Michelle Ule's Blog, page 45
February 27, 2018
Miss Ashe: Bible Training College Regular
Once she met Oswald, Katherine Ashe’s life was never the same and she remained a devoted friend to the family for the rest of her life.
A tall, thin, “aristocratic, learned and cultured lady, with a sheaf of white hair,” according to Kathleen Chambers, everyone called her Miss Ashe.
(She always reminded me of the Old Lady in the Babar books, but don’t tell her.)
Miss Ashe was a social worker and became a social justice warrior–for the Kingdom of God.
First Meeting
A granddaughter of the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, Katherine Elizabeth Ashe was born in 1867 to Reverend Weldon Ashe, the prebendary of Tuam (near Galway) and his wife Catherine Plunkett. Miss Ashe’s parents died when she was seven years old.
Miss Ashe and her sisters spent part of their childhood in Australia. She recounted many stories of fantastic marsupials and hair-raising adventures to Oswald’s daughter Kathleen, years later.
She was living in a Belfast boarding house in fall 1908 when the landlady announced a member of the League of Prayer would join them for a month.
Without meeting or knowing anything about Oswald Chambers, Miss Ashe had an opinion.
“Imagine, an ignorant evangelist. Fancy having him in the house. Whatever can we talk about? We won’t have any conversation. He’ll be absolutely appalling.”
Events proved otherwise, according to Kathleen.
“She was completely staggered by my father because he could outmatch her in literature and all the rest. And she ended up going to one of his meetings.”
Oswald seldom included an altar call at his meetings, but he did that night in Belfast.
To everyone’s surprise, Kathleen said, the “completely unforgettable lady walked slowly up from the back of the hall to the front as a sign she’d given her life to God.”
Years later Miss Ashe described the experience as being “a wholly supernatural conversion . . . a very agonizing birth from above,” followed by “an intensely painful period of readjustment of every point of view . . . to honorably accept the New Testament standard.”
Once Miss Ashe made a decision, she did not waiver. She applied herself immediately to Bible study.
Bible Training School
Miss Ashe loved the idea of a Bible Training College and joined the school in 1911. She studied, prayed and taught during the school’s four and half years and even wrote a book about it, An Account of the Bible Training College.
The pages are filled with vivid descriptions of a place and people she loved well.
“From the Principal down to the least “otherwordly” student, we were human stuff of the most ordinary kind; with all the moral littlenesses, absurdities and crudities of any other group of men and women gathered together.”
Miss K. Ashe, M. R. S. I. taught a class on Christian Sociology in 1914.
During the summer breaks, she visited Askrigg in the Yorkshire Dales with the Chambers family.
A lovely photo exists of her sitting in a field awaiting her tea.
With the YMCA in Egypt
A half-dozen BTC students followed Oswald Chambers to Egypt to work for the YMCA.
With Jimmy Hanson at Zeitoun (Cadbury Research Library)
Miss Ashe was among them, arriving in February, 1916 and joining the Chambers family at Zeitoun.
She described Zeitoun in her usual poetic terms:
“A space of sand within a low stone wall set in the open desert with, for interpreters, the desert sky, and the desert’s limitless space. . . . The house faced eastwards and looked clear out towards the morning, to the peace and to coming life of the world.”
During her years in Egypt, Miss Ashe worked at a Soldier’s Home in Alexandria, at the side of the train station in Benha with Kathleen Ballinger and at a YMCA hostel in Jerusalem.
About the soldier’s life, she wrote:
“Ineptitude bore heavily upon them; the pitiless heat, the fierce relentless sun, the scorching sand, the insects—the flies and swarming insatiable mosquitoes—bore hard upon their courage and endurance.”
Miss Ashe repatriated back to England with Biddy, Kathleen, Mary Riley, Jimmy and Flo Hanson in July, 1919.
Post World War I
Miss Ashe loved the Chambers family, particularly Biddy, but her character tended to overpower.
“She had that kind of affection for my mother that doesn’t allow you to breathe,” Kathleen said.
The aging spinster lived with Kathleen and Biddy in Oxford for nine years.
Cadbury Research Library
Like Biddy, she spoke on the Methodist Circuit and would catch a train to a neighboring town to speak on many Sundays.
But her heart remained in Egypt and in 1929 at the age of 62, Miss Ashe returned to Cairo where she worked with the International Bureau for the Suppression of the Traffic in Women and Children.
As a result of her Christian faith, Miss Ashe sought to help prostitutes escape their lives but ran into difficulties with authorities.
