11/30/2018
I've added part 3 to my earlier posts. Here's the whole thing.
Three Descriptive Words
Some time back, I was asked to come up with three words that described my relationship with God. No preparation time allowed. Here they are: ongoing, challenging, and encouraging.
Part 1 - Ongoing
I made an “entry level” commitment to Christ in 1958. The precursor to the commitment came as a result of dating the young lady to whom I have been married 58 years and counting. When you dated Judy, you went to her church. It was a church that very clearly preached the Gospel and God used those Sundays as part of His plan to draw me to Himself. Despite the good beginning, my spiritual growth for the next few years could be best described as a plateau. The flat line continued until I graduated from college and we moved to Northern Illinois, where God graciously led us to a congregation that provided ample opportunities (including excellent Bible-centered preaching) for spiritual growth. In addition to the pulpit ministry, God also placed several godly men in my life in mentoring roles. One mentor in particular kept exhorting (my term was “nagging”) me to begin leading a Bible study in our home. His persistence won out over my excuses (and self-doubts). Maybe you can identify with this process. I walked across the street to invite the first neighbors, hoping that (a) they weren’t home or (b) they would decline. But they, and several other neighbors accepted and we began a weekly study. Also, as a “rookie” Bible study leader, it was a great asset to be part of a congregation which included several seminary professors, who provided instruction and encouragement. Eventually, one Bible study led to two, meeting on alternate Thursday nights.
At the same time, I also taught 6th graders in Sunday School. For this ministry, I had a “secret weapon,” our pastor’s wife who taught 5th graders. She consistently sent me students primed to learn the Word.
The marvelous part of the ongoing is the reality that it is rooted in the Lord Jesus Christ. As He said in Hebrews 13:5, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” And He has not.
God’s ongoing activity in my life was far from finished. While I was content, leading the Bible studies and teaching Sunday School, I had a lot to learn and although I didn’t know it, “ongoing” would shortly move into “challenging.” More about that in my next post.
Part 2 - Challenging
A while back, I began a series of three little articles based on three words that described my relationship with God. I wrote Part 1 - Ongoing in February. Part 2 was intended to appear sooner, but life happened. In any event, here you are:
Had I been asked, I would have responded that leading two home Bible studies and serving the church in other capacities was sufficiently challenging. As so often is the case, God didn’t ask my opinion, but continued on with His plans for my life, which included a very challenging shift in direction. Understand that the thought of being a cross-cultural missionary was the furthest thing from my mind. The only “push” I initially had could be best described as a restless feeling. I explored the possibility of getting a degree in Christian Ed from a nearby seminary. I went through the interview, was accepted into the program, but the Lord clearly and decisively closed that door. On one hand, I was fine with His decision, as I thoroughly enjoyed the Bible studies and discipleship and fellowship in my church. On the other hand, there was that restless feeling, still hanging around. I explored in a different direction. My college degree was a B. S. in Pharmacy, and it seemed reasonable to see if I could use that training in a ministry setting. It would be exaggerating to say I explored every avenue, but I contacted more than a few organizations, none of which needed a pharmacist. Once again, I was ready to continue on with my present ministries, but I made one last (I thought) contact. While that organization didn’t need a pharmacist, they did know of one place that did - a mission hospital in Liberia. I was given a name and phone number to contact. However, my first step was to take volume “L” of the encyclopedia to find out where Liberia was. I was surprised to find it located in West Africa, but I followed through with the contact. Cutting the proverbial long story short, a few months later, I, and my family found ourselves on a flight to Monrovia, Liberia where I would become the Director of Pharmacy at ELWA Hospital. The term “rookie” is woefully inadequate to describe us as we walked off the plane at Roberts International Airport in 1973. It is doubtful that any greener missionaries than we could be found, but God was gracious, our co-workers at ELWA were gracious and we gradually learned the culture of both Liberia and the missionary community. Thankfully, God had providentially provided training during my employment at a major pharmaceutical manufacturer that was exactly what was needed at ELWA Hospital to accomplish the goals my Medical Director had in mind.
Let me unpack that employment training comment a bit as it illustrates the providence and foreknowledge of God. I began working for Abbott Laboratories in 1965 and was enrolled in a program that exposed me to 13 different departments in the company over a 13-month period. I learned how IV solutions, oral liquids, ointments/creams, and small volume injectables were made. I spent time in materials managements, learning how to anticipate stock needs and control inventory. I found that I would need every one of these skills in the duties I was being asked to perform at ELWA Hospital. But you need to fast-forward several decades with me. One Sunday, I saw a retired Abbott employee in our church lobby, one of my trainers in that 13-month program. We talked, caught up on one another’s lives a bit and then I commented on how useful that training program had been and asked how did it go for others who had been through it. My friend’s response was that I was the only one who went through that particular program. I was floored, but also filled with praise for God’s goodness enabling us to meet the challenges of the needs of a mission hospital and adjusting to a new culture.
Stay tuned for Part 3. Blessings.
Part 3 - Encouraging
Apologies for the long delay between Parts 2 and 3. One of my frequent comments is that I had more free time when I had my day job!
Life in a broken world not infrequently leads to disappointments and frustration. We need encouragement. It comes in different forms. In part one, I shared how the encouragement of a godly man motivated me to begin leading home Bible studies. Another input of encouragement came early in the process of preparing to go to Liberia as missionaries. The founder of ELWA Hospital, where I would serve, was attending a medical conference in Chicago. He came to our home, with slides and stories, but even more, he came with the assurance that God would enable us to do the work He was calling us to do. As I alluded in Part 2, our mission colleagues in Liberia were incredibly patient and encouraging (and, I suspect, more than a little frustrated at times) as we “learned the ropes” of mission life and adjusting to a new culture. But it wasn’t just our missionary colleagues. We were blessed by the friendship and support of several Liberian families who played a major role in our not only learning the culture, but learning to enjoy and appreciate it and, not incidentally, avoiding making dumb mistakes.
The godly man from church had moved on to another role in another state, but we stayed in touch. He encouraged me to become involved in Bible Study Fellowship (BSF), leading to a 21-year ministry as Teaching Leader in a men’s BSF class in Illinois. The primary encouragement during those years was not only seeing the lives of men positively changed through the study of Scripture, but, not infrequently, their marriages, jobs, and relationships affected by the Scriptures.
I would be remiss if I did not include my all-time champion encourager, my wife. I would often hear from her words to the effect of, “You can do this.” At times, I wrestled with accepting the encouragement, often because of self-doubt. Did I also mention she was/is persistent? Her encouragement was a major factor in my enrolling in an M. A. program in seminary at age 65, and completing the program 5 years later with the “honor” of being the oldest person in that years’ graduating class.
The last point of encouraging I’ll share began with a brief conversation in the hallway of my home church where one of the pastors asked if I’d consider coming on staff. That point of encouragement came directly from the Lord. One of the key reasons I entered seminary was to prepare “in case” God would open that door. My wife’s reaction? No surprise. “You can do this.” I’ve been on the pastoral staff about 3 years (I joke that I’m not the senior pastor; I’m the pastor who’s a senior.). My fellow staff members are consistently encouraging and it’s clear that this was God’s next step for me.
Let me close by asking you to check out your life and see where God has been ongoing, challenging, and encouraging. I suspect you’ll find more examples than you might think. I also want to encourage you to listen when you hear (from a spouse, friend or God) the words, “You can do this.” The adventure is worth the risk and retirement is overrated.
Blessings,
Bil
