Forerunners

​We all have roots that connect us to previous generations – that give shape to our family tree.  Our spiritual journey has roots as well.  Since Jesus and his disciples walked on this earth, others have shared the Gospel in some way to each generation until the Good News reached us and we responded. 
 
I can only trace my spiritual roots back two generations. 
 
It begins with one man.  I don’t know much about him, and I have never met him.  I only know four things about him.  This is what I know.  His name was Roy. He worked in a factory.  He was persistent, and he is now in heaven.  That’s it. 

Yet, I do know that without Roy, I may not have heard the Gospel message.  And, that the spiritual trajectory of my journey would have likely been very different without him.

I am fairly certain that Roy never knew of the impact of his witness of Jesus Christ on my life.  I was just a kid.  Our paths never crossed.  But Roy did spend nearly ten years working five days a week with my dad.  For ten years, Roy shared the Gospel with my dad before work, and during breaks.  He and other believers would eat lunch together and pray.  Roy seemed to have zeroed in on my dad.  When they first met, my dad was 18, and had just started working at the same factory that his dad worked. 
 
Roy told my dad about Jesus, and his need for salvation and forgiveness of his sins.  He answered questions, and invited my dad to join them at lunch breaks.  For years my dad listened and declined the invitation.  But, Roy didn’t give up.  He was persistent and he was faithfully consistent.
 
Because of Roy’s witness, my dad eventually invited Jesus to be his Lord and Savior.   God radically changed his life.  As a result, my dad was relentless in his love for Jesus, and in sharing the Gospel with others.  Like Roy, my dad was persistent in his witness, and faithfully consistent in modelling Christ to others.  Within a year of his commitment to Christ, my mom invited Jesus to be her Lord and Savior as well.   This happened when I was five.
 
Like most children who are raised by Christian parents, I was a “passenger in their spiritual journey”.  I was “along for their ride”.  I followed their lead and my “faith” was embedded in theirs.  As a direct result of my parent’s faith, I came to know Jesus - which was a result of Roy’s testimony to my dad for ten years.  
 
I am very thankful that Roy faithfully shared with my dad for the ENTIRE ten years.  Roy, “I am glad you did not give up after the ninth year.  I am glad that you were stubborn and persistent.  I am privileged that God purposed in your heart to be a witness of Jesus to my dad – which in turn, filtered down to me.  Thank you for your faithful witness.”  

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​Hebrews 12:1:  Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us…. 
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Next time: A Test Environment