“It was incredibly dangerous what she did,” Kathleen said. “Government officials in Cairo owned the brothels. She had to work with police protection for years.”
During her years in Egypt, Miss Ashe wrote forwards to several of the Oswald Chambers books Biddy published, including The Graciousness of Uncertainty and The Pilgrim Song Book.
She remained in Egypt until 1947–returning to Biddy’s household as an 80-year-old veteran of missionary work.
Four years later Katherine Ashe moved to an Eastbourne nursing asylum, where she lived until her death in 1956.
Why did I like her?
A woman raised with all the comforts of life, who loved literature and music, had her life spun around by God when she was 41 years-old.
Miss Ashe followed that God for the rest of her life–into harsh conditions in Egypt during a world war.
(Look–she’s such a good sport, we’ve got a photo of her on a camel!)
With Biddy, OC, Kathleen and Jimmy Hanson at Giza (Wheaton College Library)
And if that wasn’t enough, she returned to Cairo after the war to free women from sexual slavery and trafficking.
With her formidable intellect, aristocratic bearing and confidence in the Bible, Miss Ashe refused to bow down to powerful men in her search for justice.
A character used by God to His glory and none other, Miss Ashe was a social justice warrior long before the term was known.
Tweetables
A wraith of an old lady takes Bible school training to the brothels of Cairo. Click to Tweet
How Oswald Chambers’ teaching transformed an aristocrat into a social justice warrior. Click to Tweet
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February 20, 2018
Lent and Life with Amy Boucher Pye
In a recent interview, author Amy Boucher Pye discussed what it means and how to observe it.
I’m currently reading her new book: The Living Cross: Exploring God’s Gift of Forgiveness and New Life
.
An American married to a English clergyman, Amy lives with her family in north London.
Here are my questions and Amy’s interesting answers.
What is Lent?
Many evangelical and non-denominational Christians don’t understand Lent.
How would you encourage their involvement or answer the questions, “what’s the point?”
Lent is a time to examine ourselves before God as we prepare to celebrate the gift of new life that Jesus bestows to us at the cross through his death and resurrection.
We take our cue from him, for he fasted for forty days in the desert.
Setting aside time to ask him to help us in this journey can help us to come closer to God, as we confess our wrongdoings and receive his forgiveness.
It need not be a time of sackcloth and ashes – I believe our God of grace delights in the individual ways we choose to observe the season.
What do you mean by celebrating a full forty days of the Easter season?
I feel like many Christians observe Lent, but then they miss out on the joys of celebrating the gift of new life.
When the fast is over, it’s time to feast (which is also why Lent is 46 days long, but is seen as 40 days, for Sundays are reserved for feasting).
We say together, with joy, “Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!”
Lent practices
Has your sense of the Lenten season changed from your childhood?
When I was a child, Lent was part of our family life, along with eating fish on Fridays and going to the various church services.
In my twenties, when my faith really came alive, I embraced Lenten practices with passion and verve, such as weekly fasting, giving up the eating of sweet things, and other spiritual practices of abstinence (as Dallas Willard terms them).
Then I moved to England, and tried to do my usual practices, but soon gave up, saying to a visiting American friend, “All of life feels like Lent” (as I recount in Finding Myself in Britain – you can read the chapter here).
All the changes I experienced with the move left me feeling numb; I needed some space and time to adjust as I was planted in this new soil.
What about fasting?
As I’ve settled into life in the UK, learning to love my adopted country, I’ve returned to some of my earlier Lenten fasts. However, I also have given myself grace not to undertake them too.
I also love the #40acts movement, which gives an idea for an act of kindness and generosity for each day of Lent.
Family and LentAmy recounted a simple yet meaningful way of making Jesus’ death for our sins hands-on for her children.
When I read the description, I gasped–and bought a styrofoam wreath of my own.
How does your family incorporate Lenten reflections in your home?
We like to do different things, according to the rhythm of our family life that year.
An activity we did last year is one of the spiritual exercises that I feature in The Living Cross, which I found online.
Every evening at dinnertime, we’d go around the table and add a toothpick to a Styrofoam wreath.
We silently confessed a sin we had committed that day and asking God to forgive us. At the end of Lent, we had a full crown of thorns.
On Easter Sunday, my daughter and I changed over the toothpicks for flowers. This signified the sins forgiven and new life given to us by God.
About The Living Cross
Tell us how your new book opens our souls to Lent.
I learned so much through writing The Living Cross.
The Bible showcases fallen people – that is, those like us – and so the need for forgiveness is woven throughout its page.
