September 7, 2013

Greetings to my fellow brother servants in Christ:

Several years ago an evangelist friend called from the Detroit area to see if he could come over to Grand Rapids, have lunch, and pray specifically for me regarding my ministry. Rudy had been a good friend over the years but I never felt that we had been that close. I agreed to meet him at a favorite restaurant where we had sweet fellowship, and yes, before he left, he prayed for me, and oh, how he prayed. I was in tears. And I was humbled.

During our time together he gave me a copy of a book that had been out-of-print for sometime but he was instrumental in having it reprinted, but only a few copies. I bought several at the time and handed them out sparingly. The title of the book was The Disciplines of Life, by Dr. V. Raymond Edman. I was somewhat familiar with Edman for I had sold some of his books at a Christian book store working my way through school. For 25 years Dr. Edman, after serving as a missionary to the Quickua Indians in the Andes, Ecuador, served as president of Wheaton College (1940-1965 & 2 years as Chancellor). It was during this time that he wrote The Disciplines of Life.

On September 22, 1967, after nine months of being laid up with critical heart trouble, Dr. Edman stood in the chapel of Wheaton College and began his message to the student body with these words, “This will be the first time in more than ten months that I have attempted to speak in public. But I want you to consider with me an invitation to visit a King.” In the middle of the message he succumbed to a heart attack and entered into the presence of the King of kings and Lord of lords.

It is said that no man was more disciplined that Dr. Edman and he often dwelt on discipline in his messages.I recently gave my last copy of Edmanâ’s book to a missionary friend and we are going through it together. I have read it more than once.Though still out of print, my friend found it on the Internet and you can read it by visiting the website.

I hope that you do, dear friend. It will refresh your soul and also give you many in-depth thoughts for your preaching ministry.

Until next time, God bless you, Maynard