February 18 – “Gideon”

Chris and I went to a gathering of pastors and their wives and local businessmen and their wives last night.  It was a pastor's appreciation banquet given by the Gideons.     I used to have a really difficult time whenever someone introduced himself as a Gideon.  I knew who the Gideons were, of course.  They are the ones who give away Bibles and put them in hotel rooms all over the world.  The problem was, the very first dog Chris and I ever got after we were married was named Gideon.  He was a little tiny toy fox terrier – a rat terrier.  That made him our first child, if you can understand those kinds of relationships that young married couples have with their pets before they ever have kids.  So … every time I heard the word I thought of our Gideon.  He even took precedence over the guy in the Bible.  I still think about him sometimes, but not as often.  Sorry, Gideons.   Now he wasn't our first pet.  That honor fell to a bird.  We got a parakeet not long after we got married.  We named him Noah, because his first act upon entering his cage was to knock over his water trough and cause a flood.  Noah and I became great friends.  When I would lie on the floor to study, he would jump down and bury his head in the crook of my arm and take a nap.  Inspirational.  We found out later that there was a good possibility that Noah was actually a girl.  Crisis of the decade.  But we never changed his name or anything.     Back to the banquet.  It is quite the event every year, and we look forward to it.  There is always a program that includes testimonies of how the ministry has affected some specific people.  That is always my favorite part.  I even liked the keynote speaker this year, because he told five or six stories about people who became believers because of Gideon Bibles.  My favorite story was about the guy who was a fisherman in Siberia.  He couldn't find any food for his family, so as he stood alone in the snow in the middle of nowhere he prayed to the Creator (didn't know his name, just knew that somebody had to make all the stuff) for help.  Soon after a book fell from the sky and landed nearby.  It was a Gideon Bible.  He took it into town and asked a local pastor about it, and became a Christian as a result.  Come to find out, some organization had sent food and supplies as a relief effort, and a box of Bibles was included.  As the helicopter of atheistic communists flew over the area where the man was hunting, they decided that no one needed the books, so they threw them out the window.  Ha.  Way to go, God.  He also said they give away an average of two Bibles every second.  Said he felt good about that until he found out that three children are born every second.  They have a ways to go.   We met one of the new pastors in town.  He started at West Isle Presbyterian Church several months ago.  Great couple.  We hope to get to know them better.  He said he had heard of Seaside right after they arrived.  He said we were known for two things.  One was that we were very creative in our approach to ministry.  I wasn't sure if that was good or bad, but they assured me it was good.  The other thing was that we ministered to kids.  Apparently they don't have any in their church.  I was excited to hear that they had a women's prayer group going that was regularly praying for Galveston.  Keep that up.  We need it.  It also sounded like I am now among the top three or four elder statesmen as far as length of tenure among pastors in the city go.  Scary thought.  I am officially an old guy.  WooHoo.   Isaiah 26:3 says, "You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you."   Father, thanks for those Gideon guys and the work they do.  Make them successful.  Amen.