The prize Fight

The Prize Fight

Whether we like to admit it or not, most of us live in a daily mundane routine.  While this can bring some sense of comfort and make us somehow think that we have control of our lives.  Taking advantage of the mundane can make a huge difference in our lives and the lives of others.

This story begins in our first command, with a young man who was looking to fill his time volunteering for the Army.

He called, and we set an appointment to meet.  We met and after talking, we determined that the best use of his time would be to drive a bus on Sunday mornings to pick up those who needed a ride to church.

After learning the route and driving for a few weeks I noticed that during Sunday School he would sit outside of the adult class and listen.  My wife asked why he didn’t go in and he said that most of the folks were older and he didn’t feel comfortable.

I asked him if he would attend a class specifically for his age if he would attend.  He said that he would.

Since I was not teaching a class I decided to teach this class.  The next Sunday he and I attended our first class.   He was living with his parents and sister, and his sister soon became curious about what her brother was doing at the Army. Soon we were introduced to her and she started attending.

She became a soldier and her bother an adherent.  They were both becoming more active in the Corps and soon their mother decided to find out what it was that had attracted her adult children to a church called the Salvation Army.

The mother had grown up in church and was a Christian but had not gone to church in a long time because her husband was unsaved and did not attend church.

Some people might say that we had seen a miracle in the lives of these three people, because of a son looking for a place to volunteer his time.

One Sunday morning, the wife approached us and expressed her concern for her husbands Salvation.   The father continually told his family that they were wasting their time coming to the army and that they ought to be home.  The wife invited us to dinner at their home.  She was interested in introducing us to her husband.  She warned us that he might not be too friendly, but we assured her that we would have dinner, a short visit, not staying too long.

The day of the visit arrived, and I was a little miffed at not checking my calendar, there was a heavyweight boxing match that I had wanted to watch that night.   Certainly, a selfish reason not to go, but having made a commitment, off we went for our visit.

Arriving at the home we were greeted and after some small talk invited to eat dinner.  As the conversation went on, I learned that the husband also wanted to watch the boxing match.  After dinner I suggested that perhaps we could have dessert in the living room and maybe  watch the boxing match.

The husband spent no time offering me a comfortable chair and turning the television to the channel for the match.

We spent the next hour or so, watching and talking and having dessert and soon the match was over and after saying our goodbye’s, my wife and I told them that we would see them in church the next morning.

The next morning the wife got up at her usual time to get ready for church.  To her surprise she found her husband fully dressed in his best suit, sitting in his chair.  She asked; “What are you doing?”  To which he replied, “If your pastor can spend an hour watching a boxing match with me, I guess I can go and listen to him for an hour.

I sure he was relived when I didn’t preach for an hour, but from that day forward he attended the Corps faithfully with his family and became a member and a lifelong friend.  We rejoiced as he accepted the Lord and became the man that God had intended for him to be.

From that moment on I never underestimated the power of visiting. Visitation became a priority and over the course of many years we saw the power of God work through simple human interaction in the home.

If there is anything I could say to Officers today, it would be get into the homes of your people and let them really get to know you.   They will love you for it.