The Domino Effect

Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame; they shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous. Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long. (Psalm 25:3-5 ESV). Sometimes the most insignificant acts result in the most significant things. And, many times we don’t know how significant that act might be until many years later. It is like the toppling of dominos, one leads to another. The following is such a story. Edward Kimball was concerned about one of his young Sunday school students who worked at a shoe store in town. One day Kimball visited him at the store, found the student in the back stocking shoes, and led him to Christ then and there. Dwight L. Moody eventually left the shoe store to become one of the greatest preachers and evangelists of all time. Moody, whose international speaking took him to the British Isles, preached in a little chapel pastored by a young man with the imposing name of Frederic Brotherton Meyer. In his sermon Moody told an emotionally charged story about a Sunday school teacher he had known in Chicago who personally went to every student in his class and led every one of them to Christ. That message changed Pastor Meyer's entire ministry, inspiring him to become an evangelist like Moody. Over the years Meyer came to America several times to preach. Once in Northfield, Massachusetts, confused young preacher sitting in the back row heard Meyer say, "If you are not willing to give up everything for Christ, are you willing to be made willing?" That remark led J. Wilbur Chapman to respond to the call of God on his life. Chapman went on to become one of the most effective evangelists of his time. A volunteer by the name of Billy Sunday helped set up his crusades and learned how to preach by watching Chapman. Sunday eventually took over Chapman's ministry, becoming one of the most dynamic evangelists of the 20th century. In the great arenas of the nation, Billy Sunday's preaching turned thousands of people to Christ. Inspired by a 1924 Billy Sunday crusade in Charlotte, North Carolina, a committee of Christians there dedicated themselves to reaching that city for Christ. The committee invited the evangelist Mordecai Ham to hold a series of evangelistic meetings in 1932. A lanky 16-year-old sat in the huge crowd one evening, spellbound by the message of the white-haired preacher, who seemed to be shouting and waving his lone finger at him. Night after night the teenager attended and finally went forward to give his life to Christ. The teenager's name? Billy Graham--the man who has undoubtedly communicated the gospel of Jesus Christ to more people than any other man in history. Remember what the first “domino” was? A man named Kimball, concerned for one of his students, visited him at a shoe store, and in doing that, he changed the world. Millions of people have been affected by his decision to go to that shoe store and share the gospel with one person. And millions more will continue to feel the impact of it. He merely walked in the path the Lord had shown him. How about you? Are you walking in that path?