One of the thrills of my adult life has been travelling all over Africa sharing the gospel of Christ. It is also, one of the burdens that my wife and children have shared with me as I have been away from them six weeks per year these past many years. About five years ago while preaching at the Moffat Mission in Kuruman, South Africa I was blessed to visit the very garden where David Livingstone proposed to the daughter of Robert Moffat, Mary, in 1845. While there, I reflected on the many nights Livingstone was away from his wife exploring and sharing Christ with the heathen. My mind wandered back to my wonderful spouse and friend, Kimberly, who was 8000 miles away from me that evening. I took a piece of this tree in Kuruman, and carved a heart from it to make my wife a wooden charm to wear as a necklace with our names etched into it. While at Kuruman I penned this poem, and later brought this piece of the wood from the tree back home to forever remember this sacred ground. No matter how far away from home that I travel sharing the "Good News" I am always near to the one I love, at least in my HEART.
In 1967 my mother and father attended a Baptist Church in DeSota, Kansas, that was pastored by my Uncle Roy Pledger. They were having a week-long revival and Evangelist Harold McConnell was preaching each evening. My parents had not attended church in over a decade and were living a life contrary to Christ. On Tuesday night of this evangelistic meeting my father walked down the aisle and said, "Yes" to Jesus. This decision not only saved him, but gave our immediate family an opportunity to know the Lord. Dad was literally walking down the aisle for all of us who would later follow him. Now 50 years has passed and thousands of others through his life have made their way to an altar with the same "Yes".
I have two great loves outside of my love for Christ. I have loved Africa for the better part of my adulthood. I also have loved my wife, Kimberly since our first date. As I travelled up a river in Elmina, Ghana in 2009 called the river "Benya" it was explained to me by one of the locals that this name was chosen by some of the earliest settlers for this coastal town and it meant, "I have found it". Returning to America later the following month, I had a bracelet made for my love with this inscribed on its beads, BENYA. When I found my sweet wife, it was emotion akin to that of those who found this West African river. I had found it. I had found true love, BENYA!!!
Last week we lost a giant at our church in Florida to Heaven. Mrs Johnnie Dillard was a member of our church for many years. Though her health had been declining for many months and years, she spent the better part of last three years writing our children Sunday School lessons. This ministry for "Mrs. D" grew out of her love for the gospel and reaching kids for Christ. Though she was unable to do all the things that she once did as a Girls' Sunday School teacher due to her poor health, she was able to use her knowledge of the Bible and creativity to bless our church children with many wonderful truths. Today we laid her to rest. We will forever remember her investment. "She was known throughout our Sunday School as the "Gospel Granny".
