[Faith-talk] Daily Thought for Wednesday, October 9, 2013

[Paul]

Well folks, as I write this most of us are in our Wednesdays, whether that be late morning, afternoon or evening, whereas you in Australia and New Zealand are in your very early Thursday morning.  Whatever time of day it is, I hope that your day is going well when you read this.

Today, for a change of pace, I'd like to play a little game with you.  No, you don't have to get your writing implements out or anything like that.  What I'd like to do is give you a short biography of a well-known American who was an outstanding Christian, though you probably wouldn't know it at first glance.  If you read carefully enough, you will find at least two clues to the identity of this person.  Sorry, but there are no prizes to the winners, and no one here is a loser.  Now I know that you're curious, so I'll go ahead and present this information to you in an article I read recently by Victor Parachin, an author from Oklahoma, omitting only the name of the person being written about.

Nothing in this person's early life indicated that his name would one day become a household word in homes across the United States.  Born in 1875, he grew up on a small farm in Kentucky.  His father was a minister in the Primitive Baptist Church.  Both parents were committed Christians who instilled a deep and abiding faith in their children.  While a teenager, his minister father became a victim of church politics and was removed as the minister.  The ensuing financial hardship for the family meant that the person being written about had to leave school, taking a job to help support the family.  He began to work as a clerk in a local store.  Although he did not realize it at the time, this modest start was providential and would propel him into an illustrious career as a retailer.

After working in various stores Mr. X was able to purchase a one-third interest in a dry goods store in Kemmerer, Wyoming.  The date was April 14, 1902.  Kemmerer was a small mining town of less than 1000 people.  Our subject and his wife lived in a small attic apartment above the store.  Their furniture consisted of a large, empty drygoods box for a table and smaller boxes for chairs.  When their first child was born, his young mother wrapped their infant in a blanket, allowing it to sleep under a counter while she stood beside it working alongside her husband serving their customers.

>From that humble beginning, Mr. X would eventually preside over 1700 stores.  He would lead the country's largest chain of department stores, each one bearing his name.  The influence of his godly parents became evident with the growth of his business as he began to describe his chain as "The Golden Rule Store," based on the words of Jesus in Matthew 7:12:  "Do to others whatever you would like them to do for you" (New Living Translation).

Although his enterprise made him incredibly wealthy, his life was not devoid of setbacks and troubles.  In fact, beginning in 1929 events took place that nearly cost Mr. X his life.  When the Great Depression struck the country, it came at a time of great financial vulnerability for our subject.  While his stores continued to do well, he had been adding outside interests and these were proving to become extremely costly.  In order to finance these outside interests, Mr. X borrowed heavily.  In addition, he was becoming a major philanthropist, giving generously to organizations and individuals.  The Depression prompted banks to request payment of his loans sooner than was anticipated.  Suddenly cash flow was tight and he was finding it difficult to meet payment schedules.  Constant and unrelenting worry began to take a toll on him.  "I was so harassed with worries that I couldn't sleep, and developed an extremely painful ailment," he said.

Concerned about his deteriorating health, our subject checked himself into the Kellogg Sanitarium at Battle Creek, Michigan.  It was the Mayo Clinic of its era.  There, Dr. Elmer Eggleston, a staff physician, examined him, declaring that he was extremely ill.  "A rigid treatment was prescribed, but nothing helped," Mr. X recalled.  He was attacked by the twin demons of hopelessness and despair.  His very will to live was rapidly eroding.  "I got weaker day by day.  I was broken nervously and physically, filled with despair, unable to see even a ray of hope.  I had nothing to live for.  I felt I hadn't a friend left in the world, that even my family had turned against me.  Alarmed by his rapidly deteriorating condition, Dr. Eggleston gave him a sedative.  However, the effect quickly wore off and our subject awakened with the conviction that he was living the last night of his life.  "Getting out of bed, I wrote farewell letters to my wife and to my son, saying that I did not expect to live to see the dawn."

However, Mr. X awakened the next morning surprised to find he was alive.  Making his way down the hallway of the hospital, he could hear singing coming from the little chapel where devotional exercises were held each morning.  The words of the hymn he heard being sung spoke deeply to his condition.  Going into the chapel he listened with a weary heart to the singing, the reading of the scripture lesson, and the prayer.  "Suddenly something happened," our subject recalled.  "I can't explain it.  I can only call it a miracle.  I felt as if I had been instantly lifted out of the darkness of a dungeon into a warm, brilliant sunlight.  I felt as if I had been transported from hell to paradise.  I felt the power of God as I had never felt it before."

In a life-transforming instant, he knew that God, with His love, was there to help.  "From that day to this, my life has been free from worry," he declared.  "The most dramatic and glorious twenty minutes of my life were those I spent in that chapel that morning." These were the words from the hymn that spoke so eloquently and miraculously to our subject--God will take care of you.

The hymn that God used to save Mr. X's life was written by Civilla Durfee Martin.  Not much is known about the hymn writer.  She lived between 1866 and 1948, writing the hymn in 1904.  The inspiration for the words may come from 1 Peter 5:7, "Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you" (New Living Translation).  The opening lines read:

Be not dismayed whate'er betide,
God will take care of you;
Beneath His wings of love abide,
God will take care of you.
God will take care of you,
Through every day, o'er all the way;
He will take care of you,
God will take care of you.

And there you have Brother Victor's article which I hope was an inspiration to you, despite not revealing the name of the individual that he wrote about.

And now may the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob just keep us safe, individually and collectively, in these last days in which we live.  Lord willing, there will be another Daily Thought message for tomorrow.  Your Christian friend and brother, Paul