Episode | 365 Christian Men

May 7. Charlie Plys. On this date in 2016, Charlie started a new job at a golf course, and that job provides the setting for today’s story.

You don’t always need the right answer; sometimes you just need to listen.

At the golf course in Minnesota one Monday afternoon, Charlie Plys and his coworker Thomas were bartending. Generally speaking, bartenders can be good listeners, and Charlie was exceptional; he listened with purpose.

“I’m done with the church. I’m done with God,” Thomas said to the other coworkers around him.

This line of conversation caught Charlie’s ear. He, too, had been hurt by the church—a church he’d been deeply involved with for many years, even employed at. And the sting still lingered.

Charlie knew what it was like to not be heard, and he also knew what it was like for someone to listen him and to value what he had to say. He’d experienced both sides of this scenario and learned a valuable lesson—men are not God. God was different from man.

God was good.

“Done with God forever, huh?” Charlie wiped the counter. “How’s that workin’ out for ya?”

Thomas had gone through addiction and overcome it. He was a winner in a huge battle. But today, he felt hurt. “I’m done,” he said. “I don’t need to be looked down on when I go to church because of what I’ve been through. I don’t need to be preached at and told how bad I am. I already know that.”

“You’re right,” Charlie said. These ideas were familiar to Charlie. “What you need is some hope.” What he also needed was a listening ear, and someone to help him see that man does not equal God.

Over the next many weeks, Charlie and Thomas talked a lot. Charlie soon discovered that Thomas’s two adult kids were also struggling, even getting into the same tough lifestyle Thomas had just escaped.

“Do you want your kids to be done with God, too? Like you are?” Charlie asked. “If they’re struggling like you say they are, you might want to encourage them to move toward Him, not away from Him.”

Thomas shrugged, obviously unsure if he could trust God or not.

“What are your kids’ names?” Charlie asked. “I’d like to write their names down and pray for them.”

Thomas looked surprised. “You’d do that?”

“I would.”

And he did. Charlie wrote their names on a sticky note and put them near his computer, and every time he looked at them, he said a few simple prayers over Thomas’s kids. Every single day.

Over time, Thomas talked; Charlie listened and kept reminding Thomas that Jesus can be a true friend, someone he can trust, and someone who won’t look down on him because of the things he’d done in the past.

And over time, Thomas changed: He went from giving up on God and church, to being willing to give them both another try.

Within a year of their first conversation, Thomas got a new job and moved away, but he left with a willingness to try again with God. He even said that after his move, he was going to find a new church.

“God’s way is perfect. All the Lord’s promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to him for protection,” (Psalm 18:30, NLT).

Have you ever been allowed to be a listener for someone who needed to talk? You don’t always need the right answer; sometimes you just need to listen.

Charlie Plys’s story is based on interviews in July and August, 2019.

Story read by Joel Carpenter

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May 6. Milton Hershey. When Hershey was 26, he was broke. But eight years later, he sold his caramel-making company for a million dollars and had a town named after himself.

He founded The Hershey Chocolate Company, and in 1907 he created the Hershey Kiss. During World War II, Hershey’s machines were switched over to produce Ration D Bars for the military—chocolate candy that wouldn’t melt in a pack and could keep a person going for a day.

Now—every day—more than 60 million Hershey’s Kisses are produced. Today’s story lets us in on the kind of man Hershey was.

Live a life that matters, or waste it on things that don’t.

Milton Hershey and his wife Kitty sat quietly in a well-appointed hotel room in Germany disappointed that a second trip to Europe hadn’t yielded a cure for Kitty’s worsening neurological disorder. She’d always be the love of his life. But now some days were more challenging than others, and walking required two canes. Some days she became so weak she was completely consigned to bed.

Now, here in the hotel, who knew how much time Milton and Kitty had to share their blessings? He told her, “I think it would be a sin to die a rich man,” he said. The words seemed to reverberate in the room as if they’d been ringing in Milton’s conscience for some time. Great wealth brought great responsibility.

Milton wanted to leave a lasting impact on the world for good. He hoped Kitty would agree. Perhaps the words of Jesus came to mind, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36, KJV).

Milton’s wealth accumulated over the years producing caramels and milk-chocolate bars. But riches hadn’t changed him. He’d been born among God-fearing Mennonites on a farm in Pennsylvania, and preferred simple living—straw hats, plain clothes, and honest hard work.

Now Milton Hershey wanted to do more than build more than towns and businesses. He wanted to build lives.

Kitty’s heart ached as she looked into her husband’s wistful eyes. He’d always been inspired by business, but who would inherit his wealth? Suddenly God gave her an idea.

“We should use our wealth to help orphaned children! We could open a boarding school for orphans right in town.”

