10/16/2018
When I wake up and the mind is singing a song I haven’t heard in years, it is a mystery that I cannot unravel. Today is one of those days. I must have been about 10 or 12 the only time I remember ever hearing it. The singer was Moon Mullican…ring any bells? Probably not. I had to Google it to see who sang it, then I also found out Patsy Cline recorded it. The name of it is “I’ll Sail My Ship Alone!” Written by ol’ Moon in 1950, but some sources say Lois Mann, Henry Bernard, and Murray Burns collaborated on it. But, it was recorded by many in the day including Hank Williams. I remembered it as a Gene Autry song, but perhaps I heard Moon (similar voice.)…hm, strange.
For most of the years we lived in Texas, I pastored Berean Bible Church which started as a home bible class and just got too big for that, then too big for the room we rented, then a chance to build a building came along and so we did. One of our usual things was before I started the second hour class, I would ask if anyone wanted to give their testimony. Because when speaking with strangers, every salesperson knows in a “cold call” conversation you only have about two minutes to make your point, I suggested people should learn to give their personal testimony of faith in Christ in two minutes. So, people unaccustomed to public speaking would sometimes have a hard time holding it to two minutes. My friend Mo was one of those.
First, I want to give you Mo’s testimony: Mo stopped by our church one Sunday evening for bible class and it was a Sunday night we had called class off. But Mike Schroeder was there and Mo tapped on the door and asked Mike what time we started. Mike explained we weren’t having class, but invited him in to talk awhile. Mo talked for one hour solid, regaling Mike with his religious experiences, extraordinaire! Then Mike said, wait, it’s my turn to talk (or something akin to that.) So Mo listened while Mike explained the gospel of Christ in the simplest terms: Christ died for our sins, was buried, and God raised Him from the dead for our justification; believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you’ll be saved.
Mo left that meeting, drove a little ways, pulled over to the side of the road and with the words of the gospel burning inside him, trusted the Lord for salvation.
Now, if you read that out loud it takes 52 seconds. The first time Mo got up to give his two minute testimony, it took him 32 minutes! I never stopped him, because, actually, it was quite interesting. He was a good natured guy and we all applauded but ribbed him pretty good about the 2 minutes! Several months later, he asked me if he could give his testimony again, he had been working on how to give it to strangers in 2 minutes. I said yes and this time it took 18 minutes—he could get wound up! About a year or so later, he asked again—he was sure he could give it in the allotted 2 minutes! It was terrific, we applauded his great way of trimming it down. But it was about 9 minutes. He said afterward, I’ll just hold ‘em till I’m done! I never saw Mo in a short conversation.
More Mo stories, like more Trafalgar stories and more blah, blah, blah in the blogs to come.
Thanks for reading, the Elder
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