Salvation Saints

Through my years with The Salvation Army, there are a few people who have literally impacted me. These are people who live their lives honestly and properly, often despite adversity and challenge.

There is Sid Whitmore, a man held prisoner by the Japanese in WWII whose testimony was always in the way he lived his life and the consistency of his Salvationism. There is Jock Wallace whose primary role at the Coventry City Corps of The Salvation Army was Welcome Sergeant (greeter), a man who always had time for the young boy that I was, and who affected many lives due to the pure consistency of his walk with Christ. Bryn and Myrtle Sutton continue to minister, yet their impact on the young Mike Harris was attained by the measure of their character and their selfless dedication to others.

In recent days, I have to add Nellie Rowley to that list, a lady I met a little over 5 years ago and who is now lying in a hospital bed ready to meet her Lord. Nellie has never been rich, she has never been in a position of power and authority, she has never asked for much, but she has dedicated everything to God through her family and The Salvation Army. In the short 5 years that I have known Nellie, she has always been honest, sometimes disagreeable, but always supportive, always loving and always consistent.

As I sit beside her bedside with her family willing her to get better, I ponder my motives in desiring her to recover. Its about me, its about missing her, its about the fact that The Salvation Army is a better place when she 's in it...yet I have consistently preached of our reward being in heaven. There is no doubt in my mind that Nellie's reward is simply waiting for her, so who am I to will and pray her out of it. And there lies the greatest paradox we face as Christians...to pray in faith for healing while believing in paradise as our eternal reward.

At this point you sit back and acknowledge that God is in control. He is the author of all things, He is the Creator of life, and He has chosen the day we will die. In the meantime we will sit by the bedside of Nellie Rowley and thank God that she came our way, and left a remarkable impact on the lives of so many.