And not only the need, but the freeing gift that it can be. Such as when siblings forgive each other (for example, Esau forgiving Jacob; see Genesis 32) or Jesus telling the paralyzed man that his sins are forgiven (see Mark 2).
At the cross, we find forgiveness. My book explores that gift through the stories from the Bible and some from modern-day life.
How do you see forgiveness differently than before?
One revelation I had in writing this book was the Jewish view of forgiveness versus that of Christians.
In the Old Testament, people don’t generally forgive each other, for they see all forgiveness as the remit of God.
Look at the passage where Joseph reveals who he is to his brothers. (see the story in Genesis, and the culmination chapter 50).
When they ask him to forgive them, he answers: “Am I in the place of God?” (Genesis 50:19).
Although he extends forgiveness through his deeds, he doesn’t do so through his words.
Instead, he says (paraphrase), “Who am I to forgive you? Am I God?”
In the Old Testament, person-to-person forgiveness is rare. Instead, the all-powerful Lord is the one who grants pardon.
By contrast, in the New Testament, the death and resurrection of Jesus enables us not only to receive forgiveness but to extend it to others.
Why did you write The Living Cross?
Amy loves to write Bible-based devotionals. (She’s written more than 600 for publications such as Our Daily Bread and the UK’s New Daylight).
A book of devotional readings for Lent, “seemed like a natural next step.”
The Living Cross is a through-the-Bible look at forgiveness. We spend half of Lent in the Old Testament and half in the New.
I enjoyed delving into the Bible and also finding modern-day stories of forgiveness extended and received.
The Living Cross offers daily reflections and prayers with forgiveness as its central theme.
Each day’s reading weaves scripture together with real life stories. Amy’s skilled writing and deep biblical knowledge helps guide us to a place where we can implement and receive forgiveness in our daily lives.
There are also helpful spiritual exercises to work through for the reader be it individually or within a group.
Amy Boucher Pye (Kevin Ahronson Photography)
Who is Amy Boucher Pye?
Raised in the American Midwest, Amy has lived in the UK for twenty years. The adventure of marrying an English husband and repatriating, helped form her faith. She recounts the story in her first book, Finding Myself in Britain.
Amy writes for Our Daily Bread and other devotionals. She wrote an essay on the May 13 My Utmost for His Highest reading for Utmost Ongoing: Reflections on the Legacy of Oswald Chambers.
If you’d like to connect with Amy, find her at her blog, on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
She concluded the interview:
“I pray that Lent for you will be a meaningful time of drawing near to God, and that the Easter season will be marked with joy and celebration.”
Tweetables
A book of Lent devotions highlighting forgiveness: The Living Cross. Click to Tweet
Lent and Life, The Living Cross and preparing for Easter. Click to Tweet
What’s the point of Lent? Click to Tweet
The post Lent and Life with Amy Boucher Pye appeared first on Michelle Ule, Author.
February 13, 2018
A Junk Drawer for Comfort
That’s a pretty big number.
(Don’t tell my friend, Kathi Lipp, who wrote the book Clutter Free).
I always felt a ashamed of those drawers until this week.
Junk and the fires
Here in northern California, we’re still dealing with (and will continue for a very long time) the after-affects of the October 2017 fires.
5200 structures burned down over a two-week period, most destroyed the first night.
Many friends lost their homes (27 families from our church alone).
We’re all grappling with what that means, and how best to help and support our friends.
When you drive through the fire areas (gingerly and with the greatest respect, if not tears), you see a lot of junk.
Most are the remains of homes.
Many folks, as a result, have lost the comfort and normalcy of that word home.
Heavy dump trucks clutter the roads these days. They’re busy hauling literally tons of material to a landfill 15 miles from my still-standing house, every single day.
It’s sobering for us who did not lose our homes; a constant reminder to those who did.
We talk about the fires all the time.
For most people, home is a place to go at the end of the day. It’s a comfortable dwelling where you can relax and function as “normal.”
Normal.
Such a common word and yet one that engenders longing in my community today.
Comfort and the junk drawer.
Four months following the “October events,” tasks continue to mount and emotions can be close to the surface–for survivors and their friends alike.
Even the smartest, calmest, most devout fire survivors I know struggle with the monumental task of putting not just their homes, but their lives back together.
(We can use prayers for peace, comfort and that return to normal here in northern California, thank you. But they’re also desperately needed in Puerto Rico, Florida, Houston, southern California and many other places.)
Our friend K recently articulated her desire for something, anything, normal.
Another Sunday school teacher, E, obliged.
She filled a metal tin with the contents of her junk drawer and gave it to K.
