Many men and women, whose names may or may not appear in the biblical record, but whose names are in our thoughts, and each of us has his or her own list of men and women of character. It is unbelievably amazing that we are permitted to encounter some very significant people as we make our journey through life on planet earth!
Personally, I have been blessed in so many ways by so many different people and for such individuals and the blessings that were dropped into my life, I will ever be grateful. These blessings came to me because of who they were, by what they did, and by what they said. It was this trilogy, the three-fold chord in each life of these men and women that touched us so deeply.
It was in the late 1950's that a friend invited me to a gathering of people in the YMCA in Winnipeg, Manitoba to hear a man whose name was very unfamiliar to me prior to that night. But I have been so touched by the trilogy of his life, that the name, E. Stanley Jones now stands near the front of that line of godly men and women in my thoughts. At the General Conference of the Methodist Church in 1924 he was made a bishop and was within hours of his consecration. Following his election, he spent a sleepless night. During the long hours of that night he heard an Inner Voice saying, "Stanley, if you will decline this honor, I'll let you walk with me through Asia." That was enough, he declined the bishop's chair. That Inner Voice proved right. Not Asia only but the world!
Then it was in the late 1960's that I was among a group of pastors gathered for a luncheon in a restaurant in Omaha, Nebraska, and Paul S. Rees ministered to us as spiritual leaders in that city! That was a very meaningful time together. I still have a copy of a book that he had written and published prior to that meeting, a study of 1 Peter entitled, "Triumph in Trouble." What a blessing!
In 1973, a friend knowing my admiration for these two men, sent me a clipping out of a World Vision magazine. I still have that clipping! I treasure it! It is an article written by Paul S. Rees about E. Stanley Jones, entitled, "Drenched with Christ." That was Paul S. Rees capsulization of the life source of E. Stanley Jones, but actually, it is my evaluation of both of these men who so richly blessed my life!