Milton’s eyes lit up. He loved the idea. They’d build and staff a school in town for orphaned boys, an industrial school where boys would get a chance to learn and grow and develop skills—a school where Christian values would be instilled!

In 1909, their dream became a reality, and the school filled quickly. Milton and Kitty signed the founding trust for the school together and were involved in every aspect of its administration. The boys soon came to be known in town as “Milton’s boys.”

Then one day in 1915, Milton walked down a flight of stairs to get Kitty a drink she’d asked for. She’d been suffering from a severe bronchial infection. Suddenly, her nurse stepped out of the room and called him to come back. Kitty had slipped away to heaven.

Grief-stricken, Milton was left to ponder the best way to honor her.

On November 13, 1918 Milton secretly met with his lawyer and signed over 90% of his fortune to the Hershey Industrial School for orphans—over sixty-million-dollars’ worth of stock held in perpetuity as a trust for the school, which is still in operation today—changing lives.

We all have a choice. Live a life that matters, or waste it on things that don’t.

Janet & Geoff Benge, Heroes of History, Milton Hershey, More than Chocolate, Emerald Books, P.O. Box 635, Lynnwood, WA 98046 2012 Janet and Geoff Benge

https://hersheystory.org/milton-hershey-history/ The Hershey Story, the Museum on Chocolate Avenue Milton S. Hershey, the Man Who Started it All, 2015-2020

Milton Hershey School website – https://www.mhskids.org/about/historyhttps://www.mhskids.org/success-stories/william-harding-78/

Story read by Daniel Carpenter
Story written by Toni M Babcock https://www.facebook.com/toni.babcock.1

Would You Like to Learn More About This Man?

How the Hershey’s Kiss Got Its Name

For the first 14 years, Hershey’s Kisses were wrapped by hand. But in 1921, the process was automated, and when a machine deposited a glop of chocolate onto the conveyer belt, it made a sound like “Kisses,” and that’s how the candy got its name.

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May 5. Brother Yun. The first year he was a Christian, Brother Yun helped 2000 people find the Lord. About six years later, the arrests and torture began. He was arrested three times, and the third time, on this date in 1997, Brother Yun miraculously escaped a maximum-security prison.

In 2001, Yun left China and sought asylum in Germany, where he founded “Back to Jerusalem,” a Chinese missionary organization. Yun has written four books, urging people to trust God to do what He has promised.

Impossible situations require persistent prayer.

When the teen who came to be known as Brother Yun was 16, he didn’t know much about Jesus. His mother had been a believer, but had drifted.

One night, his mother struggled to care for his father who was dying from cancer. She gathered her five children and said that Jesus would save them. As a group, they prayed all night for their father.

In the morning, Yun’s father was healed.

Yun’s mother returned to following Christ, and Yun knew that there existed a powerful God who answered the prayers of His people.

Soon after this, the Lord told Yun to be His witness “to the south and the west.”

Now he was desperate to know more about Jesus. He said, “My mother told me ‘Jesus is the Son of God, who died on the cross for us, taking all ours sins and sicknesses. He recorded all his teachings in the Bible.’”

There was just one problem with this.

“I asked if there were any words of Jesus left that I could read. She replied, ‘All his words are gone. There is nothing left of his teaching.’”

This was during China’s Cultural Revolution when bibles could not be found. In fact, if anyone was caught with a Bible, “it would be burned, and the owner’s whole family would be severely beaten.”

But Brother Yun so badly wanted to read the Word of God. So he did what all desperate men must do: he fasted and prayed for a miracle.

“Every morning and afternoon I ate and drank nothing. I cried like a hungry child to his heavenly Father. For the next one hundred days I prayed for a Bible, until I could bear it no more.”

Thankfully, before Yun lost his mind, he received a vision from the Lord.

In the vision “a kind old man was pulling a large cart full of fresh bread. When the old man saw me, he asked, ‘Are you hungry?’ I replied, ‘Yes. I have nothing to eat.’ The old man took a red bag of bread from his trolley and said, ‘You must eat it immediately.’ When I put the bun in my mouth, it instantly turned into a Bible!”

Of course, when he opened his eyes and realized that it had only been a vision, he was distraught. Seeing their son’s anguish, his mother and father cried out to God, too. They begged the Father to give their son a Bible. Now that the whole family had united with him in prayer for his Bible, would God disappoint them?

“Suddenly I heard a faint knock at the door. A very gentle voice called my name. I immediately recognized the voice as the same one I had heard in the vision. One man held a red bag in his hand. My heart raced as I opened the bag and held in my hands my very own Bible!”

Brother Yun later found out that around the time he had begun praying for a Bible, an evangelist in a faraway village had seen Brother Yun in a vision, and the Lord had told him to give Brother Yun his Bible.

And how did Brother Yun respond to this miracle?