Who laughed and laughed and hugged it close.
Who could have guessed that something we all (perhaps with guilt) take for granted, could be a source of comfort?
Paperclips, rubber bands, tape, odd pencils, gum, coupons and a pair of scissors.
Who would have guessed such an assortment could bring comfort–though laughter makes perfect sense!
(Please do not send junk drawer material to friends who are wrestling with the aftermath of a natural disaster–unless they want them!)
What’s in your junk drawer?
A junk drawer represents the odds and ends of your life.
It contains items you use now and then but don’t need to think about every day.
Some experts think everyone can benefit by having a drawer for junk.
Others believe they can provide a focus for family time and evaluation.
At my house, scissors belong in a cup, not a drawer.
For most of us in the first world, it’s just nice to know there’s a normal spot for odd things, even if they don’t have a place in particular.
Do I really need to have three?
I’m going to follow Kathi Lipp’s advice and clean out at least one.
Though, do birthday candles count as junk? Where do you keep them at your house?
Note: upon reviewing the junk drawers in my house–including those outside of the kitchen–I think I’m in trouble. Or very comfortable.
How about you?
Tweetables
A junk drawer for comfort. Click to Tweet
After a natural disaster: the normalcy of a junk drawer. Click to Tweet
How can a junk drawer be a source of comfort after a natural disaster? Click to Tweet
My monthly newsletter will come out on February 15. If you’d like to sign up beforehand (the newsletter includes a link to my free Ebook, Writing about Biddy and Oswald Chambers), you can do so here.
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February 6, 2018
Quit Reading that Book
Can there be such a freeing admonition?
I’d been complaining to a friend about how much I detested a very popular narrative nonfiction book everyone seem to love.
This unnamed book violated every lesson I’d ever heard on the topic and I knew people would die as a result of her foolishness.
Pretty harsh.
But who was I? I hadn’t taken the author’s journey.
I read the book because everyone loved it.
But the author’s described behavior was so irresponsible!
My friend continued:
“There are too many great books in the world to read. Don’t waste time on one that isn’t working for you.”
So I didn’t.
It felt wonderful.
(I don’t believe anyone has died because of that book, but as a result of its popularity, many people have been hurt and others severely inconvenienced.)
No one says you have to finish.
Where did this notion come from that you can’t quit reading a book?
An echo from childhood?
“You need to finish that book. Millions of children in China don’t have any books to read.”
Did my mother really say that?
Too many good ones to read!
Of course not, but she was the one driving me back and forth to the library–which only allowed me to check out ten books at a time.
I needed more than that, especially in the summer!
She did ask me to slow down, however, and take more time so we didn’t need to visit more than once a week.
Perhaps from the requirement that if you began something, you needed to finish it?
I’m old enough to waive that rule now!
(I’ve also solved the problem. It’s a mere 20 minute walk to the library from my house and I stop by regularly–whether I need to or not!)
You need to be informed
It’s helpful to be able to enter discussions with friends about popular books (particularly since I don’t have cable television).
But you don’t have to read the entire book.
When my teenage daughter read all the Twilight books, I needed to know what was in them. (I quit reading the series after the first one. I hated them for many reasons).
Too many people asked for my opinion about Harry Potter books, so I needed to read them. (Loved them from the start–though several need to be edited).
As a professional writer, I need to know what people are reading and why–particularly in my genre.
I can’t put together a proposal for a publishing house if I have no knowledge of what is popular today.
For example, it doesn’t matter if you love Pride and Prejudice–feel free to read it as many times as you like–but that style of writing doesn’t sell in the publishing world today.
The story, yes, the genre, yes, but not the way Jane Austen wrote it with long paragraphs.
Maybe you only need to read a few sections then you can quit reading?
Why not?
I, for example, adored the Italy section of Eat, Pray, Love.
Photo by Gaelle Marcel (Unsplash)
The writing inspired me; I wandered the house speaking Italian; I looked up flights to Rome, fully engaged and loving the book.
Then I got to the India section.
For me, the book went completely downhill. I could barely bring myself to slug through the rest of us, skimming as much as possible.
I do a lot of skimming these days, and leave it at that.
My taste isn’t necessarily your taste
I’ve concluded that we need to read what we like and what satisfies us.
Yes, we should stretch and read outside of our favorite genres, but if a book you don’t have to read becomes a slow grind, quit reading it.
(Or, if you torment your friends and loved ones by moaning, “I can’t believe how awful this is.”)
Unless you’re reading for work, or in my case, research, your experience should be pleasurable.
