The Throwaways

I was on my way somewhere else with a little time to spare when I saw the used book store with a flashing sign which said, "Open."  Even though I knew longer than fifteen minutes would make me late, I pulled in a parking spot at the front door.  Within five minutes I found my prize.  The name of the book was "Sam Jones, A Fire out of Georgia," by Ray Hughes.  Born in Cartersville, Georgia in 1856 Sam Jones became a Methodist evangelist who preached all over Georgia,  Texas, Kentucky, Indiana and a host of other states.  When he died in 1906 his body was laid in state in the Georgia State Capital so the many could pay their respects.    

Before Sam Jones was called to  preach, he was a failure.  He failed as a lawyer.  He then lost his next job as a miner and the next one as a driver of a delivery truck.  After a six week drinking binge, he was brought to the deathbed of his father who said to him, "My poor, wicked, wayward, reckless boy.  You have broken the heart of your sweet wife and brought me down in sorrow to my grave; promise me, my boy to meet me in heaven."  It was a moment of reckoning and repentance for young Sam Jones who cried out, "I promise...I quit!"  He was true to his word and preached against the liquor business bringing many a man who loved the bottle into a loving relationship with Jesus.    

To read this man's story is to think that God could have done better in the moment of calling.  Liquor was his love.  It was his life.  Nothing about his life could possibly hint that here was a man who would preach to thousands in evangelistic meetings in major cities such as Nashville, Atlanta, St. Louis, and Cincinnati.  God is full of surprises.  He often uses the throwaways to accomplish His Work.  We know this to be true through the reading of Sam Jones' story, the Holy Word, and by looking in the mirror.