A short history of “All things” in my life

Prayer Breakfast Talk: “ALL THINGS ”  Romans 8:28-29

These verses, when taken together in our understanding, give us an amazing picture of our entire life: past, present, and future. They reveal a plan of sovereign saving grace, they give all who  truly love God the ability to trace their faith and salvation back to an eternal decree made by God, and the right to look forward  to a guaranteed certainty. A reading of those verses shows that God is not merely a spectator in the events that happen in our lives.

We have not only been predestined (chosen) by God, we have been, in due season, called (brought to faith), and as a result, we have been justified and will be in God’s own time glorified. Note that all these events are referred to in the past tense, for in the mind of God they have all already taken place.

While these things are true and certain, all of them have not yet been brought to pass in our lives. If we truly belong to God, we have been chosen by Him (Eph. 1:11), and in due time were called, that is brought to personal faith in Him, and as a result have been justified.

One of these events mentioned in these verses remains, so far as we are concerned, yet future. We are not yet glorified. However these verses also speak of our being conformed to the image of God’s Son. These verses do not speak of  “being conformed” by its theological name, sanctification. But it is the process of sanctification which takes place between our justification and glorification which conforms us to the image of God. It is most often this process that we think of when we read the words that tell us that “All things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

While it is persons, not facts or events that God is said to foreknow, God does see events, events chosen to further our conformity to Himself. All of us find ourselves experiencing events that are included in the “all things” of this verse. Now all the things  we experience are not good in and of themselves, but God rules in such a way as to ensure that everything that happens to us is working for our ultimate good.

Today I want to share with you some of the “all things” that have brought me from God’s call, to justification as I anticipate being glorified.

I was born on a farm in South Dakota on February 23, 1927, twenty miles from the nearest town or church. I do not remember my grandmother Waldecker, but I was told, after the fact, that because I slept with my hands folded, she predicted that I would grow up to be a preacher.

My sole contact with a church was my two cousins, who did attend a church in town. From them I heard Bible stories and songs that they had learned in Sunday School. But I had no real concept of what a church was or why anyone would drive all that far to attend one. I grew up as a reader and so I knew a lot of stories, and I just added their stories to the list.

When I was a freshman in high school, Japan dropped bombs on Pearl Harbor, bringing the USA into World War II. I still remember what I was doing when I hear that news. I still hear plainly the words of President Roosevelt when he made that declaration of war. On completion of high school, I enlisted in the USN. That was 1945, a year in which God interceded  greatly in my life, and in a way not commonly called good. Nearing the end of my Navy training, I received word that my brother Henry was killed in a hunting accident. I attended the funeral service. At the time my immediate family were not believers, not were they involved in a church. The funeral was  held in the Presbyterian Church  USA. I remember almost nothing of what was said or done. I do remember my father saying afterward, “They might as well as been burying a dog.” I did not understand what he was talking about until I became a believer. What he meant was that there was no gospel message, no comfort.

Returning to my Navy duties, I was shipped to the Philippians and assigned to the Amphibian Forces. At Subic Bay , I joined with others to train for the invasion of Japan. But within a few days the Atom Bomb was dropped on Japanese cities and all training ceased. There would be no war for me.

Upon discharge and arriving home, I found that my parents had become believers and had joined the Bible Presbyterian Church. I agreed to attend the church just to please my mother, I had no intention of making a habit of it. There, of the fist time I heard about God, that He was real, that I was a sinner, and that Christ had died on the cross to save sinners. After a few weeks, I too became a believer. There was nothing emotional involved. I heard the gospel message and was convinced in my mind that it was true and I trusted in Christ. At a summer camp where there was an emphasis on the assurance of salvation, I had some doubts. Could I really be so certain as the teacher said? When I talked with him, he asked me to read the Book of I John and to underline every time I came to the word KNOW or its equivalent. Upon finishing that exercise, I was certain of my salvation.

Up to this point, my whole life was lived with the expectation that I would become a farmer, just as my father was. To be a farmer meant having a farm, so I went to work for a farmer who needed help. Working for him I was able, along with money I had saved while I was in the Navy, to by 680 acres. I was a farmer!

My spiritual growth was greatly helped by Ray Davis, a farmer who was also the adult Sunday School teacher. His teaching was always challenging and he knew his way around in the Bible. He seemed to know exactly where to find the answer to my questions. I began to have a desire for that kind of ability.