I read both nonfiction and novels to savor the experience, to learn something and to gain insight into what it means to be a person.
If your recommended book doesn’t meet that criterion (or, God forbid, is riddled with factual errors), I’ll be upset.
I’ll quit reading. Sorry.
Too many books call my name with bigger and better promises.
I’m not going to name titles, but feel free to do so in the comments–what books should I avoid?
Tweetables
Deciding when to quit reading a book. Click to Tweet
Enough is enough. How to quit reading a book. Click to Tweet
When is a good time to quit reading a book? Click to Tweet
The post Quit Reading that Book appeared first on Michelle Ule, Author.
January 30, 2018
Jimmy Hanson: Oswald Chambers’ Missionary Friend
On the last Tuesday of the month for the next five months, I’ll be telling stories of those “BTC regulars.”
Why?
Because I spent so much time following their fascinating rabbit trails to missionary works around the globe.
Modern Christians often forget the sacrifices so many made on behalf of the Gospel. The stories are worth telling and hearing.
Jimmy Hanson–the Denby Dale mechanic
Photo courtesy Hanson family
Born in Denby Dale in northern England, Jimmy met Oswald Chambers during OC’s work with the League of Prayer in the area. Jimmy wrote of that meeting years later:
“I was young in years then and younger still in spiritual matters, but I was arrested at that first meeting more than I knew at the time. Looking back, I see it was the beginning of a real spiritual awakening.”
They formed a fast friendship of physical contrast: the short rotund Jimmy and the tall lanky OC.
Their passion for the word of God bound them together for the rest of their lives.
After finishing school, he worked as a mechanic until 1911 when, at the age of 26, he traveled to New Zealand.
He stopped in London to receive a blessing from OC–who spoke to him on the railroad platform– before sailing to New Zealand where he found work as a fitter. As Jimmy recalled:
“I was a raw country youth, and how I treasured the help and advice he gave me, and what a tremendous encouragement it was!”
Jimmy returned to England to enroll as a BTC student in fall 1913. Of his time at the BTC, Jimmy wrote
“There are many today scattered throughout the world who thank God for having been under the training of such a servant of God.”
During his two years at the school, he met a comely woman, Florence Gudgin.
World War I
Jimmy Hanson fell into the “eligible to be conscripted” age group at the start of WWI.
He finished his education at the BTC and like OC and several other students, contemplated joining the British Expeditionary Forces.
But OC was too old to join up as a soldier and far more interested in serving as a chaplain–to ensure men facing death on the battlefield understood who God is.
Jimmy and his fellow student Philip Hancock decided, like Oswald, to apply to the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) as chaplains overseas.
All three men were accepted and in fall 1915 headed to Egypt.
Florence Gudgin (Wheaton)
Oswald’s story is well known–his wife Biddy and daughter Kathleen joined him in Egypt three months later, along with another BTC regular, Mary Riley.
Jimmy and Philip, however, had fallen in love with fellow students.
The two men set aside marriage dreams in 1915 when they climbed aboard a troop transport ship and sailed through U-boat infested waters to Egypt.
Jimmy Hanson in Egypt
William Jessop (left), and Jimmy. (Photo from Cadbury Library)
The “BTC Expeditionary Force” began at the YMCA Zeitoun camp, seven miles northeast of Cairo. Within a few months, the YMCA transferred Jimmy and Philip to other stations to begin their ministries.
The YMCA located Jimmy near Zeitoun and OC stopped by from time to time to preach.
Like all YMCA secretaries, Jimmy oversaw morale-boosting activities and taught Bible study. He also prayed with the men as requested.
A jovial, happy man, Jimmy was a great favorite with Kathleen Chambers. Whenever the three year-old had two pieces of candy, she saved one for Jimmy.
Initiative
Oswald Chambers recounted a story about Jimmy’s cheerful initiative while they both served in the Suez Canal district in June 1915:
“Lord Radstock [Senior YMCA-UK member in Egypt] told us a rather characteristic thing about Jimmy Hanson.
“The party with Lord Radstock were at Port Tewfik and had to get to Suez, it was a long fierce tramp in the sun, so Jimmy promptly went ahead and commandeered an Army Service Corp car; as they drew near Suez they saw the officers waiting and discovered they were the Rev. Barclay Buxton’s two sons, so it was quite a delightful meeting, which might not have taken place but for Jimmy’s initiative.”
(Buxton was a missionary to Japan and friend of Oswald and Jimmy).
Radstock later described the secretary’s work as “often single-handed, overworked, not too well-nourished, very long hours, intense heat, sand, dirt and flies.”
