Thankful for help in establishing faith
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Faith Fitness
Bro. Sam Kaufman
When I look back on my Christian walk, I am always so thankful for the ones who spent extra time establishing me in the faith.
It required some work. When it came to Christianity, I was pretty rough around the edges. In other words, I did not know much about the Bible and church ways.
I did have an interest to learn more about God. The Lord began convicting me of sin while I was attending college.
I was living the typical college life – which was riddled with parties and alcohol and the like. That’s when God started dealing with me. I’m sure there were a few people praying for me.
I began sporadically responding to the conviction, which enabled God to work with me more.
A major breakthrough was when I purchased a paperback New Testament from the thrift store. I graduated from college and was working at a weekly newspaper in rural Washington state. That was when the Lord really got a hold of me!
A man called the paper, asking if someone could do a story on him attending Bible Training Institute in Tennessee. It was no coincidence that the editor, Tom McCrady, assigned me to the story.
When I got there, it was the church folks asking the cub reporter questions about his soul. God truly orchestrated the whole thing.
I told the people I had started reading the New Testament and how God was dealing with me. One older gentleman, the man who attended Bible school, took me under his wing. His name was Grant Baird, or Brother Baird, as he was known at church.
Brother Baird was in his late 70s at the time. He was a World War II Marine – a demolition man. I thank God for Brother Baird.
He was one who could get through to me about the Bible. He and the others at the church prayed for me.
It was a relatively small group that met in a home. They were all older folks compared to me.
But to have a young person (I was 25 at the time.) around who was seeking the Lord was a blessing to them.
Brother Baird had me over to his house every week. Since I hadn’t attended Sunday School growing up, he helped me learn the Bible.
Sister Baird made some food, we discussed the Bible for a while, and then it was on to the stories of bygone days that Brother Baird loved to share.
His memory of every intricate detail of war stories, or stories from his youth, was impeccable. He could quote what other people were saying from 60 years ago. That blew my mind.
In my mind, it was important for him to share those stories because he loved to do that. He enjoyed returning to the glory days of his youth.
I felt that the least I could do was accommodate him for a while. But I always had a hard time saying I had to leave. I didn’t want to seem rude, so I always stayed for a while.
God definitely used Brother Baird to help me get the Bible basics down and go from there. Brother Baird rewarded me by purchasing a new Bible that I really liked.
The others there were so helpful and kind. It wasn’t too long until I asked Jesus into my heart by faith.
God, no doubt, placed them in my life to help me grow in my relationship with Him.
I’ll never forget their sacrificial efforts and love from God they displayed to a young man searching for truth.
