IT ALL began one morning during chapel exercises on the campus of Pacific Union College in the fall of 1932. I saw a young lady standing near me who didn't have a songbook. So I handed her one. A year later we were married. It doesn't take much to get big things started. And important things too! How glad I am that I handed my wife that songbook, for you see, she is a very big part of my life.
Evelyn is the Bible instructor at the Washington Adventist Hospital, where she has worked for about ten years. When we met at Pacific Union College she was taking the Bible worker's course, as they called it in those days. And I think she was the best student in the class. But Evelyn isn't really a theologian. Time and time again she comes to me begging me to help her give a Bible study on the 2300 days. I go with her obligingly and get a big thrill out of meeting the people in their homes.
Evelyn often says to me, "They bring these young ladies to me for training. These girls expect me to give them a lot of rules about psychology and theological explanations of Bible texts. But I have found that in Bible work the main thing is to love the people. If they know that you love them, half the battle is won."
And it is true. One of the best qualifications for her work is her intense interest in people. Wherever and whenever there is a problem she has a way of becoming involved, thus through her lifetime she has learned many things about human nature. Being a dedicated Christian woman, she also knows something about the power of God to emancipate people from their problems and their sins.
But it is more than loving people, it is being alert. One day a young woman telephoned the hospital for information about Adventists. My wife instantly recognized an opportunity. She suggested a visit, and that was the beginning of a series of Bible studies. This young woman and her husband are now baptized, and active leaders in their local church.
Intuition is a real help in Bible work. My wife thought she detected an interest in one of the patients she had visited in the hospital, and called her by telephone to let her know of our interest in her continuing health. This, too, developed into a series of Bible studies with this woman and her son, who was a first mate on a cargo ship. It was a thrilling experience to watch this interest develop into two remarkable con versions. Both are now members, and this son has since become the captain of a ship, with a license to sail the high seas anywhere in the world.
Recently it was my privilege to baptize two Jewish ladies, mother and daughter, both the result of tender, loving care and interest on the part of my wife. The interest had been developed by a Christian physician who told my wife about them. She began her relent less and persistent effort to lead them to Christ. It was a long, hard battle but God gave the victory.
Satan sometimes attempts to interfere with my wife's work. One Sabbath afternoon we received a telephone call. The voice was a woman's, trembling and weak. "I am going to die; I have taken an overdose of medicine. Good-by." My wife recognized the voice, and immediately we rushed to her home. Fortunately, by a miracle of God, she pulled through. When she was herself again, she recognized in Christianity something that she needed. She had seen in my wife the likeness of Christ, and she wanted to become a Christian.
So I am married to a Bible instructor, and I am proud of it! She prizes the love of Christ in her heart, and she makes this love known in her own quiet, lovely way. Is not this, more than anything else, the essential prerequisite for the Bible instructor?