Whenever they had a chance, Jimmy and Philip Hancock stopped in to visit the Chambers family at Zeitoun. Jimmy also was on hand when three other BTC regulars arrived in Egypt: Gladys Ingram, Kathleen Ballinger and Eva Spink.
Oswald Chambers’ death and Jimmy Hanson
With Biddy, OC, Kathleen and Miss Ashe at Giza (Wheaton)
In summer 1917, Jimmy traveled to England to marry Florence Gudgin.
Unfortunately, authorities did not give permission for the new Mrs. Hanson to travel back to Egypt with Jimmy and he returned alone nine weeks after the wedding.
Jimmy arrived at Zeitoun in late November, 1917 to the shocking news his long-time friend and mentor Oswald Chambers’ death.
“I heard the news when I reached Port Said on my return, and shall never forget the blow it was to me personally. I recalled with gratitude the last words he had said as the train steamed out of Cairo station–
“‘It’s all right about your going, Jimmy. I got the word from the Psalms this morning, Psalm 91, the last three verses.’
“Previous to this he had been exercised in his mind as to whether I was doing right to go, and how glad I was to have had that last reassuring message from him.”
The director of the YMCA in the Middle East, Anglo-American William Jessop asked Jimmy to remain at Zeitoun to help Biddy Chambers run the camp.
Jimmy wanted to see Biddy first and discuss the idea with her. Of that meeting, Jimmy wrote:
“One’s first thoughts for her [Biddy] to whom he [Oswald] had meant everything were of deep sympathy and prayer. These were needed, but also one had to offer praise to God to see the marvelous calm and quiet fortitude, no rebellion, no questioning, but a real living testimony of Christ’s own words, ‘Believe also on Me.”
The two agreed to split the duties: Jimmy took charge of the camp administration, Biddy taught classes using Oswald’s Biblical Psychology as a text book, as well as stepping into the Sunday teaching rotation.
The work of “the books” begins at Jimmy’s suggestion
Biddy, however, soon received a mountain of condolence letters. She wanted to respond to each one, but the task would devour all her time. Jimmy suggested she print one of Oswald’s messages and send it to her correspondents, as well as to all the soldiers who had participated in OC’s ministry.
They chose The Place of Help, and it became the forerunner of many Chambers messages printed and distributed without cost to the recipients.
In this way, Jimmy pointed Biddy to her future preparing the Oswald Chambers books. Biddy spent the rest of the war providing one talk per month to anyone interested.
By June 1918, the YMCA took over the printing and mailing to 10,000 people a month.
Mrs. Florence Hanson, by the way, finally arrived at Zeitoun in December 1918.
Following the war
Two boys called them to remain in England. The younger son died in WWII. (Hanson family photo)
Jimmy and Florence sailed back to England with Biddy and Kathleen Chambers, as well as friend Mary Riley in June 1919.
The Hanson sons were born in 1919 and 1922.
Jimmy and Flo gave serious thought to mission work in Egypt, but two little boys changed their minds.
Instead, they moved to London’s East End to work at the Old Mahogany Bar Mission. Jimmy served as pastor. The family lived in a top floor flat.
Within the squalid living conditions and extreme poverty of the East End, the Methodist-sponsored mission served a free breakfast for undernourished children during the winter months.
Later ministry (Chris Hanson photo)
The Hansons worked in the Old Mahogany Bar mission for fifteen years. They took Sunday morning services, open air services on Sunday nights, and children’s nights on Monday–which up to 300 children attended.
Jimmy and Flo also led youth groups, women’s meetings, Bible studies and provided for the spiritual needs of the neighborhood.
They retired to Olney in 1941 to live near the Gudgin family.
Oswald Chambers Publication Association
In July 1936, Jimmy joined the Oswald Chambers Publication Association, a group of friends who rallied around Biddy to help her publish Oswald’s books.
He served on the association for 20 years, often as chairman. Ten years later, he welcomed his old chum Kathleen Chambers as a member of the same association!
Jimmy’s affection and reverence for his old teacher made the task a joy. As he wrote in the introduction to the publication of The Place of Help in 1935:
“To all who knew Oswald Chambers, his life was the interpretation of his teaching; to those to whom it comes now in another form the meaning opens in the hidden individual ways of God.
“The writer [Jimmy] believes that the Spirit of God is using this teaching in many lands to very many lives as a corrective to the wave of shallow thinking, and of shallower religious values that has swept across a section of the Christian communities everywhere.
