Today was the first day of my last year of course work for my DMIN program at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. At the beginning of each semester a guest is brought in to address the entire program. Today it was Dr. Jack MacGorman.
I had Dr. MacGorman for a class on 2 Corinthians when I was working on my masters in 1998. Today, he gave some incredible insights and a fantastic example for me to follow.
Dr. MacGorman is 89 years old. Here are some of the highlights that stuck out to me from today.
Here is a quote from Dr. Mac about his age, "Anyone indebted to God for his mercy and forgiveness as I am needs a long life to say, 'thank You'". Wow! What an incredible perspective and truth.
His testimony is something like this. He was born in Nova Scotia in 1920. In his early 20's he desired to go to a prestigious college and get an advanced degree in Liberal Arts. But, he contracted a serious illness and became severely ill. He was in a hospital for months in excruciating pain. While in that hospital he realized that his greatest need was not for a baccalaureate degree from an esteemed university but a Savior to rescue him from his sins.
As he recounted his salvation story he was visibly moved with a sincere gratitude and joy. It seemed like the initial joy of salvation had never diminished in over 65 years!
As I sat there listening to this 89 year old saint testify to the scriptures, the faithfulness of God, with sincere humility it was striking. I have seen lots of elderly people who seem to check out on their faith and desire to work and serve the Lord. Dr. Mac was truly grateful that the Lord had seen fit to give him life, and he was not going to waste that opportunity. He was going to use it to glorify His Lord. I pray that I can follow that same type of example.
He taught on the difference between law and grace from Galatians and it was powerful. Maybe I'll share some more in a later post
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