“From that moment on I prayed to Jesus with faith-filled prayer. I fully trusted that the words in the Bible were God’s words to me. I devoured its teachings like a hungry child.”

“Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?” (Jeremiah 32:27 ESV).

Do you need a miracle in your life? Is there something you lack that only God can provide? Take a moment today to ask the Father. You’ll be amazed at what he can do. Impossible situations require persistent prayer.

Hattaway, Paul and Brother Yun. The Heavenly Man. Monarch Books, 2002.

https://www.gods-kingdom-ministries.net/daily-weblogs/2007/03-2007/brother-yun-gets-a-bible/

Story read by Peter R Warren, https://www.peterwarrenministries.com/

“I did not really suffer for Jesus while in prison—I was with Jesus,” he writes in his book. “The ones who really suffer are those who never experience God’s presence.”
~Brother Yun

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May 4. Theodore Weld. In 1833, Weld helped found the American Anti-Slavery Society. And during the next decade, he advised members of the United States Congress about issues regarding anti-slavery.

By 1834, when he was 31 years old, Weld was advocating for immediate abolition, as opposed to colonization, which was the more popular anti-slavery position of the early abolitionist movement in America.

He went to a seminary in Cincinnati, and he and his fellow seminary students did more than talk about racial equality; they acted. They devoted themselves to helping Cincinnati’s Black population, and Weld took a position as the American Anti-Slavery Society’s agent for Ohio, a position that led to him become known as the “most mobbed man in America.”

Weld fought slavery until 1865, when the Thirteenth Amendment ended the evil practice. In the interim, he established a fully integrated school in New Jersey—a school that accepted students of all races and both genders. On this date in 1839, Weld publish the story of more than two million slaves. Here’s his story.

A man who stands against evil despite personal cost can change destiny.

In 1810, six-year-old Theodore Weld was sitting in the common-school classroom, when a new student joined the class. His name was Jerry, and he was African American.

The teacher immediately separated Jerry from the rest of the class and spoke down to him, as if he were below the others.

As young as he was, Theodore was the son of a minister, and he knew that the way the teacher was treating Jerry wasn’t right. It was scary to go against the teacher, especially when he was one of the smallest ones in class.

But Theodore spoke up and asked his teacher if he could sit next to Jerry. He couldn’t just watch someone be mistreated and not say anything about it. It was as if keeping still would mean he was part of the evil thing going on. And he wasn’t. He knew God loved Jerry and him the same.

This lit a fire in Theodore—the knowledge that God loves everyone equally. Even the outcast. Especially the outcast. So Theodore would love the outcast.

So 24 years later, Theodore showed up in Cincinnati, Ohio, where slavery had been abolished in 1802. But across the river in slave-holding Kentucky, thousands of slaves had their hearts and minds set on escaping across the river to Ohio. There, they thought, they’d be free. They’d be treated differently, better.

But Ohio wasn’t the promised land they’d thought it would be. While Ohio had abolished slavery, escaped slaves were not welcome.

Still, determined slaves did escape to Cincinnati, and they gathered in ramshackle communities and tried to make lives for themselves. But as their population increased, the white Cincinnatians’ tolerance decreased. In “packs,” whites invaded black neighborhoods, burned their homes, and beat the people.

Theodore took a stand against these vigilantes, and he became friends with the black community. Theodore stepped in and helped them, got close and accepted them. The way God accepts us.

In 1834, Theodore gathered a group of fellow seminary students to stand up for the immediate abolition of slavery in the United States. He organized a wave of speeches and debates over 18 days to convert fellow students and teachers toward immediate abolition.

But it cost him. The majority of people around him didn’t agree with his abolition-of-slavery policy—not for the whole country. The minister, who led his seminary, thought Theodore’s activities so scandalous that he tried to stop him.

In the end, Theodore left the seminary, and devoted himself fully to the American Anti-Slavery Society, traveling and lecturing that slavery was a national sin.

At a time when slavery was running rampant in the South no matter what anybody said or did, Theodore remained focused on the truth that all men are created equal and in the image of God. He grabbed hold of God’s heart for these people and spoke up for them.

But what he did incited mobs. With their canes, pro-slavery activists beat Theodore. They stoned him. His crusade to treat the “outcasts” like human beings was so vocal that he became known as the most-mobbed man in America.

Worth it. These people were created in God’s image.

“Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them;…Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise,” (Ephesians 5:11, 15, NASB).

Ask Jesus where you can make a positive difference today, even if it means going against the status quo. A man who stands against evil despite personal cost can change destiny.

https://www.nationalabolitionhalloffameandmuseum.org/theodore-dwight-weld.html

http://slavenorth.com/ohio.htm

Story read by Joel Carpenter

Theodore Weld helped found the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1833. And during the next decade, he 1840s advised members of the United States Congress about issues regarding anti-slavery.

