TITLE: A Symphony of Miracles Book 2 Chapter 21 Called to Write 9/3/14 By Richard McCaw 09/04/14 |
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Chapter 21
Called to Write
One day in the 1970s I ran into Dorothy Lawrence on Duke Street in downtown Kingston, Jamaica. She was a tall, dark Baptist sister, with a very pleasant personality.
“Hey, Richard McCaw…!” she smiled broadly. “I was hoping to see you! I’ve been writing the center page devotional for a political newspaper for some time, but I can't continue.” She paused and looked at me, “and I know you have a gift in that area.”
I smiled.
“You’ve been writing for the Caribbean Challenge for some years,” she continued, “and this is an opportunity for us to share the gospel.”
“Exactly what is involved?” I asked.
“I write a weekly column,” she explained. “about four hundred words, turn that in every Tuesday morning and by Friday it’s on the streets, in the Caribbean islands and other countries as well.”
I nodded. “Sounds exciting!” I admitted and with instructions to contact the editor, we parted. I laughed to myself. Could this have been a mere accident? I may have recalled the scripture “as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” I was overawed how God works to exalt the name of Christ; I would not only be ministering to Jamaicans but also to nations overseas.
That led me during almost eight years to submit more than three hundred articles, an article a week that preached Christ and other subjects of Christian concern to the Jamaican needs at the time.
Often I would sit at the typewriter not knowing what to preach and then the Holy Spirit would come upon me and a verse of scripture would suddenly light up my spirit and I would begin typing. At other times tears would stream down my face as I typed with an open Bible beside me. I was acutely aware of the special anointing of the Spirit each Tuesday morning as I tapped away on my typewriter, editing sometimes several times before actually driving down to the office on Maxfield Avenue to deliver the finished article.
Imagine how elated I was when a letter arrived one August to the editor from Tony Nwaokoson from Lagos in Nigeria, in which he wrote: “I derive much comfort and solace reading ‘Looking Upward.’ He explains things so very down-to-earth as if he is chatting with you personally, and his sermons afford sufficient matter for spiritual direction. Please ask him to accept the assurance of my high regard!”
I found immense satisfaction in the knowledge that ‘Looking Upward’ was a source of comfort and solace to someone so far away. God was fulfilling His Word in my life and I was playing a part in fulfilling the great commission, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature!” 2
This was also the year that I began writing a serialized novel entitled “A Way of Escape” for Impact on Youth a youth magazine, edited and published monthly by Maxine Pinnock, a youth worker among girls in Kingston, Jamaica.
I was ministering, just as the Lord had told me by my music and my writing. I remember James Cowdrey meeting me on Church Street in downtown Kingston and saying, “Boy, if you preach as well as you write, you certainly have a powerful word!” I was encouraged to continue.
In the early years of my Christian experience my passion for writing was born out of the influence of Christian literature that transformed my thinking and challenged me to reach the lost and dying of this world. Immersed in books by great ministers of the 20th century, I perceived myself as a writer that would transform thousands of lives.
Throughout history God has revealed Himself through Jesus Christ in two definite ways. God spoke to us through men who prophesied of a coming Deliverer from the power Satan. The words of His prophets were written down so that men everywhere could read and understand God’s promises. So the written word accumulated over hundreds of years until we have the Bible, which we call the Word of God. But Jesus Christ, Himself is also called the Word of God. A man’s word is His means of expressing Himself. God demonstrated His great love for us by sending Jesus Christ to die for our sins. When we see Jesus Christ touching the leper, healing the blind, raising the dead, we know that God was reaching out to our lost world.
We have a tremendous responsibility therefore to spread the written Word, so that every person on Planet Earth can develop and enjoy an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ, the Word made manifest in flesh. He is the center of the Universe. To Him every knee must bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord of all!
Oswald J. Smith who wrote ‘A Passion for Souls, once wrote: “The only means of reaching every creature with the Gospel is the use of the printed page.”
Benjamin Franklin, that great American statesman also said, “Give me twenty-six lead soldiers, and I will conquer the world.” He was, of course, referring to twenty-six letters of the alphabet cast in printer’s type.
What do we need in this hour? Sound Christian literature that exalts Jesus Christ as King and extols the principles that He laid out in His philosophy of Life; literature that points to Him as the Way and the Source of Eternal Satisfaction.
What more do we need? Foot soldiers that will carry the Word house to house, city to city, country to country; men with a vision for reaching the world.
The competition is keen. Distribution is the key. Getting the Word out, near and far is the goal. The Mormons have demonstrated zeal and commitment, so have the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the zealous communist youth. Now is the time for the Christian to remember the final command of Jesus Christ to His disciples, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature!”
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