OK, I get it! What a strange title for my article. However, think back to the innumerable stories in scripture where the people of God faced barriers. Abraham and Sarah were destined to be the parents of the people of God and yet, late in life they still had no children. The children of Israel had witnessed a great number of miracles in their journey out of slavery in Egypt, and now as they are leaving, they face the insurmountable Red Sea. Daniel’s friends are commanded to violate their faith or be thrown into Nebuchadnezzar’s furnace. Over and over the journey of faith seems to require encountering barriers, insurmountable odds, delays, and conflicts.
The history of the Baptist Homes is no different. From the early days when the fledgling ministry struggled to put food on the table and at the last-minute word would come that food had arrived at the train station, or someone had hit a deer, and the body was delivered to the Home. And perhaps, one of the darkest moments when the Home was sold on the Iron County Court House steps, only to have the new owner deliver the deed back to the Home with the instructions to start over. Or in more recent history missing the opportunity in 2006 to apply to be grandfathered into Medicare and Medicaid services which has resulted in a multiyear struggle to gain that approval.
When you look back on the history of this ministry it is easy to see some decisions as short sighted – maybe even unwise. But through it all God has delivered on the other side.
The other side – whether it’s the Red Sea or a mad man’s furnace, it takes an incredible amount of faith to follow God’s leadership. Jesus referred to this journey as the “narrow gate”, it is a small gate and a narrow road. But it is a path that “leads to life” (Matthew 7:13-14).
God seems to have Baptist Homes on such a journey in these moments. To stay on the course takes enormous faith and courage. It takes a willingness to struggle, to even admit defeat at times, but most of all it requires the commitment to stay. To stay where God has led, to trust even when the Egyptian army is breathing down your neck and when the flames of a mad man’s furnace are too much to bear.
I have read the words of the second president of the Baptist Home, Dr. D.J. Scott who led The Baptist Home to face bankruptcy and come out on the other side. There is confidence in his words after the bankruptcy. The kind of confidence that doesn’t come from training, experience, or hard work, but the kind of confidence from witnessing something only God can do.
We have the opportunity to see what God can do on the other side as well. To get there we must take the narrow road, to strain our way through the narrow gate. Oh, and we must encounter the crisis head on. The children of Israel had to walk through the Red Sea with water piled up on either side. Daniel’s friends had to experience being thrown into the furnace as well. And on the other side they and we will experience what only “few will find”!
Dr. Ron Mackey, Acting BHHM President