Weld fought slavery until 1865, when the Thirteenth Amendment ended it. In the interim, he established a fully integrated school in New Jersey—a school that accepted students of all races and both genders.

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May 3. Don Richardson. At the age of 17, Don Richardson dedicated his life to Christ. After he graduated from bible college, he and his wife moved to Papua, Indonesia, where—for the next 15 years—they served the Sawi tribe.

Serving the Sawi was a soft assignment except for the prevalence of malaria, dysentery, hepatitis, and frequent violence. And the Sawi were headhunters. Cannibalistic headhunters. That could slow a missionary down. But not Don Richardson. Listen to this.

When tested, sometimes we have to speak up to see God show up.

Don Richardson and his wife Carol were drawn to the window of their treehouse home in a small village in the interior of Netherlands New Guinea. On the ground below, someone wailed, and on their shoulders, several Sawi natives carried a limp body. In the distance, a single voice cried out the news. Warahai was dead.

Richardson went to the house where the Sawi had taken Warahai’s body. Sobbing friends and relatives crowded around him. Determined to revive him, they pinched him, they burned him, and they shouted at him.

But Warahai didn’t open his eyes.

But Richardson saw the man was still breathing, he pressed his fingers to Warahai’s wrist and felt a pulse. Full of excitement, Richardson tried to tell them Warahai was not dead, but the Sawi gathered around only gave him blank stares. He couldn’t understand why.

One of the men explained, “Warahai is still breathing because he is in a condition of ‘apparent life’ called aumamay. Sometimes a person’s body keeps functioning for a while after his soul has departed. But it doesn’t last long.” They believed that if he were alive, he would have woken when they pinched and burnt him.

Then the sorceress Aham confirmed this supposed fact.

“Aham has told you, in the name of the demons, that Warahai is already dead.” Richardson’s voice boomed. “In the name of Jesus, I tell you he is still alive!”

“Give us time to pray over him and treat him. If he recovers…” Richardson hesitated, looking at the cold, lifeless-looking body, but continued, “If Warahai recovers, if he actually opens his eyes and talks to you and takes food, then you will know I have told you the truth in Jesus’ name. But if his pulse stops, you can believe Aham, if you want to!”

Some of the men laughed at Richardson. One commanded the body be prepared for burial. But Richardson spoke up again and claimed the body until the pulse stopped completely.

So he and his wife stayed with Warahai and treated him with medicine and prayed continually.

While they cared for the unconscious man, the next several days crept by and tested the strength of Richardson’s faith. Sleepless nights, angry relatives, a scare when Warahai’s pulse disappeared, and severe doubts—all seemed to make a mocking cloud around Richardson’s head. If God intended to heal Warahai, He would have healed him by now.

By the sixth day, Richardson decided to stop the medicine. Using it on a man who was going to die was unnecessarily depleting the medicine supply.

At one point, Carol noted that men in better condition than Warahai had died in hospitals surrounded by adequate medicine and equipment, and that only a miracle could save the man now. They’d rely only on prayer.

The next day, Richardson was taking a break from watching Warahai. Sawi natives were watching him, and shouted. Yelled for Richardson.

Richardson ran back toward the sick room and met some Sawi. “How is he?”

“He’s been talking to us,” the Sawi said sheepishly.

Richardson’s heart leaped for joy. Continuing on toward the storehouse, he found Warahai reclining against his mother’s lap.

“Konahari, Warahai!” Richardson greeted him enthusiastically.

“Konahari,” Warahai said.

The onlookers sat in still-shocked silence.

At the in-your-face victory, Richardson rejoiced with old and new believers. Surely, God had power to do all things!

And we are sure of this, that he will listen to us whenever we ask him for anything in line with his will” (1 John 5:14 TLB).

Today how can you declare your faith in God’s life-giving power? When tested, sometimes we have to speak up to see God show up.

“Remembering Don Richardson.” Pioneers. Pioneers.org. Accessed August 4, 2020. https://pioneers.org/2018/12/24/remembering-don-richardson.

“Remembering Don Richardson.” Pioneers, https://pioneers.org/2018/12/24/remembering-don-richardson/. Accessed 2 April 2019.

Richardson, Don. Peace Child. Regal Books, 2005.

Story read by Peter R Warren https://www.peterwarrenministries.com/

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May 2. John Hagee is the founder and Senior Pastor of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas, a non-denominational evangelical church with more than 22,000 active members.

Pastor Hagee has served the Lord in the gospel ministry for more than sixty years and reached international audiences through his radio and television ministry. He also founded John Hagee Ministries, which is telecast to the United States and Canada, and the organization Christians United for Israel. On this date in history, Pastor Hagee opened a home for orphans.

