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TITLE: Symphony of Miracles Book 2 Chapter 18 Strange events uncover gifts By Richard McCaw 08/25/14 |
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Chapter 18
Strange events uncover gifts!
Sitting on a couch before a psychiatrist, Tom explains, “Doc, I’m always thinking, ‘How can I move faster, do more in less time?’ I’m always doing several things at once. I feel guilty if I’m not doing something. I don’t enjoy time with my family; I’m too busy to fix things around the house and I tell my wife, ‘Honey, I’ll get it done. You see, I’m polyphasic!’ I chew up those last few words, then she exclaims ‘Whaat ...?’ I try to know as many people as possible, yet I have no real friends. When listening to others, I hurry them on with ‘uh huh, uh huh!’ I’m irritable when the car ahead runs too slow.”
“Type A behavior is a terrible thing!“ warns the doctor, “It will affect your life and health if you don’t change your way of thinking!”
When I was twenty-one, I organized a systematic follow-up literature ministry called ‘Mail Evangelism.’ With friends from church we spent many hours every week mailing literature and answering hundreds of letters. Every month we received from the U.S 700 copies of ‘Herald of His Coming,’ a magazine that encouraged worldwide revival. Since revival was the heart cry of our group, we mailed them to churches and individuals across the island.
Then, I entered Jamaica Theological Seminary to study journalism under Fred Morris the editor of the Caribbean Challenge. Fred encouraged my creative writing, so I typed out “Simon and the Grapes,” my first Sunday School class story. In May that year it appeared in the Caribbean Challenge, along with “Jerry finds a friend,” another Simon short story.
However, after several months of strenuous study, fulfilling assignments, ministering in a Good News Club, sponsoring an InterSchools Christian Fellowship group at St. Andrew Technical High School in Kingston, Sunday School work, and weekly fasting, I was ripe for a long vacation.
One day, I noticed how drawn my face looked as I stood before a mirror. My cheekbones protruded more than usual. I felt like an athlete at the end of a race, thoroughly exhausted. Was I losing weight? I remember a well-beloved pastor of a Congregational Church in Cross Roads, a tireless, round-the-clock worker. Suddenly, one day everyone was shocked when they saw his face on the front page of the morning news, and the headlines: “Reverent minister collapses and dies!”
I knew that some believers did not understand, and destructively criticized artistic personalities. I felt like a specially sized shoe, fashioned for a unique foot. I knew that I was very different from everyone else and that my gifts were divinely inspired. To some I was a ‘weirdo.’ If I left seminary in the middle of my studies, what would people say? Would unkind persons use my retreat to spread gossip that I had gone crazy. Who cares? My goal was to follow Christ. I was prepared for ridicule from the very first day. Jesus Himself said, “If the world hate you, you know that it hated me before it hated you!” and “Marvel not, my brothers, if the world hate you!”
With all that was going on around me, and deep within me, would I continue working myself to death and finding myself stressed out to the point of a nervous breakdown, or would I take the hint and rest?
You may not have heard that missionary work often wears out both body and soul. Marriages often collapse, because missionaries fail to care for their bodies wisely. Others are destroyed in subtle ways in the temptations of the flesh. Some return to secular jobs unable to comprehend what really happened to them. Many are confused and wonder whether God really called them. Others simply give up because the emotional strain is too heavy. Many leave, suffering from burn-out or a serious nervous breakdown. Many never recover emotionally. God created man to work and to rest at regular intervals! When we abuse that principle, we pay the price, and we dare not think that missionary work is any exception.
Jesus must have been aware of all the activity going on around Him, and the demands made upon the disciples time. He knew that the human frame was not a machine that could continue working endlessly. In the first place, God had instituted from the foundation of the world a time of rest for all mankind. So, Jesus told his disciples, “Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” For there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat. Words from the book of Isaiah became very relevant at that time, “They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall run and not be weary!” “This is the rest with which You may cause the weary to rest,” and, “This is the refreshing.” When we follow Him closely, He reveals our gifts and sets us on the right path to do His will, and to transform the lives of others.
Soon the Lord opened the way for me to spend time with Brethren missionaries, Derrick and Beryl Bourne. In the beautiful atmosphere of the Jamaican countryside in Harkers Hall, a quiet little district, outside of St. Andrew. I spent some time assisting with their Daily Vacation Bible School, and in my private moments began writing short stories for children. My mind, like a well oiled industrial machine, was constantly churning out creative material. Later, those stories were published in the Children’s Own by the Gleaner Company, in downtown, Kingston. The harvest fields were waiting for the printed message of the good news, and God was nudging me into the world of publishing.
God is great, Who inspired the apostles and prophets to write, so that future generations could hear the message of deliverance. Let us praise Him for those who are now rising up in these last days to publish His Word and to magnify the Lord of heaven and earth!
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