Life Lessons Part 5

I’m 17 years old. I’m working part-time for Alderwood Manor Electric. I’m enjoying high school. I am very active as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. I have an extended family with grandparents and cousins. Life is good.

But at that time, I didn’t really have a direction in life. I felt like I was marking time. One weekend, I went to our Kingdom Hall (what we called church). They were presenting a special home movie about the many missionaries of Jehovah’s Witnesses around the world. It included their stories and why they did what they did. I was moved and galvanized. They seemed happy, motivated and purposeful. They seemed fulfilled. I left the building with a purpose. I knew what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I wanted to be a missionary.

It was no small task. Missionaries of the Witnesses were an exclusive group. Out of a membership of five million, they had fewer than a few hundred missionaries. I knew that getting there would be a long shot and take many years of single-minded dedication. I was convinced it was a calling from God, and I was focused on my goal. It was a road (still is) filled with potholes, detours, joys and tragedy. Seven years later, I was assigned to Chile. I was only there for five years, but they were good years.

And what about my “calling?” Was it really God calling me, or was it my imagination? Was I wrong? Was I abandoning my purpose in life? All good questions.

What did I learn initially? Missions don’t have to be in Chile, South America or Africa. Missions can be in our own backyard reaching out to our next-door neighbors. I also learned much later that missions are not exclusive to the Witnesses. Being here at Creekside has opened many mission opportunities for which I am very grateful. Looking back over sixty years, I still believe that God’s calling was real and that He still has much for me to do. (Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. Gal. 6:9)

A couple years after returning to the States, something horrible happened. I concluded that the Witnesses didn’t have the Truth; they weren’t the only ones to be saved! While this may seem obvious to most, to me it was an earth-shattering revelation that turned my world upside-down. My entire purpose in life, my reason for living, was now falling apart.

I remember driving home from work and pulling off onto the shoulder on I-5. In anguish, I said, “I don’t believe this anymore!” And so began a downward spiral where my faith, my world, my marriage, my family, my friends began to fall apart. It was a dark time of disappointment and hopelessness. I had few friends that weren’t Witnesses.

One was Mr. Wigington, my retired English teacher. I remember going to his house and pouring out my heart. I explained that I was happy as a JW. I had my family and friends, and I loved them. I didn’t want to lose them. There was a sense of contentment and belonging there. Outside of that was misery, darkness and uncertainty. Surely, if they didn’t have the Truth, there was no truth. I would lose everyone and everything that I loved. I was facing an unknown path of hurt and pain for me and those that I loved. And all over an intangible idea called “Truth.” What should I do? It would be so much easier to just go back and accept what the Witnesses taught. It would solve so much.

But Mr. Wigington looked at me, and began one of his long analogies about a Greek shepherd boy in the third century B.C., looking for a lost sheep on the slopes of Mt. Olympus. Reaching the top, the boy exclaimed, “Where are all the gods?” There weren’t any. His whole world view changed. If he said anything, who would believe him? He would be ridiculed and expelled by his family and friends. It was heresy! “But, there weren’t any gods up there!” “That’s not the truth,” scoffers would say. “Everyone knows that the gods are up there.”

Mr. Wigington paused and said, “What should he do?” Longer pause. Then he said, “I would choose truth.” And so I did.

What have I learned?  I learned I can get sage advice even from a chain-smoking agnostic like Mr. Wigington.  Also, I’ve learned that God has been there for me all the time, even though I wasn’t aware of it.  He has given me fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, children, abundance and blessings far more than I ever could have imagined.  (And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My Name's sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life. Matt. 19:29)   And all because I chose “truth.”

-Image of church service - Photo by Elianna Gill on Unsplash