In the face of hopelessness, a godly man takes action.

When John was 15, he was the assistant athletic director at a home for orphans. Every day he’d go into work, and he’d see the orphans’ hopelessness. He’d hear the edge in their voices that said they were afraid to hope. He’d feel their loneliness.

Every Friday was visitation day, and they’d talk about who was coming to see them. “My mom is coming to see me” or “My mom is coming to get me in a blue car” or “My dad is coming to see me”—whether anyone was coming or not. Hagee grieved for the little boys hanging on the fence outside and waiting for someone to come.

Week after week they’d wait. But no one came.

Eventually it dawned on them that they were alone. They got it. No one was coming, and no one cared. Sadness overtook them. Rejection became the rule of live.

Hagee knew there had to be solution. “I know we cannot change the world. I know it is an ocean of pain. But it is wrong to see a need and not help that need to the level that God helps you.” He just didn’t know what the solution was yet.

The concrete plan came years later, after Hagee let the Holy Spirit grow and water his heart through his many years of ministry. His vision of providing a home for single mothers in need was finally becoming a reality.

His vision for this home was not just a safe place for mothers, but a place where medical care would be provided, parental training would be given, counseling, educational opportunities and job-placement services would be offered, all with no financial obligations.

Hagee knew the vision had been created in his 15-year-old heart. Replaying the memories of kids hanging on the fence pleading for someone to come solidified his desire for change. “We cannot help them all, but we can help some,” he said. “And we should.”

“Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for the orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you” (James 1:27 NLT).

What can you do for the people in your life who need help? In the face of hopelessness, a godly man takes action.

“Sanctuary Of Hope; Pastor John Hagee’s Heart”. Youtube, 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzypmaLT1Dw. Accessed 24 Apr 2019

Maule, Will. “‘All Completely Free Of Charge’: Pastor Opens Incredible Facility For Pregnant Women In Crisis”. Faithwire, 2018, https://www.faithwire.com/2018/03/15/all-completely-free-of-charge-pastor-opens-incredible-facility-for-pregnant-women-in-crisis/.

Story read by Chuck Stecker
Story written by Abigail Schultz, https://www.instagram.com/abigail_faith65

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May 1. John Brown. John lived in an era known as The Killing Time—a time the government brutally executed people who taught that the Bible was the true rule of a man’s life not the King’s laws.

John was still a boy when the King ripped 300 pastors out of their churches and sent them into exile. Many ended up living in caves and wherever—along the coasts of Scotland—the area traditionally left to robbers and crazies.

Turns out many of those robbers and crazies—having been ministered to by the exiled pastors—found their way into the Kingdom of God. And it was those pastors who taught and nurtured young John. He grew up to be a man of character, so much so that he was nicknamed: Christian Carrier. The neighboring farmers trusted him to take their produce to market, sell it, and bring back the proceeds to them. In his capacity of carrier, he also served as a messenger, often bringing his neighbors news of what their fellow Christians were suffering.

On this date in 1685, John Brown was shot dead for refusing to deny Christ. Here’s what happened.

In Christ, we find faith to live and even the courage to die.

Along the coastal moors of Scotland, three miles northeast of Muirkirk, stands a single pillar. It’s surrounded by a rectangle of mossy stones on a lonely tract of pasture known as Priesthill Farm. Here on May 1, 1685, in front of his wife and children, a Scottish officer shot John Brown—to death.

“What thinkest thou of thy husband now, woman?” the executioner asked.

“I thought ever much good of him, and as much now as ever,” she said.

John Brown was a Scottish Presbyterian, and men like him were called Covenanters.

For the Covenanters, God was the only one who had all right, all authority, all power, and all wisdom. That entitled God to be in charge. And God’s authority superseded any earthly king’s or queen’s or pope’s.

They signed covenants—like sacred contracts—and fiercely held onto their beliefs even when the government demanded they stop preaching, teaching, meeting—being anything but allied with the Church of England.

In 1660, King Charles II reinstituted bishops in the Church of England Many people cooperated with this re-organization, but the Covenanters refused.

To safeguard the truth of the Gospel, they held secret services in isolated fields and private homes. But anyone caught attending risked punishment by death.

The farmer John Brown was smart, and he loved God. He so wanted to be a preacher, but he stammered and found God used him best as a teacher of the young. So he held Bible classes in his barn and welcomed other Covenanters to his home.

He’d already asked his wife if she was willing to lose him for the cause of Christ. He seemed to know he would suffer a martyr’s death, and she was willing. The pastor who’d joined John’s and Isabel’s hands in marriage, warned Isabel to save a sheet to wrap John in, as she would not be able to enjoy him for long.

