Ode to Fathers
Looking back now, I’d have to say that the setting was fitting…as if from a movie set depicting a little “country” church in uptown Toronto, replete with an itinerant missions pastor who was to preach all week. The music was typical for the era and genre, and the preaching was fiery and predictable, though I recall it was a little too conservative for my young taste. However, with all of that said, there was something eerily strange about the setting and the proceedings that made the hair go up on the back of my neck. I was merely ten years of age, and this was to be one of the most profound and beautiful times I would share with my father.
The next thing I recall, having been regaled by global mission stories, I was holding my father’s hand while being led down the church aisle in response to the final fifth-day altar call at the climax of the evangelistic crusade. My father had been the superintendent of the Sunday school, as well as the teacher of a group of my peers – some of whom, like me, had committed their lives to Christ that very night in that rather unlikely place.
Even at the tender age of ten, my life had been completely transformed by the experience. What I didn’t realize until some years later was that the Holy Spirit had not only transformed my life through His salvation but had indelibly burned His “mission mandate” on my soul. This took the form of a world-wide musical ministry tour with Youth for Christ; three excursions that involved me living among the tribes of the Amazon jungle; and more recently, six-plus years serving as the chief executive officer for The Voice of the Martyrs Canada, assisting those in peril for the expression of their faith in Christ.
I attribute my natural fervor in reaching out to the “lost” and those of the world in physical need entirely to God’s goodness and power. So, why do I express such things to you? Because I believe that, if you’re reading this commentary, then the Lord may have similarly equipped you to reach out to the lost or those who are suffering.
If, as you pray about that prospect, you feel a stirring in your heart, I suggest you further seek the Lord as to what He would have you do with it. Let me invite you to explore and consider VOMC volunteerism as a means by which you may provide service to the community of God’s children.
When He touches one with such vision, it is as if He takes them by the hand and walks them to the altar, whereat, a beautiful journey of ministry service to Him begins. Consider how, in the Biblical record of God’s Word, as expressed in Joel 2:28, God implants His vision within a large group of believers whom He has equipped in order to launch a new mission program.
“And it shall come to pass afterward
That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your old men shall dream dreams,
Your young men shall see visions.”
Perhaps it is this latent prophetic and visionary power, by which God has brought about, or will soon bring about, His fatherly plans, just as the Old Testament prophet Joel envisions in this passage. God has already equipped and commissioned His children as patriarchs and matriarchs, bearers of truth for the coming age. As His servants, we are, therefore, called upon to share enlightened witness to all of humankind. May you and your household be ready to listen and hear as God imparts His will and shares His wisdom.
-Doug
