Pastor's Corner

for Sunday May 1st
God’s will is my pleasure
At 32 John G. Paton accepted the call to missionary service in the New Hebrides in the South Pacific. In March 1858 he married Mary Ann Robson, and on April 16 they sailed together for the cannibal island of Tanna. In less than a year they had built a little home and Mary had given birth to a son. But on March 3, 1859, one year after their marriage, Mary died of the fever, and in three weeks the infant son died. John Paton buried them alone, and wrote, "But for Jesus . . . I must have gone mad and died beside that lonely grave." One of the gifts that Jesus had given him to sustain him in those days were the words his wife spoke shortly before her death. She did not murmur against God, or resent her husband bringing her there. Rather she spoke these incredible words, "I do not regret leaving home and friends. If I had it to do over, I would do it with more pleasure, yes, with all my heart" (Fifty Missionary Heroes, by Julia Johnston, 1913, p. 153). This reminds me of the words of Job, when in the midst of extreme hardship he said, “when He has tried me, I shall come out as gold”! Such faith is inspiring, is it not. To look back on life’s trials with the attitude that should such a situation come my way again I will run eagerly toward it not from it; that I will embrace it not shrink from it! May God give us the grace to live life with such faith!
Pastor Don.