Early one morning in 1685, John was outside cutting peat, when the muted specter of soldiers broke through the hazy dawn. It was John Graham and his mounted dragoons out hunting Covenanters.

They dismounted and forced John back to his farmhouse, and they ransacked it, looking for weapons and “treasonable papers.” They found what they were looking for and demanded that John take an oath—an oath against the Covenanters, against everything he believed.

John Brown refused. And he didn’t stutter.

Brown prayed aloud. And his powerful prayer was interrupted three times as John Graham appeared anxious to get the execution done.

On the grassy knoll outside the family home, Graham now held a burnished pistol. He allowed John Brown to kiss his family goodbye. A few tearful words were spoken, and John Brown was ready to surrender his life.

Some report the soldiers could not immediately pull the trigger at command—paralyzed by the heart-wrenching scene, so that Graham lifted his pistol first and shot John Brown in the head.

“I have been crucified with Christ: and I myself no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And the real life I now have within this body is a result of my trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me,” (Galatians 2:20, TLB).

If you must suffer a great loss to do God’s will, are you willing to do it at all costs? In Christ, we find faith to live and even the courage to die.

The Killing of John Brown of Preisthill on 1 May, 1685: Walker’s Version

http://reformedanglicans.blogspot.com/2015/05/1-may-1685-ad-scottish-covenanter-john.html, (reference given to Dr. Rusten, Rusten E. Michael and Rusten, Sharon, The One Year Christian History, Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2003.)

The Killing of John Brown of Preisthill on 1 May, 1685: Walker’s Version

Story read by Blake Mattocks
Story written by Toni M Babcock https://www.facebook.com/toni.babcock.1

Would You Like to Learn More About This Man?

This is the title page of a biography of John Brown published in 1839.

At this link, you’ll find photographs of Muirkirk. The church shown here was built in 1631. https://youtu.be/aBep1W57z1U.

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April 30. Scott Rider. Scott is married to Tess, and they have four children. Together they’ve been through battles none of us would wish on our worst enemies. This kind of battle can wreck families and leave parents and children deeply alone.

Or God can show up.

Serious illness can tear a family apart, but a determined decision to rely on God can keep it together.

When Scott’s 18-month-old daughter, Sofia, was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor, his entire world shook.

Normal life was gone.

Instead, it would be full of uncertainty. Bills, exhaustion, the future, and most importantly, Sofia’s well-being, plagued him. And then there were the whispers of another problem, one he had rarely heard of: families falling apart because of childhood cancer.

For Scott, the risks seemed to be morphing into reality at an astounding rate. Time once set aside for playdates and family outings got scarfed up by surgeries, treatments, and trips to hospitals—local and out of state. Some stays lasted weeks, and the strains of constantly being away from home, along with the medical rollercoaster of not knowing which surgery or treatment would bring relief or make things worse—it all weighed heavy on the entire family.

Scott became exhausted. Physically, emotionally, mentally. And his family did, too.

The statistics and stories floated around the hospital. Caregiver stress and the strains of having a child with cancer risked the family being torn apart. With Sofia going through so much, and Scott still having to work and take care of his family while at the hospital, it wouldn’t take long before their family might become another sad statistic.

Scott decided to do something about it. He was not going to stand by and let cancer destroy his family.

Scott and Tess decided to make time for their relationship—despite the constant hospital stays. They’d be together for Sofia’s surgeries, but they’d also find time during the quieter moments to go out on a date.

The stress would not pull them apart, and they made a choice to keep their marriage strong—no matter what monster of an obstacle came at them. They made consistent concerted effort to be open in their communication. They shared their thoughts and feelings, frustrations and hopes. They refused to hold anything back from the other.

Scott knew that understanding his wife’s needs, as well as being honest about his own, would help them stay strong, so together they could be strong for Sofia.

But he didn’t just focus on his marriage. He focused on his kids, too. Sofia’s battle with cancer dragged on for years. When they passed the five-year milestone, Scott knew that Sofia’s younger siblings Nora, Zeke, and Jo would be watching how he handled all the stress.

A difficult diagnosis wasn’t going to stop the family from being there for each other. And Scott made sure the kids could count on that.

It wasn’t just Sofia fighting cancer. They were all fighting cancer, and the kids stepped up to help Scott and Tess. They encouraged Sofia during her down times, kept her happy if she felt sick or sad, and went with her to appointments and treatments.

While on a trip to Florida with other cancer-affected families, Nora met other kids like Sofia. She was amazed to see that Sofia wasn’t alone, yet she also grieved that those kids were suffering, too. Despite only being five years old, Nora was already displaying empathy and kindness to other families who were struggling like her own. She learned she could support others like her parents supported her family.

Sofia wasn’t done with her cancer fight. She still had a long road ahead. But despite the odds against her, Scott and his family remembered that even though God said He’d make all things work out in the end, that didn’t always mean that life was going to be easy or pleasant. Sometimes, life would be hard.

