Today some kind friends took me out for my birthday dinner.
Yes, I must be honest and confess: the total of my years is getting up a bit.
But I wish to testify to the goodness of the Lord who has kept me and blessed me all this long while. No way do I deserve His many goodnesses to me that have pursued me into what many say is "old age."
But perhaps my testimony may encourage some young person somewhere:
(a) I was twelve when my Sunday School teacher in the big church with the huge Gothic windows and the pipe organ one Sunday asked us kids to memorize the Ten Commandments so as to repeat them the next Sunday.
(b) I took her seriously and did it.
(c) I couldn't help but see there in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17) that "the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." I glanced at the calendar on the wall and saw that the seventh day is Saturday and not Sunday.
(d) I asked her the following Sunday, "How come?"
(e) She said she had never thought of it before; but "Dr. Campbell, our revered pastor, and all the other churches go to church on Sunday, so it must be all right."
(f) I accepted that for the time being, but the nagging question remained unanswered.
(g) Then someone cleared up the mystery for me: the Roman Catholic Church had changed the day of worship from the seventh to the first day of the week.
(h) Martin Luther had been a hero to me; I remember that at the age of 12 I made my decision: "I must keep the Sabbath!" The Lord must come first.
(i) But I had never heard of a church that observes the seventh day, Saturday, as the day of worship. So I waited and kept alert.
(j) Finally I discovered one. It was a dinky little building on the western side of town; it had no pews, only rude benches to sit on; not even a piano--only an old fashioned wheeze organ that you had to pump.
(k) But I made my decision; I love great Gothic windows and I love pipe organs; and I love popularity; it became a bit difficult dressing up in my Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes and walking right through the heart of town on Saturday morning so my fellow high school kids could see me ("What's wrong with Robert? He's going to church on Saturday!").
(l) I had some terrific battles over Sabbath-keeping in that high school that I can't take the time to describe here now; but let me testify, the Lord never let me down.
(m) And I praise Him today.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
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