Measure Success in Years

I was sitting in my office today when I heard a noise at the door. I looked out see a man standing there. In fact, he looked like he was getting ready to leave. So I opened the door and introduced myself.

What followed was a fascinating and encouraging conversation that seemed to go on for almost an hour (though I didn’t look) and could have continued all day for all I cared.

This man had been raised in River Rouge as a Jew by adoptive parents who agreed (in accordance with the laws) to raise him as a Jew. He was invited as a young teenager to some Bible studies on the OT, and then was invited to stay for some Bible studies on the NT. He was converted to Christ.

Pastor O. H. Williams then befriended the parents and on New Years Eve of 1951 (if I recall correctly), the son and both parents were baptized as a profession of their faith in the Messiah—Jesus Christ.

Today, this man is a faithful member of his church in Massachusetts, and was recently elected as an elder. He quizzed me to see if we were still solid in doctrine and faithful in the gospel. We talked at length about the church and its more recent history, about people and community, and about the gospel around the world, particularly in Asia where this man had worked in international business for much of his adult life.

He was back for his wife’s high school reunion and wanted to stop by to look at the building.

In the process, he encouraged this pastor to remember to measure success in  years—not days, not weeks, not even months.

So thanks, Mr. Brownson, for your time today and for your life all these years.

And thanks Reverend Williams, for your sixteen years of faithful ministry that still bears fruit more fifty years later.