Doug Van Pelt

Jeremy Kerley

This kid at Hutto High School is an amazing athlete. He's started at quarterback on the football team his freshman year. The ball (and game) was placed in his hands at the State Championship this year, where, unfortunately he was sacked on the last play of a 34-38 loss. Turns out he's a star basketball player, too. And he runs track, and he's got a .433 batting average in baseball! Wow. I sure hope he dominates next year in his senior season -- especially in football. What an amazing kid. It's been fun to watch him play.

xxx

Rees Howells was born again in chapter 3. It's an amazing story. First, he got typhoid fever, and his fear of death was immense. "Give me one more chance," he cried (to the Lord), "and I will give my life to You."

"There was a vow in that cry. The Lord saw to that before He answered, and even as the cry went up Rees knew in his heart that he was not to die. From that moment he began to recover, but he was a changed man. 'As I faced losing all and entering an eternal darkness, I touched real life for the first time,' he said. 'I had seen the world at its very best taking me down to a lost eternity, and I knew I owed my all to the God Who had delivered me.'"

For the next five months he "searched daily for the way to God." He travelled far to meet with his cousin, who knew the Way, but was "unable to make it clear to Rees."

Something happened at a series of meetings led by a converted Jew, named Maurice Reuben from Pittsburgh, who told his story. "Reuben told the story of his conversion and how the Holy Spirit had revealed Calvary to him. 'I had heard preaching on Calvary scores of times before and believed it,' said Rees, 'but I had never seen Calvary before that night.'"

This guy Reuben was overwhelmed that Jews were the first followers of Jesus, Who said to a Jew (Peter), "On this rock will I build My church." He was a rich man, and he was struck by the story of the rich young (Jewish) ruler of the first century, who gave all he had to the poor to inherit the kingdom of God. "Reuben saw it was that if Jesus had told that young man to sell all to inherit eternal life, how could he, Reuben, inherit the same gift, unless on the same condition?" He faced it clearly and seriously. He heard a voice repeat to him the words of John 14:6, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man cometh unto the Father but by Me." He accepted Christ at that very moment. He then told his brother, who owned a lucrative store with him, and others. According to their father's will, he was to forfeit every penny if he changed his religion, but his brother offered him 70,000 pounds (his share of the business) if he would cross the country and retire (which he could with that kind of money in those days) in Montana. He replied, "I have had the light in Pittsburgh, and I am going to witness in Pittsburgh." Shortly thereafter he was then taken by detectives to jail, where he was asked about the voice he had heard. He was then taken to an insane asylum, where he almost lost it, but poured his heart out to the Lord and saw a vision of the cross.

Two weeks into this ordeal his brother came to visit him and urged him to go to Montana. Reuben replied, "Does that offer still stand? Then it is not a medical condition but something else that is keeping me here!" Some Christian friends got Reuben a court case, where the judge refered to the apostle Paul hearing a voice, decrying, "This is a disgrace to the American flag." He urged Reuben to prosecute anyone involved in his arrest/incarceration/commital. He replied that he wouldn't prosecute anyone, and crossed the courtroom to shake hands with his brother, who turned his back. He then approached his own wife, who did the same.

What a great loss. "But what a victory he had in his own soul!"

"He rented a small room in Chicago, where he lived alone with the Lord and won many converts." A year later his wife came to hear him in a camp meeting, where she was converted. For the first time Reuben saw a son that was born to them just after his wife left him. She said she'd make her home with him if "only he would earn a living as other Christians did." This was an obviously tough decision for him to make, as "her request seemed reasonable, but he knew that the Lord had called him from the world into this life of faith. He pleaded with the Lord, but the only reply he received was, 'Back to Egypt!' It was enough, and once more Reuben embraced the cross. He went to see his wife and child off; it was a costly experience; but as the train steamed out of the station it seemed that God poured the joy of heaven into his soul. He literally danced on the platform. He did not see his wife for another three years. Then, in another camp meeting, she too had a revelation of the cross. As a result of this she testified that, whereas before as a believer she had not been willing to share the sacrificial life of her husband, if it would be for God's glory she would now be willing to beg her bread from door to door. They were reunited and she became a wonderful co-worker with him in his ministry."

Rees Howells was moved by Reuben's story. He had been looking for someone who "lived the Sermon on the Mount" as a test or fleece before he himself gave in to the Lord (what stubbornness, huh?). He felt the Lord asking him that night, "Is this the man?" He too saw the cross, and wept and wept for who knows how long. He was born again. "He broke me, and everything in me went right out to Him. 'Then He spoke to me and said, 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock. May I come in to you, as I came in to Reuben and took the place of wife and son and home and store and world? Will you accept Me?' 'Yes,' I replied, and He came in, and that moment I changed. I was born into another world. I found myself in the kingdom of God, and the Creator became my Father. That night I received the gift of eternal life, that gift which money cannot buy.'"

Not long after he felt a call to return back home to England to witness to his own folk. This thought was "crystalized" for him within a few days by a temptation regarding his love for money. His manager offered him a huge raise -- to $12 a day, which would require more of his time. He turned it down and made an effort to leave as soon as he could.

Posted by Doug Van Pelt at April 25, 2006 09:01 AM