January 6......praise God for that blessed day! The year was 1850....almost a hundred years to the day before I was born. The place was Colchester, England....and there was this beautiful and glorious blizzard. There was a young man....15 years old to be exact....whose father and grandfather were ministers....yet he struggled every day with the knowledge that he was a sinner....and did not want to give up his sins....but at the same time knew that Almighty God frowned upon him.....so he would try to fight these temptations....and he would pray....O would he pray....but all to no avail.
On the same Lord's Day as the blizzard there was this man....maybe in his fifties.....a shoemaker possibly....or coach driver....some honest profession that did not require an education. He was a deacon in his church....a small fundamental church. I'll call him....George....and his wife.....Elizabeth. They lived only two small English town blocks from the church so the walk in the blizzard to the church was bearable.
As George struggled with the heavy wooden door....and held it open....with snow pelting his exposed face....Elizabeth....her face covered with only enough vision to be able to see the doorway....was able to barrel into the comfort of the foyer. A much younger Mr. Bellows rushed up to George and said...."George....the pastor has not showed up. The snow always makes it hard for him to get off of his farm.....George....you will have to be the preacher today!"
Anxiety pangs immediately came upon George for he was not a man of words....nor could he even correctly pronounce many of them. He did have a memory though....of many passages of Scripture....and Elizabeth encouraged him to pick a verse and just talk to the people as he did to her so often at the dinner table.
There may only have been a dozen people who could make the worship service in the snow....and Deacon George determined to....preach....on one of his favorite verses of God's Word....Isaiah chapter 45 and verse 22...."Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth."
The congregation....small though it might be....knew and loved their faithful deacon....that was no problem. George walked slowly up the steps to the pulpit....praying as he was walking. As he turned to face the congregation....the same door that George and Elizabeth entered the foyer opened. A strong gust of wind and snow came in....along with a young man....almost a boy. George waited as the young man looked around and entered the sanctuary.....hesitant....but seemingly happy to be out of the cold.
As he took a seat in the very last pew....George....shouted out that verse from Isaiah...."Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth!" It took the people a little by surprise....and especially the young man in the last pew.
In what was Deacon George's sermon.....he kept repeating over and over...."Look....look....just look! Everyone can look! One does not have to enter university to learn how to look!"
The man....whose given name was Charles....Charles....Haddon....Spurgeon....had determined to visit many of the churches in his town....to see if someone might preach to him something that would give him the true conversion that he pleaded to God for....but not necessarily this small Primitive Methodist Church....or maybe it might be last on the list....but this day in the blizzard it was the closest.
Friends....brothers and sisters in our precious Lord and Savior and Coming King....Charles Haddon Spurgeon was converted....saved on that gloriously wonderful and snowy day....and the whole world....beginning back then....in the decades between....and today.... praise their Savior more faithfully....because that young boy became through God's grace....the Prince of Preachers....and so many....multitudes....have themselves been saved by way of his preaching!
Please....dear readers....it's the Lord's Day....this isn't a day for sports or remodeling the house....give this day to your beloved Savior....for if you are indeed a Christian then you would call Him something like....your beloved and precious Savior! Please go to the link below and view this wonderful one hour and nine minute movie! The above scene will be opened up to you in a much more beneficial and edifying way! I dare say....at 75 years old I've seen a few things....you may never be the same....for God works through the efforts of filmmakers like this....and even by way of simple and insignificant bloggers like myself.