Scott nurtured a realistic, positive mindset, and the family relied on God’s love.

“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up.… A cord of three strands is not quickly broken,” (Ecclesiastes 4: 9–12, NIV).

Think of a time where you faced a great difficulty. Did you face it alone or with others? How might facing struggles with others make the fight more bearable? Serious illness can tear a family apart, but a determined decision to rely on God can keep it together.

“A Little Girl’s Battle with Brain Cancer.” Accessed August 4, 2020. http://www.prayforsofia.com/updates/archives/04-2020

This story is based on an interview with Scott Rider.

Story read by Joel Carpenter

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April 29. Vasily Dimitrievich Zhomiruk. Vasily was of one of the richest men this earth has ever known. You haven’t heard of him? By the end of today’s story, you might forget his name. And that’s the way he would want it. Vasily never asked to have his story told. “I don’t want to take any glory from Christ,” he would say. His mission was to point people, not to himself, but to God. Here’s his story.

When you spend your life sharing Jesus, your life will keep on sharing Him when you’re gone.

The thermometer read 40 degrees, but the Colorado sunshine poured into a large kitchen and made it feel 20 degrees warmer. Crowded with aunts and uncles and cousins, not a corner in the whole house lacked family members some chattering away in English, older ones mostly in Russian.

Vasily sat at the large table, spread with an assortment of Russian foods: salads, grapes, baked fish, and homemade pelmini—Russian dumplings.

When his daughter-in-law walked into the room, she called, “Come kids! It’s time for blinchiki!” From all over the house, family members rushed in and clamored for the sweet dessert.

Vasily closed his eyes as memories of another time and place swept over him. It was in Siberia 1937.

Thirty prisoners were stuffed in a small room with concrete walls and thin mattresses. Straw covered the floor. Thirty-six-year-old Vasily was grateful to have so many bodies in the room; it kept the temperature a little warmer than the 12 degrees outside. Siberia’s reputation for brutal cold did not disappoint.

The closer it got to mealtime at the prison, the quieter it became, as each man’s hunger overtook his attention. Then the meal arrived. Bones and water. And the desperate, sometimes violent, scramble for sustenance ensued.

Vasily was as hungry as anyone else. So hungry the bones looked like a feast, but he didn’t join the mob. He had something these men didn’t; he had access to the richest blessing a person could have; he had a relationship with Jehovah Jireh, God the Provider.

Thinking about the filthy stable where the King of Kings was born, Vasily sat in the straw and watched the men unknowingly devour his share of the meal.

“Fill my belly, Lord!” he prayed, “Fill these men’s bodies with enough to satisfy them, and fill their souls with You. Give me strength, Lord!”

Vasily spent fourteen years in a Siberian labor camp in Communist Russia for the crime of preaching the good news of the gospel. That was the first time. After his release, he joined his wife and children and an underground church. Not long after, he was arrested a second time for sharing the gospel and sent back to Siberia for several years.

Once freed and back in his home city, his little church begged him to be their pastor. He had learned to trust God so well, his faith had grown so strong, they hoped to learn from him. He agreed to take on the risk. Sure enough, he was arrested again, and he served time—only to have it all happen a fourth time. In all, he spent twenty-five years of his life in Siberian prison camps.

Through a US-church-sponsorship program, Vasily and his family immigrated to the US in 1993. They settled in a Colorado city and joined a church. Vasily watched his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren grow as believers—secure and thriving in a land of freedom without threat of persecution.

Now, still at the table with his family, Vasily opened his eyes. But he would never forget those hungry men in Russia. He looked around at the table filled with food and his loving family. It was too beautiful, too abundant to keep for himself. God had not brought him here to live a good, safe life, to die clutching those blessings to himself. He had been given too much not to share it with those in need.

“Peter,” Vasily called his son over.

“Help me stand. And gather everyone. I want to say something. Then let me lie down.”

Peter supported his thin frame. The family quieted and stood to listen.

“Buy me a ticket to Russia,” Vasily said. “I’m going back.”

His shocked family protested; he was 95 years old! But Vasily insisted.

In May of 1997, he returned to Russia and preached at his little church, which had grown larger. Then he went to share Jesus with his daughter who had remained all along in Russia. He had to tell her the truth about Jesus.

Vasily finally felt satisfied. In his son’s small Russian house, Vasily lay down on the couch. “Okay, Lord, I’m ready to meet you,” he said aloud. “I’m done.”

And with that, he passed into his heavenly home.

“Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever. Amen” (Ephesians 3:10-21 NLT).

“My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work” (John 4:34 NLT).

What is the story of your life telling others? When you spend your life sharing Jesus, your life will keep on sharing Him when you’re gone.

