Testimony by Doug Heil

Testimony by Doug Heil.pdf

As I was entering my junior year of college, the Lord brought me to himself in a most unusual way, especially for a 20-year-old college football player.

He brought me before a feisty 66-year-old, no-nonsense, wonderful widow who had somehow established an effective ministry with college age kids in town.

She held a Thursday night Bible study that she ran like a night class, complete with a black board, homework, and classroom rules. She held our attention and commanded our respect. The first night I attended, with four or five other football players, the room kind of went silent when we came in. They knew us, and I think they thought we were there to rob them or something.

However, little did they know how my parents had taught us to respect our elders (and 66 qualified as elder then—I have since revised my definition), and it was because of that respect that I gave her the time to share her life-altering message with me.

The first game of our junior season was in Marshall, Minnesota. The night before the game, we were sequestered in our motel room, wasting time like most 20-year-old football players, when the topic turned to the Book of Revelation. We grabbed the Gideon Bible, found the mysterious Book, and began looking at these weird words. Of course, we had more questions than answers, and one guy invited us to go meet this lady who could answer all our questions. Sounded good (hey, we were in Marshall), so a few of us said we would go when we got back to town. Of course, when the night came I was not so interested anymore, but I was literally wrestled into going by a guy on our wrestling team. Wrestlers are guys who, when they can't hold your attention any longer with their brilliance, turn to headlocks and physical violence to get you re-engaged in conversation. You have to love those guys. I agreed to go—mainly to get rid of him. But God had a different plan.

When we got there, I met Mrs. Brown. Her hair was all white, and she had these penetrating dark eyes that just drilled into you. She seemed to see right through me, and I found it hard to look into her eyes. She listened to us and answered our questions about the Book of Revelation, and she presented the gospel message. She answered more questions, and presented the gospel. She answered more questions, but kept taking us back to our need for salvation. Honestly, I got a little frustrated with that because that was not why we were there.

I accepted Christ that night.

What’s interesting is that I do not think a typical college ministry could have reached me at that point in my life. I just was not open to such things, did not have time for Christians, and was generally busy entertaining myself with the usual college nonsense. But God knew a pathway into my heart. He knew that while I would never sit still for any well-meaning Christian kid on campus, I would sit still for someone for whom I had been taught to respect.

We attended her Thursday night Bible studies all that year. She expected us to take notes, have a bible, pen and paper, ask questions and not goof off, at least until the end of the study, and she strongly encouraged Scripture memorization. She always seemed to examine us when we showed up and somehow knew when we had been up to no good (it was those eyes). She really was a fun, kind, and warm-hearted woman who cared about our souls, probably more that we did. We came most every week, stayed in the Word, and memorized Scripture. We did not want to disappoint her.

God's Word was taking hold.

One Thursday she told us she was going to teach about Satan and hell at our next study. Before she would do that though, we all had to write 1 John 4:4b 100 times (“Greater is He who is in you, than he who is in the world”).

She wanted that protective coating wrapped firmly around us before we went into that study. I made the unfortunate mistake of mentioning that I had completed the assignment by going down the page writing one word at a time—Greater, Greater, Greater (100 times); is, is, is (100 times); He, He, He (100 times), and so on. She made me do it all over in complete sentences before she started teaching that evening.

I thought that was somewhat harsh, although I still remember the verse today and the point she was making. We even learned a little song that I remember, but do not ask me to sing it.

There are a number of lessons I could draw your attention to out of these memories, but I might say just this:

First, God is persistent, loving, and merciful. Pray for your unsaved friends and family. Pray for them, plant a seed, present the gospel, and do not assume they are not listening or that you are too different from them to reach them. God will find a pathway into the hearts of his elect, sometimes using means you might think are unusual or unlikely.

Second, do not retire from evangelism or serving the Lord. Look for ways to use your God-given talents to serve him wherever you are, regardless of your age. There are unique opportunities out there for believers of every age, and God might use you to reach someone in some unusual way, like he did in my life. Someone may be waiting for you.

Third, teach your kids a proper respect for their elders (your peers).

They are not your kids’ peers and should be shown respect. They should be called Mr. or Mrs. Smith, not Jim or Sally. I still call my parents’ friends Mr. or Mrs. so-and-so. It is who I was brought up to be, it is who I am, and God used it to save my life.

Thank You, God, for Mrs. Brown.