Seeking God

My Life through the Years

(Part No. 7)

Age 25

In our last installment, we were working our way through the west-central states otherwise known as New England. We had arrived in New Hampshire and Vermont. Sadly, as you know, some of these states in the North-East are politically liberal but we assume that there could be some nice people located there as well. We must always remember that Jesus died for all people and all need His atoning death. Thus we must not place all people in the same category at all!

As I continued the nationwide tour, I came to the end of going through New England. Just not, I can’t remember whether I dropped down to see parts of the state of New York or not but I did go north to Quebec. Perhaps as you know, this is a French-speaking province of Canada but I wanted to see this part of the country. Interestingly, as I entered Montreal (for I wanted to see the World’s Fair, there was a major crash or wreck right before me. A school bus was hit and fell over. I immediately rushed upon the wrecked bus and pulled a young girl out. I can see her today. She was dazed and hurt and lay on the pavement. I leaned over and tried to reassure her (in English, even though she spoke French) and cradled her head until the ambulance came for her and others. Although this was unexpected, I was grateful to God for His help on this occasion.

I did get to see the World’s Fair (I think it was in “Fair Park” but not sure) and did much walking around. Much of my time was at the “Sermons from Science” pavilion. Hour after hour for what must have been several days I must have seen very many of the half hour presentations of the Moody broadcasting network and I think I can say that my faith in God’s working (in contrast to the lies of evolution) was strengthened during this period.

After this, I headed west, through Ottawa in Quebec, and continued driving west until I reached Toronto (in the English-speaking portion of the nation). I think this was the largest city, in the province of Ontario, situated along the north-central portions of Lake Erie. I was carrying the AAA travel handbook for the geographical sections of Canada and the United States and this served me well in this journey. Toronto was well worth the visit. Oh, how people needed the gospel there—just as they do in the American cities to the south.

In the western part of the province of Ontario, I crossed the bridge and came to Michigan. There I was able to see the “automobile capital” of the world, Detroit. With all of the economic upheavals over the years, perhaps it no longer has this reputation. One of the purposes was to see the religious background of the country and I did this in the state of Michigan. For those of you interested, this state is between Lake Michigan to the west and Lake Huron to the east. Further, it even extends into the northern part of the area, across those bodies of water.

In Michigan, I was able to see Lansing in the center and then to the west I came to Grand Rapids. As you can imagine, I have been a reader all of my adult life and this has been revealed in my passion to know God’s will (through literature). I knew that Grand Rapids was the “home” of “Christian” publishers, including such “giants” as Baker Book House, Eerdman’s Publishing House, Zondervan Publishing House, and others. I did spend a long time in the used book section of the Baker Book House collection. After my literary respite, I continued to the south-west to Holland! As you might imagine, this was a city with roots in Holland (now called the Netherlands of Europe). I don’t know what season this was for them but it was perhaps September or October for us. There I found bright tulips lining the streets. If it was like this off-season, I wonder what it was like in the springtime!

I continued in the state by driving south to an interesting place called Benton Harbor. I don’t know what drew me to this city, but I spent some time at a location where there was a “commune” or “community” and I think that it was cultic in nature. Also, I did spend a bit of time to the east at Battle Creek. I think that this was the birthplace of the Adventists so I went to this important location to a rather large religious organization of our day. This would have been one place where Ellen G. White lived. Also, this group is known for their “health reform” views and included in this was two grain or cereal manufacturing plants, connected with “big name” men who learned to produce cereals of various kinds. (See William and John Kellogg and C. W. Post.)

You might want to keep in mind that in each of these cities, I visited the capitols and wanted to learn something of the origins as well as the present political systems. This helped to give me a general “feel” for the state and what it would offer. I was still thinking of the future and just where God may have wanted me to move and labor!

At this time I drove south through the northern part of Indiana and then entered Illinois. I realize that at this time, the state has a reputation of being the most dangerous or violent state in the union, but at that time I don’t know that it was considered this evil and wicked. I must confess that I didn’t stay in the dangerous areas. While there, I visited Moody where (at that time) they were producing “Moody Monthly” magazine and then I had a tour of the Moody Institute and went across the street to Moody Church. So many groups went out to do “street preaching” from this location. You may remember this church as located at 1635 N. LaSalle Drive and pastored by radio speaker Erwin Lutzer.

I can’t recall whether I visited Wheaton College and Seminary to the west. But I did visit the cultic location of Baha’i in north Chicago or Wilmette. Interestingly, the “church” has eight entrances, one for each of the world’s major religions. As the Usborne Encyclopedia of World Religions has it, “Bahi’s believe that all religions share the same god.” Of course, this impossible belief is false but millions of people apparently believe it.

At this time, I don’t remember how I was able to find safe places to sleep in the car each night, but apparently I did it. As I continued north, I wondered what God would show me in the coming days and years.