C.T. Studd: Cricketer and Pioneer

A friend of mine dedicated his life to missions over ten years ago when he read this book.  After waiting patiently on the Lord, he and his family are now embarking on a life of missions.  They have sold everything and are but a few days from being deployed.   Watching them shed their earthly possessions has been extremely exciting and I know that God has great things in store for them.

I have thoroughly enjoyed this book and am stirred to do more as a result.  If a 22 year old C.T. was not special enough to stay in his father's hugely successful dye business or follow his rapid rise to the top of the cricket world by holding that top spot for many more years, then I can hardly declare I am special enough as a cog in my company, a good citizen of a great community, a member of a wonderful church, or even as a fantasy football owner that finished in the top half of a meager league to stay where I am and not go at the age of 48.

C.T. has many famous quotes, but one that drove him to missions for the third time at the age of 53 was at the tip of his tongue for him to reply to his many doctors, consultants, partners and friend that questioned his foolish decision:

• If Jesus Christ be God, and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.

I have known a few athletes, missionaries, hikers and bikers but to put them all together in a single life that moves from England to Australia to China to India to America to Africa.  He started as a boy swinging a cricket bat evenly against a reflection of a carpet seam line.  A straight swing as a boy was unstoppable when placed in the frame of tall athlete with long arms and large wrists.  Simple straight talk was unstoppable when placed on the tongue of a man that preceded in prayer and dedication.

Here are some more quotes that jumped off the pages:

• "Cursed is he that trusteth in man" does not make a very good pillow for a dying man. "Blessed is he that trusteth in the Lord."
• Christ does not want nibblers of the possible but grabbers of the impossible.
• Some wish to live within the sound
  Of Church or Chapel bell,
  I want to run a Rescue Shop
  Within a yard of hell.
• All God wants is a heart; any old turnip will do for a head. So long as we are empty, all is well...
• A lost reputation is the best degree for Christ's service.

As he and his wife founded and fostered organizations and methods for sharing the gospel with unreached places of the world, he also jotted down a few flow charts that helped to define a sustainable and repeatable process for teaching truth.  We all have time to do that, we just have to start.

Happy Birthday Kim!

For Dr. Kim's birthday, a group of us went riding in the mud. I had to get the bikes down from the ceiling of the garage, put air in the tires and oil the chains and derailures since we didn't ride very much in 2006.

In fact, I think that our ride today was longer than the total for 2006, so we're off to a good start for 2007.

It was good to have Kelly with us. Matt and Kim are great mountain bikers in terms of strength, stamina and technical riding skills, but Kelly throws in some additional entertainment by jumping his bike over things. It was really amazing to me that he could do that with a muddy bike. I have never been able to do it with a clean bike.

Carmen and Matt headed home after our first two loops and Kim, Kelly and I took a third loop. I told Matt that I wanted to take pictures of the muddy bikes and people so he was stuck with the assignment of keeping Carmen from washing her bike when she got home.

As you can see from the photos, Matt completed his mission.