Storytelling is becoming a lost art, but that is the way history and culture has been passed from generation to generation over the centuries. I have always enjoyed telling true stories about my own experiences or sharing stories of others I have known or studied. Beginning today and for the next three Wednesdays, I want to share four separate stories with you that have converged to explain how I became the Christian man I am today.
Four Stories Part One – The Song
In 1905 (when my parents were just entering the world) Civilla Martin, a Canadian born preacher’s wife, travelled with her husband to Elmira, New York, where they encountered a saintly married couple named Doolittle. Mr. and Mrs. Doolittle were always smiling and gave encouragement and inspiration to everyone they met in spite of the fact Mrs. Doolittle had been bedridden for almost 20 years and Mr. Doolittle was an incurable cripple who propelled himself to and from his business each day in a wheelchair.
Once, while the Martins were visiting that wonderful Christian couple, Reverend Martin asked them, “What is your secret for keeping such a positive outlook?” Mrs. Doolittle quickly replied, “His eye is on the sparrow and I know He watches me.” That simple statement of faith deeply affected Civilla Martin and when she got home she wrote down those words and then began to write the words of a song. The next day she sent the lyrics to a friend of theirs who was a composer and he added the melody. Although it would later became widely known as an African-American spiritual, “His Eye Is on the Sparrow” was inspired by a white couple and was written by a white preacher’s wife. It is a perfect example of how God’s truth crosses all cultural and racial divides!