These are some personal testimonies that I have in recollection of hearing those given in the message Absolute Surrender by Keith Daniel available here at SI.This morning in my devotional time I was greatly impressed with thoughts concerning the urgency and importance of the message above. And my mind was led to so many different incidents in my own experience that I wanted to share some with you all. Though this may seem strange, the first testimony I have concerning this comes from the earliest years of my life, when I was not yet, and would not be for many years, a Christian.Exactly how old I was I do not recall, perhaps between 6-9 years of age but the memory is nevertheless distinct. I was in my home with my mother and aunt and it was during the warm months, probably summer, in Canton Ohio. Some program was on the TV and whatever it was it scared me and in a fright I went out the door and down the steps to the base of the porch. The next thing I can remember is grasping at bits and pieces of trash and debris that were accumulated there. I grasped at them, urgently trying to gather as many up as I could and I was repeating this phrase which was also my reply to my mother and aunt who came to find out what was wrong: "they're all going to be lost, they're all going to be lost."Needless to say they couldn't understand why I was so concerned about these bits of trash being lost, and as far as I remember, neither could I really. I only knew how strong the impression of that notion was: they would all be lost.Now move forward 20+ years to a time not long after my conversion to Christ. My wife and I were leaving the public library one afternoon and on the way out a man was coming toward us in a wheel chair. He dropped something as I was nearing him so I picked it up and handed it to him. He was friendly and as I recall, responded with "God's love to you." As I kept going and headed towards my car I felt a distinct impression to go back and give him a tract. I didn't much use them at this time but couldn't get away from the feeling so I grabbed one out of the glove box and headed back.By this time he was in the library and when I caught up with him I handed the paper to him and invited him to Church. He was friendly but raised some concerns about how to get there in his wheel chair. I assured him that if he called the number on it, we would make arrangements to get him there. After these few words of discussion we again parted and again he left me with "God's love to you."I remember sharing this story sometime later before the congregation I attended and making the point to them that I wasn't sure that he had ever known God's love in Jesus Christ. You see, about two weeks later it was on the news that this man was struck and killed by a car as he was crossing the street in front of the library in his wheel chair. And it was in connection with this story that I remembered that incident that happened when I was a child. This was one of the major points in my life when I began to determine with God's help to always keep my "Divine appointments." Maybe I had been faithful in handing him a tract, but could I have done more? Could I have earnestly prayed for him or offered my own phone number? Many thoughts ran through my mind about this and I was sore grieved. Perhaps he was already known by the Lord Jesus or perhaps he was found by him in those short weeks. Only Heaven will reveal. But I knew I didn't want to ever be negligent with souls again.Just a short time after I was converted to Christ my wife and I were driving home from Church one night and were stopped at a traffic light. The message that night had been on the Good Samaritan, and the emphasis was on the fact that he went so far as to bring him to the inn. How this man had been beaten and left for dead, but the Samaritan went all the way to help him.So it happened that as we pulled up to the light there was a man standing there in the cold winter night, asking for money. As I instinctively went for change in the change dish to give him I looked over and saw a man that had one arm in a cast and had been beaten in his head and face. Thinking back he was much like the man in the story. He asked pleadingly 'can you help me please?' Later I felt sure that my next response was not me, but of God because I said 'get in.' He was very timid and questioned it, looking into the car to see if it was safe. Somehow I convinced him to get in and we drove off.The man we picked up was a 50 year old homeless man and drug addict who according to him had just been robbed and beaten. It was during the winter in Maryland which isn't too harsh but hard enough to sleep outside in I'm sure. We took him home and had coffee and talked some and he ended up staying the night. Over the next couple weeks he stayed with us a few more times and I would sometimes have to go and pick him up somewhere when I got off work at night. During this time we got to talk quite a bit although he would often fall asleep because of coming off the drugs(he was taking methadone). He even prayed to receive Christ once, more on that in a moment. The last time he stayed with us, when he got up in the morning he told me he needed to go to the hospital and to call the ambulance. I was suspicious of this and was going to call my wife to see what she thought but before I could do that and without telling him of my intention he told me not to call her and that he really needed to go to the hospital. Within a week or so he had passed on. We got to visit him once before he went into a comma and he was very kind and wanted us to know that for the first time in his life he felt he was ready to die. After this when he was in the comma we got to visit with him to say our good-bye and pray over him. We both know, because he had told us, that for the first time in his life he had felt the love of God. I suppose it was through two people who had just newly experienced it for themselves. And we took consolation in that.Continued...
