A Big gift in a small package
Monday mornings are usually tough for us. Its the readjusting from the weekend and trying to tiredly focus on the long week ahead. Our morning routine runs a bit late and this Monday morning was no different. I dropped Katie and Lauren off at school and pulled out to start my busy day. I pulled up main street and got ready to cut across Palmer College when I saw a well dressed man in a suit, in his hands he held small brown books and I immediately knew he was a Gideon. The little brown book was a New Testament, God's word and they were handing them out for free to the students who would take them. In the midst of my early morning rush, this made me smile and blessed me.
The Gideon's were founded in 1899. The idea was brought about in the autumn of 1898 when two men who were traveling met at a hotel and discovered they were both Christians. They both felt led by God to develop an association of men to go out into the world and deliver God's Word.
John H. Nicholson and Samuel E. Hill met again on May 31, 1899 and decided to get all Christian commercial travelers together to unite to serve the Lord. They called a meeting on July 1, 1899 in the YMCA and decided to be called the Gideon's. It is interesting to note that the practice of church support came from a pastor in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It was Dr. E. R. Burkhalter of the First Presbyterian Church of Cedar Rapids who arose and spoke that "the Gideon bibles be placed in all local hotels and that the union be responsible for the funds." The motion was unanimously carried and a committee was formed so the church could support the association according to their strength. www.gideons.org The New Testaments that they give out are now in more than 90 languages.
"And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." Matthew 28:18-20
God Bless the Gideon's
The Gideon's were founded in 1899. The idea was brought about in the autumn of 1898 when two men who were traveling met at a hotel and discovered they were both Christians. They both felt led by God to develop an association of men to go out into the world and deliver God's Word.
John H. Nicholson and Samuel E. Hill met again on May 31, 1899 and decided to get all Christian commercial travelers together to unite to serve the Lord. They called a meeting on July 1, 1899 in the YMCA and decided to be called the Gideon's. It is interesting to note that the practice of church support came from a pastor in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It was Dr. E. R. Burkhalter of the First Presbyterian Church of Cedar Rapids who arose and spoke that "the Gideon bibles be placed in all local hotels and that the union be responsible for the funds." The motion was unanimously carried and a committee was formed so the church could support the association according to their strength. www.gideons.org The New Testaments that they give out are now in more than 90 languages.
There are hundreds of thousands of people every year that have the ability to encounter the Word of God. They are placed in hotels, motels, prisons, jails, hospitals, nursing homes, medical offices and battered women's shelters across the world. They have been handed out to our military from their establishment. I have my grandpa Elmore's New Testament that he received when he served in WW II and it is very precious to me
"And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." Matthew 28:18-20
God Bless the Gideon's
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