Enter God, once again. That summer we had a summer supply, a student from a Seminary in Minneapolis, MN, named Leonard Robinson. He was not only a survivor of the Baatan Death March, but was a dynamic young man. I relayed my desire to him and he invited me to attend a Bible School that was related to the Seminary that he attended.

I did go to Northwestern Bible School and took a three year course. The school was evangelical, dispensational, and baptistic. Never once did I hear of the Westminster Confession of Faith or John Calvin. There I met Lillian my wife-to-be. We were married at the end of my 3rd year.

Upon completion of my  three years of training, we went back to the farm to continue the process of being a farmer. But things were never the same. I never felt the contentment, the joy of farming seemed to have vanished. Instead I sensed a need for more education, so back to Northwestern where I enrolled in their College in preparation for Seminary. Upon graduation from college, I was awarded the W. B. Riley Memorial Scholarship and enrolled in their Seminary with the intention of eventually seeking a teaching position. Again no WCF or Calvin. Instead C.I. Schofield was often quoted as the authority.

It was near the end of my second year there that the Board decided to close the Seminary. That meant looking elsewhere for a place to complete my Seminary training. That was a time of great frustration, but a definite act of God on my behalf. It just so happened that during that year the Seminary had a special lecturer on Oriental Studies named G. Douglas Young, who happened to be a Member of the Bible Presbyterian Church. He told me about a new Seminary that was opening in St. Louis, MO. I applied and was accepted a Covenant Seminary. There under such teachers as R. Laird Harris, J. Oliver Buswell, John Sanderson, Wilbur Wallis, and W. Harold Mare, I was introduced to the WCF and Catechisms and for the first time I had the framework for all of my previous  Bible studies. Now things began to fall into place. There also I was exposed to the growing conflict within the Bible Presbyterian Church.

I completed my year at Covenant Seminary with mixed feelings. I had already spent 8 years in the education prosess, yet I felt that I did not have sufficient knowledge. I had only been exposed to the WCF and Catechisms, was I ready for what was ahead. If I was going to teach, I definitely needed more training.

During that year in St. Louis we worshiped at a small Church. The pastor, Harold Rapp, not only pastored, but worked for the telephone company. He was loved by the people and was a good leader. For the first time I was opened to the possibility that I could be a pastor.

It was in 1955-56 that I appeared before Presbytery for licensure. I don’t think I did a very good job, but they passed me anyway. Now what?

Again God interceded. The division in the Bible Presbyterian Church interrupted a Church plant situation in the St. Petersburg, FL area,

Tom Cross, who was the Director of the Home Missions Committee, explained the situation to me, stating that no funds could be guaranteed, but if I was interested, would I go to St. Petersburg and see if the work was still viable. If I went, again I would have to work to provide housing etc. as well as try to do church work. During all of my college and seminary days, I had worked mostly full time for Sears Roebuck, Co, so I figured that I could continue to do that. If Harold Rapp could work for the telephone company and pastor, so could I. My first job there was the cleaning of office buildings at night and church work by day.

Well, I stayed there 13 years. I left Florida in 1970, I think. The church was established and I needed a change, I thought. I took a rural church in Oklahoma that had severed its connections with the Presbyterian Church USA denomination.

In 1975, I was called to a Reformed Presbyterian Church in Southern Illinois.  In 1987 we saw an ad in a magazine for Children’s Ministry, International  that indicated that they would be available to come and teach teachers to teach using the Catechism for Young Children. We invited them and the Thigpens came for a seminar. We just seemed to sense a oneness of purpose and desire. They asked us if we might be free to help them teach Mission to the World’s kids at their summer conference. We took vacation time in 1987 and 1988 and did help them, and we did enjoy doing so, They were in the process of writing lessons on the Catechism questions that dealt with the Bible, could I offer some help since there are but 2 questions listed. We helped them to work out a way to add some questions to get a fuller teaching, but then we were asked, could we write them. We worked at it but found that it required more time than we could in good conscience take from the church. So the next question, would we consider raising support and joining them full time. Well that became a reality and we joined them in November of 1989. That brought us to Georgia and to Redeemer OPC. Truly all things do work together for to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

Some of this is repeat for you all, but maybe there is something new and different for you to look at too. Dad and Grandpa Tom