“By Oswald Chambers, men’s minds are thrown back upon the deep fundamental things that govern human life in its threefold aspect of spirit, soul, and body: Divine Redemption is brought down to the very shores of our daily living: the Cross of Calvary is shown to men as being the very heart and centre of the Revelation of God in the Person of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”
Conclusion
Jimmy’s friendship with Oswald Chambers and education at the Bible Training College changed the course of his life.
From a mechanic’s job in New Zealand, Jimmy Hanson became a fisher of men in WWI and in the East End mission.
In England at the time of their wedding. (Hanson family photo)
And of course, he took his fellow BTC regular Florence Gudgin with him into the world.
How many men, women and children led different lives because of knowing Jimmy Hanson?
We’ll find out in heaven.
Jimmy himself died at Olney on November 11, 1956–thirty-eight years to the day following the World War I armistice.
He was one of my favorites when I wrote Mrs. Oswald Chambers.
Tweetables
What happened to Oswald Chambers’ student Jimmy Hanson? Click to Tweet
From Bible school to WWI, what became of Oswald Chambers’ students? Click to Tweet
One man + Bible = missionary to soldiers, East Enders & the world. Click to Tweet
The post Jimmy Hanson: Oswald Chambers’ Missionary Friend appeared first on Michelle Ule, Author.
January 23, 2018
Preparing for Your Future Life with Forgiveness Today
He sent us off for a week to think and pray about people we had hurt in our past.
We needed to contact them, tell how we believed we had hurt them, and ask for forgiveness.
“You don’t want to start your marriage with issues hanging on to you from your past,” he explained.
His reasoning made sense and we took the counsel to heart.
I came up with four people, all of whom forgave me for injuries they didn’t realize had occurred.
Of course there was a much bigger relationship I needed to deal with, but I was too immature at the time.
It took years for me to recognized I needed to ask forgiveness in that case.
But when I did finally realize the need, I approached that person with the same humility and request: “Will you forgive me?”
My repentance–to make something as if it had never happened–didn’t go well, but I tried.
The importance of forgiveness, now, for a future life.
Our pastor’s reasoning was solid and valuable.
We entered our new marriage with our hearts clean and ready to accept the other.
We’ve never had the shadows of former relationships hanging over our life.
That gift means parts of our soul are uncluttered from unresolved sin as we deal with other complicated situations.
(It’s like we have more bandwidth or computer memory to handle other issues.)
Those forgiveness exercises were a gift from the past for a future life unimagined at the time.
Over the years I’ve counseled others with a clear need to deal with past issues for freedom in present relationships.
I’ve grieved over marriages in which one of the spouses brought ugly attitudes into a subsequent relationship.
(I was a financial counselor at the time and couldn’t address marriage problems but they were obvious–sowing mistrust into lives and causing incalculable damage).
The hurt of forgiveness now for the good of a future life.
Forgiveness is always important because even though it may hurt to ask forgiveness, it provides freedom for our future life.
I recently heard the story that demonstrates this concept beautifully.
Photo by Gerome Viavant on Unsplash
Many years in the past, a boyfriend hurt her.
The relationship ended, but she carried the pain.
Years later the phone rang–it was the old boyfriend.
Attending seminary, his life had changed completely and he needed to make amends.
“I hurt you deeply in the past. I’m very sorry. Can you forgive me?”
Stunned to hear from him, she asked questions.
He’d become a Christian. His relationship and understanding of God had turned his life completely around.
He wanted to be a pastor, but when he prayed, he knew he had past issues that needed to be resolved.
Would she forgive him?
She asked more questions–How? Why?
He described God’s work in his heart and before either of them realized it, the pastor-in-training explained the Gospel.
I don’t know who was more surprised when he finished presenting the plan of salvation.
That night, however, a broken woman granted forgiveness to an old boyfriend, and accepted it from a new Savior.
How do you know your future life will need forgiveness from the past?
Why wouldn’t it?
While we always run a risk when we request forgiveness–the relationship with my delayed request, for example, never really recovered.
But the good news is,
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)
Today, yesterday and tomorrow.
My husband and I have had a good marriage. In forsaking all others, including the ties that might have strangled us with unforgiveness, we’ve been blessed by God in wonderful ways.
The pastor in training could have lost a ministry before it even began.
Yet, he listened to God.
He knew, personally, the value of forgiveness and the need to clear the past for the sake of his future life.
Photo by Lina Trochez on Unsplash
God blessed him, not just with forgiveness but with a new soul in the Kingdom of God.
The years have brought valuable ministry into his life–and that of the Kingdom of God.
The heart and success of his work for God came from forgiveness.
