Dear Diary,
Another day is over, and what a glorious day it has been! How wonderful it is to be a minister on a day like this. How overwhelmed with gratitude to God I feel. I see and hear so many encouraging things as a minister that the laymen do not have the opportunity to witness. Surely I should be a much better man than I am. How great will be my accountability to God because of these added blessings!
It has been a full day. After my morning devotions and a few items of business and a few phone calls, the telephone rang.
It was Mrs._________ . Last week she told me the news. Her husband had leased out his place of business. Now I can cross that prayer request off my prayer list. Last Sabbath was in church for the first time. "Will you pray now that he'll make the full surrender and be baptized?" she said this morning.
"He came to church last week without my even suggesting it!" What wonderful news! What a wonderful way to begin the day. I will pray!
There were so many pressing calls that the morning hours found me visiting. A Mr. had called , the church and wanted literature to read. I called last week, but he was not at home and I left a book for him. In the meantime he called and said he was sorry to miss me, and would like me to call again. I met the appointment this morning.
What a wonderful visit we had! I have read The Great Controversy, Daniel and Revelation, The Desire of Ages, and God Speaks to Modern Man," he remarked. "How do you go about joining the Adventist Church?' He was thrilled, he was radiant. The sparkle of conversion and full surrender to the last-day message was in his eyes. He was in his first love.
"How did you find the message?" I asked.
"Pastor Harris held some meetings in Little Rock. When he advertised in the paper that he would answer the question 'Millions now dead—where are they?' I decided to go. I went a few times. Pastor from the meetings visited some neighbors, and I was there a few times. I owe my finding the message to Pastor Harris and Pastor .
"I baptized both Pastor and his wife," I said. I felt a glow of warmth in my heart. Another soul had found the Saviour. I must admit that I also felt some warmth of satisfaction in that I had bap- tized the minister who had a part in this man's conversion.
Then I went to see Mrs. . She had fallen and cracked her hip. A kind member had taken her in because she didn't want her to be alone. But she remarked to me, I am never alone. This year is the first camp meeting I have missed since Pastor A. V. Olson baptized me in Duluth in 1910. If you ever see him, tell him where I am. I know he'd love to know. I don't know what I would have done without Jesus through all these many years. I've never felt alone." What a wonderful testi mony! What precious food for my soul from this mother in Israel. How privileged
I am to have these experiences that strengthen my faith in Jesus.
My next stop was the hospital. A patient lay dying of cancer. She is a member of the church. She has attended only two or three times in the four years that I have been pastor here. I have visited with her in her home several times, but she seemed cold. Her daughter is in the academy and is sweet Christian in spite of home influences The mother has not been living in harmony with our principles. Her name has never been removed from the church books, because we did not want to hurt her daughter.
I prayed all the way to the hospital as I drove along. Once I had dillydallied and failed to talk to a patient who needed salvation. There had been reasons, but not good enough ones to take away the self-condemnation that lay within me as I had conducted her funeral service. If only hadn't delayed so long. Lord, I must talk to this woman today," I prayed. "Pleas open the way."
The nurse was in her room when I entered. The patient broke into tears. "O Pastor , I'm so glad you have come," she said. She thought the Lord was punishing her for her sins. She wanted to give her heart to Jesus again. "Once I had no home of my own, no nice clothes, no car, none of the material things; but I had Jesus and I had peace. O Pastor can't you help me to find that peace again? The Holy Spirit drew very near and rested mightily upon us. We talked of God's faithfulness and His anxiety to forgive us, o faith and feeling, of her daughter.
I told her of her daughter's purchasing The Desire of Ages. "I want it for my mother's birthday," the daughter had told me. The mother was touched. "It's wonderful what a Christian education has do for her," she said. "You know, before I g sick, when I went to work at five in the morning, she would get up and eat breakfast with me just so she could read the Bible to me."
We had prayer. She asked for someth to read. I'll take something tomorrow. think I'll take Steps to Christ and read from the chapter on “Faith and acceptance,” and get her to pray and ask God for forgiveness and thank Him for it, believing that He forgives.
Oh, yes, one thing more. She was in terrific pain. As she cried out with agony of soul for the assurance of forgiveness, and I read her the promises again, I know she felt that she was taking the hand of Jesus. What a responsibility I have as a minister, what a precious responsibility!
Then there's that daughter. What a testimony she is for Christian education in spite of her home influences. What a testimony to what the Lord can do with a life. If the Lord can do that with her limited opportunities for Christian experience and growth, how much more I should be growing with all my opportunities.
Dinnertime. A report to my family. Four sets of eyes with tears in them. My wife aid, "Another modern-day miracle!" as I told the story of the dying lady. What a reward it is as a minister to be married to strong Christian character. Many men are not so fortunate as to be able to choose a wife from the very cream of womanhood.
After dinner I met an appointment with Mrs. to arrange for the rental of the women's clubhouse for meetings this fall. All the arrangements have been made. I'm beginning now to pray that the Lord will open the hearts of the people. With the experience with Mr. ____________ so fresh in my mind from this morning, I am especially eager to preach the Word from the public desk. Who can tell the results of evangelistic preaching and how far reaching they will be? Pastor Harris will never know of this man's conversion unless he should chance to read these words, but by the man's own testimony Pastor Harris and Pastor were chiefly responsible for his conversion. After all, the Bible does promise, "My word . . . shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please."
A call at a different hospital. Then another call on Mrs. at her home. She is recovering from a heart attack. I was called out at four the other morning when she had the attack. Today she was worried because she hadn't made out her will, so we talked about it. She hadn't made it because she didn't know how to do it. Her real problem was over how to leave some to the church and the right amount to relatives. She was trying to work it out on the basis of amounts. At some time I had been told that it is best to do it by percentages. In this case that suggestion was just the thing that cleared the smoke away. How happy she was that I had solved her problem. How happy I am that the Lord can control all our faculties and help us to say the right thing at the right time.
The gate clicked behind me as I drove my car to Juvenile Hall. "This place would be hard to get out of," I thought. The boy I went to see had stolen a car, narrowly escaped killing two pedestrians, and totally demolished the car His mother had been a member, but had slipped away. She asked me to call on the boy. He would be transferred to another city in a day or two. I might have the opportunity to make only this one call. I must make it count.
We talked about many things. I finally asked him about Jesus, and talked to him about giving his heart to Jesus. "This is the only way to real happiness in life and the assurance of eternal life," I told him. He was serious and sober. I'm praying that someday soon he will find his way„ and that he will think much about what was said. Poor boy. How fortunate I am not to have a background like his. What a challenge is mine to work with God in reaching these wayward youth
It has been a full day. Every day is not like this. Some days bring fewer joys and more sorrows. Some days present fewer favorable circumstances to strengthen faith, awaken love, and cause me to grow. But every day has its rewards. The rewards of being a minister are truly great!
