pastor of world class missionary giving-sending People’s Church in Toronto, Canada. A missionary statesman and strategist who lived from 1889 until 1986, Smith was a leading proponent of the indigenous church principle long before the strategy was popular. He was a prolific writer whose books, hymns, pamphlets and poems continue to influence readers around the world. A Passion for Souls and David Brainerd: Man of Prayer and others etched new ideas and dreams into my young and pliable spirit. They caused me to question what endeavor was worthy of my life. Dr. Smith’s books became instruments of the Holy Spirit. God spoke through them.

This morning I finished reading Oswald J. Smith’s book, The Cry of the World, for the second or third time. Some language is quaint and some names of nations and people groups have changed since the 50's, but Smith’s ideas remain powerful. For instance, he quoted Gandhi’s grandson, “The missionaries taught us to read, but the communists gave us the books.” While expanding on the importance and power of the Gospel, Dr. Smith added, “We have been putting our money into buildings instead of the message. It is the message that is dynamite. ‘The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation.’”

As a teen, Oswald J. Smith came to speak at Brightmoor Tabernacle at Fenkel and Lamphere Streets on Detroit’s West side. I will always remember the missionary appeal that night as Dr. Smith addressed a large crowd gathered for the youth rally, “Why Should Anyone Hear the Gospel Twice?” He started with the occasion of Jesus feeding the 5000 and urged his young listeners to consider that Jesus fed all those present until all were satisfied. You may hear a portion of that unforgettable message at http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=8109727561. In the 1980's I contacted The People’s Church to inquire if any of Oswald J. Smith’s books were available for sale. Dr. Smith sent me a personal note with the books! The note is one of my prized possessions.

Between 1962 and 1966 I attended Friday night Campus Missions Fellowship service in the chapel of Central Bible College. Missionaries Melvin Hodges, Wesley Hurst, J. Philip Hogan, Otis Keener, and Mark Buntain were the voices of the Spirit that called out for surrender to the will of God. I was moved deeply, challenged thoroughly, and surrendered to every appeal as fully as I knew how. My senior year Pat was my Friday night date and we knelt at the altar together. God was forming our lives.

This week we have been exploring the tensions between Calvinism and Arminianism, or the tensions between God’s foreknowledge and man’s free will. I am amazed how God has used His Word, life experiences, books, songs, sermons and friends to weave his desires and plans into my life. I am grateful that He has shaped, and is forming my life and is putting His Spirit within, the Spirit which brings me to a “Yes!” to His purposes and plans.