Story based on an interview with Blake Mattocks and Tanya Davis, Vladimir Petrovich Zhomiruk, and Lydumila Mikailovna Zhovmiruk, August 26, 2020.

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April 28. Christmas Evans. It was 1766 in Wales. Evans got his first name—you guessed it—because he was born Christmas day. And—once he was old enough to help on a farm—he probably didn’t get teased about his name, since it’s said he stood seven feet tall. He taught himself to read Welsh and English. With the help of a tutor, he mastered Latin. Finally, he tackled Hebrew and Greek. And he preached throughout Wales.

One particular Sunday afternoon, when he was listening to a powerful preacher, Evans had an “aha moment.” In his mind, he saw that the kind of preaching his people would get the most from was drama—as in comedies and tragedies.

He traveled thousands of miles up and down Wales, uniting the churches and seeing to practical needs of the people, and everywhere he went, he preached with brilliant analogies and emotion that helped the people understand the Scripture.

Evans came to be known as one of the three most powerful preachers in Wales. On this date in 1838, at the age of 72, in his 53rd year of ministry, Evans journeyed into South Wales on his final preaching tour. Today’s story gives us a look into Evan’s character when he was away from the pulpit.

Lying may get you attention, but honesty earns respect.

When Welsh minister Christmas Evans needed his horse sold, he hired a local businessman to sell the animal at the local fair. So the businessman, with horse in tow, went to the fair and hoped to get a good price for it, even though the horse was old and not in the best of shape.

But Evans had confidence the businessman would be able to sell the horse, no matter how poor its condition. There had to be someone out there who would want to take care of a kind and pleasant horse—despite its shortcomings.

But after the businessman had been gone a while, Evans decided to go one down to the fair himself and check up on how the sale was proceeding. At the fair, Evans quickly found the businessman, and at that moment he was in the middle of haggling with an interested customer.

Eager to meet the interested customer, Evans joined the businessman and his prospect.

“Is this your horse, Mr. Evans?” the customer asked.

“Certainly, it is!” Evans answered.

“What is his age, sir?”

“Twenty-three years,” he said.

The customer’s eyes widened, and he quickly turned to the businessman. The neighborhood of his eyes and brows looked as if a storm had just rolled in. “But this man tells me he is only fifteen.”

Evans looked at the businessman, who gulped noticeably. “He is certainly twenty-three,” Evans said.

Sweat appeared along the businessman’s hairline and trickled toward one ear.

Evans said, “He has been with me these twenty years, and he was three years old when I bought him.”

The customer nodded. “Is he safe-footed?”

“Well, he is very far from that.” Evans shrugged. “Indeed, that is the reason why I want to part with him.”

The businessman’s eyes widened, and he shot Evans a nasty glare. “Please go into the house, Mr. Evans, and stop there.” The businessman’s voice was low. “I never shall dispose of the horse while you are present.”

But Evans wouldn’t be deterred. Didn’t the businessman know Christmas was a man of God? What kind of Christian man would he be if he were dishonest in his business dealings? Surely the customer would have to know what kind of horse he would be getting. Evans continued to answer the customer’s questions too honestly for the businessman’s comfort.

Evans and the customer continued to talk, and the businessman continued to shake his head and mutter.

And the customer bought the horse at a price that allowed Evans and the business to make a profit and to make the afternoon’s work worthwhile. The customer had been so honored by Evans’s honesty, that he couldn’t help but honor him back.

“Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices,” (Colossians 3: 9, NIV).

When have you felt rewarded, either internally or externally, because you chose to be honest? Lying may get you attention, but honesty earns respect.

Vaughn, John. Life Stories of Remarkable Preachers. London: James B. Knapp; Passmore & Alabaster, 1892. Excerpted in “Christmas Evans: The One Eyed Preacher of Wales.” Wholesome Words: Christian Biographies. Wholesomewords.org. Accessed August 4, 2020. https://www.wholesomewords.org/biography/bevans3.html

Phillips, David. Memoir of the Life, Labors, and Extensive Usefulness of the Rev. Christmas Evans; A Distinguished Minister of the Baptist Denomination in Wales. Extracted from the Welsh Memoir. New York: M.W. Dodd, Brick Church Chapel, 1843. Internet Archive. Web. 11 Mar. 2019.

Hood, Edwin Paxton. Christmas Evans, the Preacher of Wild Wales: His Country, His Times, and His Contemporaries. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1881. Internet Archive. Web. 11 Mar. 2019.

Photo: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:20William_Roos_-_Christmas_Evans_(1835).20jpgAccessed March 11, 2019.

Story read by Peter R Warren, https://www.peterwarrenministries.com/
Story written by Toni M Babcock https://www.facebook.com/toni.babcock.1

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