Walt Cared if They Heard by Judy Lorenzen

In the pages of my Bible, I tuck away clippings that are so precious to me that I have to put them there, where all the words that are dear to my heart reside. Besides God’s very words, my father’s obituary is there. My mother’s obituary was there until I had to remove it several years ago because it was crumbling to pieces. The statement “I’m a part of the fellowship of the unashamed” from the young Zimbabwe pastor who was martyred for his faith is there. Another old clipping is there, too, yellowed, and tattered and probably at the point of the need to retire from my Bible to the little box where my mother’s obit lies. I cannot even remember who gave me this piece, but I do remember very clearly the day I received it, where I was standing when I read it, and the details. The story made me cry and had a lesson that I always wanted to remember, so I placed it in my Bible to keep it close to my heart and to be able to pull it out again to read it once more.

The piece was written by Howard Hendricks. In it, he tells a story from his childhood about being a child of divorce, about how he was sure he “could have been reared, died and gone to hell, and nobody would particularly have cared, except that a small group of Christian believers got together in my neighborhood to start an evangelical church.” I did not know who Howard Hendricks was, but I remember loving Hendricks the moment I read “A Mandate for Mentoring.” My tears started when I got to his words, “I can’t tell you a thing Walt ever said. But I can tell you everything about him because he loved me more than my parents did. He loved me for Christ’s sake.” His brief vignette was so powerful that I couldn’t help but think about all of the kids I have taught that were like the young Howard Hendricks, broken, hurting kids that needed to know the love of Christ.

But I also could not stop thinking about Walt. The way Hendricks captured the sweetness of Walt made me love Walt. Walt wanted to teach Sunday school and had to go out into the community to get to his class, where he found 13 young boys; nine were from broken homes. Hendricks tells that 11 of those 13 boys went into full-time vocational Christian work—because Walt led them to Christ and then discipled them. And, Walt never went to school beyond the sixth grade. Now, Hendricks’s words and Walt’s actions were encouraging me, too, to continue to be strong in what God had called me to do—to love kids for Christ’s sake and use the doors He opens.

I really wanted my love for and commitment to Christ to be the expression of my life for the salvation of others.
 

At the time I was given Hendricks’ narrative, I didn’t know who he was. I had never heard of him, but every time I pulled the paper out and reread his story, there was Hendricks’ name—so I did begin to recognize his name. Then one day, I noticed that so many of the strong Bible-believing, teach-the-whole-counsel-of-God radio pastors I listened to and loved kept telling stories about what Howard Hendricks had said to them or taught them at Dallas Theological Seminary. I was beginning to love this Howard Hendricks. These pastors talked so lovingly about Hendricks and brought him up often enough that finally one day my brain made the connection that Hendricks was the name on the story in my Bible! I was in awe, and here, I knew so little about what God had done through this one man’s—or should I say two men’s, Walt’s and Howard’s—influence. These two men reminded me of Barnabas in Acts 11:24, “He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.” I wanted to be an encourager; I wanted to lead people to Christ. I wanted to speak up and be bold and tell others about Christ and write about Christ because others’ eternities mattered, and I wished we could all realize the seriousness of our impact on others’ eternities, for heaven or hell.

Eleven of those boys went on into Christian work, and I wonder how many people Walt’s mentees influenced. I wonder how many more Sunday school classes Walt taught. I wonder who led Walt to the Lord. I wonder how we Christians if we really believe the message, can keep the Gospel to ourselves and not be involved in getting the Gospel out. Romans 10:14 reminds us, “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” I have no excuse for not speaking up and telling. I wonder how many people will be in heaven because I cared enough to give them the Gospel and did what the Lord commanded, to go and make disciples.

Here, I think of my sweet mother and her sister. My mother gave her life to Christ during a crisis in her life. Mother was in her 20s and had four little girls a year apart; the youngest of the four, Jill, was severely disabled. During the 50s polio was going around, and my sisters became very ill. My mother took them to the hospital only to be told they were going to die; she needed to return home with her children because the doctors could do nothing. My father worked in another city. A sweet neighbor lady came to my mother’s mind, and she contacted Margie Smith that day and met with her and told Margie what the doctors had said. Margie said to my mother, “Well, let’s just see what the Bible says about that.” Margie led my mother to the Lord that day, and my mother received Christ with great joy. My sisters did recover from the illness, and when they did, the first people my mother wanted to tell about Christ were her family members. With the intent on her heart, the next time she saw them, she gave them the Gospel. Her one sister said to her, “Well, I already knew that, and I’m saved.” My mother said in a wounded and puzzled voice, “Well, then, why didn’t you tell me?” My aunt never got over my mother’s words, “Why didn’t you tell me?” My aunt, too, became a disciple-maker, and my mother never quit telling others about the King of Glory until the day she died. 
I am always so grateful for those who have opened their mouths and poured their best for Christ.

When they have penned their stories, like Hendricks and so many others have, I love being able to read again, the old, old story in a person’s life—I can never get enough of Jesus and what He can do in a life. How will they know, if we don’t tell? 

Judy Lorenzen is a poet, writer, and English teacher from Nebraska. Her work appears in Plains Song Review, Relief Literary Journal, Plainsong, Celebrate: A Collection of Writings by and About Women (Volume XVI), Nebraska Life magazine, The Fence Post, and The Untidy Season: An Anthology of Nebraska Women Poets, The Grand Island Independent, Misbehavin’ Nebraskans, Voices from the Plains, vol. 2, and on Verse-Virtual and Your Daily Poem, among other publications.