Revival Time!
Just over forty-five years ago my
brother, who was several years older than I, came home quite excited one night.
He and some of his friends had attended a revival that was taking place in a
church we did not attend. He told about the inspiring evangelist who was
holding the revival and how he seemed to electrify the congregation that
evening.
The next night my parents and I went to see what had my brother so excited. We discovered that his description didn't do justice to the evangelist. Dr. Braxton B. Sawyer was an "old-time preacher" from Fort Smith, Arkansas. While traveling about holding revivals he also produced a daily radio program entitled "Back to the Bible." And did he practice what he preached!
I know this, because over the next three years we became well-acquainted with Dr. Sawyer. My brother and his best friend travelled the next two summers with Dr. Sawyer as he held his large revival meetings in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. My family attended many distant revivals, as that was the only way we could see my brother often. Dr. Sawyer had the ability to pack a house for his two week long revivals. In many situations he had to install speakers on the outside of the church for the overflow crowds that sat on the lawn or in their cars. Sometimes the service would last past midnight. No one seemed to mind. Often as the hours grew late we would sing again and again his favorite hymn, "Amazing Grace". He would let it go unaltered the first time through and then would ask us to sing it again changing one word. He'd say sing, "When we've been there ten million years" instead of the written, "ten thousand years." In the eternity of Christianity he said, there is not time.
How often I have thought of that simple change in the wording and his statement of timelessness. Today I know that time seems to make constraints on we mortals. But within time, I know that only this moment counts. This moment as you are reading these words. This moment. Now. This counts. Therefore what I write in this moment, and how you reflect on my words, is important. Now. What we think, how we act, what we do in this moment is important. Nothing is more important than how we live this moment.
Recently a friend stated that a person had said to him, "I don't get mad, I get even." I've heard that expression all of my life and quite honestly I find it to be a childish, immature saying. But I have tried to understand the statement from the viewpoint of an adult. I wish that I could be like the person in the first sentence. I wish that as a mere mortal human being I could say that I don't get mad. Like the ancient Greek philosopher who spent his days trying to find an honest man, I wish I could find the mortal who truly never gets mad. I remember Dr. Sawyer preaching about Jesus when he entered the temple and encountered the money changers. Now the way Dr. Sawyer told that story as he read the scripture you have the picture in your mind of an angry man. He threw over the tables in a rage. So the person who professed recently to never get mad must have a quality that others fail to possess. We might be envious of the one among us who doesn't ever get mad.
But I don't envy the person in the second sentence. Get even with whom? Someone else? That's sad. No. That's pathetic. I am a mere mortal. I get mad occasionally. I don't find pride in that, but I do get mad. however, I have learned that when I get mad, it is time for me to examine my life to see if there isn't something I might be "mad" at myself for. Some failing on my part. Something done, something undone. Something said, something unsaid.
And, if I can be honest with myself and I find where I need to amend my life, I must have the character to make a revival happen within me. Nothing else will bring me a victory greater than when I can life myself up to the higher ground where we all should hope to be. As my family and I have been angered and hurt in recent months, through self-examination, we came to the understanding that we had to turn our anger into joy and our hurt into compassion. We had to return joy to others instead of anger. We had to return compassion to others instead of hurtful words. We must reach out with love so that in this moment that we have together, each of us will know that "we'll have no less days" to sing praise to those around us.
Let us all do the small act, speak the kind word, perform the unnoticeable deed so that our community can be a place of peace and comfort to all. Remember the importance of this moment.
(written June, 1999)
The next night my parents and I went to see what had my brother so excited. We discovered that his description didn't do justice to the evangelist. Dr. Braxton B. Sawyer was an "old-time preacher" from Fort Smith, Arkansas. While traveling about holding revivals he also produced a daily radio program entitled "Back to the Bible." And did he practice what he preached!
I know this, because over the next three years we became well-acquainted with Dr. Sawyer. My brother and his best friend travelled the next two summers with Dr. Sawyer as he held his large revival meetings in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. My family attended many distant revivals, as that was the only way we could see my brother often. Dr. Sawyer had the ability to pack a house for his two week long revivals. In many situations he had to install speakers on the outside of the church for the overflow crowds that sat on the lawn or in their cars. Sometimes the service would last past midnight. No one seemed to mind. Often as the hours grew late we would sing again and again his favorite hymn, "Amazing Grace". He would let it go unaltered the first time through and then would ask us to sing it again changing one word. He'd say sing, "When we've been there ten million years" instead of the written, "ten thousand years." In the eternity of Christianity he said, there is not time.
How often I have thought of that simple change in the wording and his statement of timelessness. Today I know that time seems to make constraints on we mortals. But within time, I know that only this moment counts. This moment as you are reading these words. This moment. Now. This counts. Therefore what I write in this moment, and how you reflect on my words, is important. Now. What we think, how we act, what we do in this moment is important. Nothing is more important than how we live this moment.
Recently a friend stated that a person had said to him, "I don't get mad, I get even." I've heard that expression all of my life and quite honestly I find it to be a childish, immature saying. But I have tried to understand the statement from the viewpoint of an adult. I wish that I could be like the person in the first sentence. I wish that as a mere mortal human being I could say that I don't get mad. Like the ancient Greek philosopher who spent his days trying to find an honest man, I wish I could find the mortal who truly never gets mad. I remember Dr. Sawyer preaching about Jesus when he entered the temple and encountered the money changers. Now the way Dr. Sawyer told that story as he read the scripture you have the picture in your mind of an angry man. He threw over the tables in a rage. So the person who professed recently to never get mad must have a quality that others fail to possess. We might be envious of the one among us who doesn't ever get mad.
But I don't envy the person in the second sentence. Get even with whom? Someone else? That's sad. No. That's pathetic. I am a mere mortal. I get mad occasionally. I don't find pride in that, but I do get mad. however, I have learned that when I get mad, it is time for me to examine my life to see if there isn't something I might be "mad" at myself for. Some failing on my part. Something done, something undone. Something said, something unsaid.
And, if I can be honest with myself and I find where I need to amend my life, I must have the character to make a revival happen within me. Nothing else will bring me a victory greater than when I can life myself up to the higher ground where we all should hope to be. As my family and I have been angered and hurt in recent months, through self-examination, we came to the understanding that we had to turn our anger into joy and our hurt into compassion. We had to return joy to others instead of anger. We had to return compassion to others instead of hurtful words. We must reach out with love so that in this moment that we have together, each of us will know that "we'll have no less days" to sing praise to those around us.
Let us all do the small act, speak the kind word, perform the unnoticeable deed so that our community can be a place of peace and comfort to all. Remember the importance of this moment.
(written June, 1999)
Posted: Sun - February 5, 2006 at 08:18 AM
Quick Links
Reflection
"Chance favors only the prepared mind." - Louis Pasteur
"Art arises from basic needs-a strong need to express and celebrate our everyday events.
In a museum most people spend less than twenty seconds looking at a work of art."
"Art arises from basic needs-a strong need to express and celebrate our everyday events.
In a museum most people spend less than twenty seconds looking at a work of art."
Calendar
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
blogs
Categories
Archives
XML/RSS Feed
Visitors
Statistics
Total entries in this blog:
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Feb 05, 2006 08:20 AM
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Feb 05, 2006 08:20 AM