Are there areas in your past for which you repent but are afraid to ask forgiveness?
Pray and then go ahead and ask.
Tweetables
The value of forgiveness; today, yesterday and in your future life. Click to Tweet
Preparing your future life with forgiveness today. Click to Tweet
The post Preparing for Your Future Life with Forgiveness Today appeared first on Michelle Ule, Author.
January 16, 2018
Clapping My Hands in Joy Instead of Pain
Seven years ago, on 1/11/11, when I joined the health club, my hands were a mess.
But other health issues drove me, a woman who had walked three miles a day for twenty-five years, to the gym.
I needed to improve my cardiovascular system and get a handle on several other things.
My hands, the specialist had said, were a lost cause, but I could improve other aspects of my health.
Why did clapping my hands hurt?
The debilitating pain arrived suddenly.
But the problem had been building for some time.
My clever hands, which I had never taken for granted, suddenly couldn’t grasp scissors well.
The thumb and index finger pinching couldn’t hold a needle for any length of time.
I could only pull weeds from the half-acre yard for ten minutes before my hands ached.
But after a twenty-mile bike ride, they burned.
And I couldn’t grasp and turn the door knobs comfortably any more.
This former percussionist winced at the thought of clapping.
The doctor visits
My regular doctor ordered x-rays which showed little cartilage left in the joint at the base of my thumbs.
Photo by Tanner Boriack on Unsplash
With all my piano playing, sewing, gardening, cooking, typing and living, I had worn them out.
The good doctor advised me to invest in speech-recognition software so I could continue to write.
(I know it works for a lot of people; I couldn’t master it so currently, I still type).
He also sent me to a specialist.
That man waltzed in late, glanced at the x-rays and told me there was nothing to be done.
But I’d heard of a shot?
“I can give you one steroid shot and that’s it for the rest of your life. Choose when you want it. It may not work anyway.”
He didn’t want to answer questions, he didn’t want to hear about my life. Open. Shut. He was done.
I told him I’d think about it–only one shot for my whole life?
“That’s it,” he said. “Call me when you want it.” He walked out.
I cried all the way home.
Choosing to be thankful.
I had always thanked God for my hands. I had used them to his glory throughout my life–with music, writing, sewing, living.
How could this happen to me?
I allowed myself time to grieve and complain to God.
The Bible had an answer for me in Isaiah 55:12, ironic because I loved to sing this song:
“You shall go out with joy, And be led out with peace;
The mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing before you,
And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.”
The logical part of my mind reminded me hand issues are not monumental in the grand scheme of life. I lived in a time where I could get help.
So, I went to the store and purchased $200 worth of hand-adaptive items for the kitchen. (Thank you, OXO). For the first time ever, we owned an electric can opener.
I determined to be thankful for what I could still do and not complain–much.
Clapping once more
Which takes me back to the gym.
I had to wear what I called “mitts” to stabilize the base of my thumbs. This was particularly important while lifting weights–which I now did.
I needed them mostly to make sure I didn’t hyperextend or overuse my thumbs.
Three days a week in my Zumba class, I didn’t need to wear them at all, and the freedom to fling my hands felt lovely.
But clapping?
At most a delicate finger touch on my opposite palm. The deep glorious noisy clapping of my past was done.
But within a few months of dancing regularly, my hands felt stronger.
Within a year, I could lift the five-pound weights if I forgot my mitts.
I haven’t worn them in years.
What happened?
What difference did dancing, of all things, make that I can clap now?
Perhaps the different movement increased the blood supply to my hands?
I haven’t had an x-ray in seven years and never did get that steroid shot.
My hands simply feel better–and they’re warmer, too.
Photo by Wilfredo R Rodriguez (WIkipedia Commons)
I still use all the adaptive tools. I’m still wary of a doorknob, and I can’t really weed anymore (so we bought a house with a much smaller yard).
I’m leery of picking up a five-pound bag of flour with one hand and I’ve given up needlepoint.
But I can still type and play my clarinet.
2011 marked the year my first book was published.
The seventh and eighth books came out in 2017.
Given the state of my hands seven years ago, I don’t believe any of that would have been possible without dancing and the health club.
I’m clapping my hands in thanksgiving this morning!
Thanks be to God.
Tweetables
Another reason to visit the gym: improving thumb osteoarthritis. Click to Tweet
Being thankful to dance–and thus use my thumbs again! Click to Tweet
Having trouble with arthritis in your hands? Have you considered dancing? Click to Tweet
The post Clapping My Hands in Joy Instead of Pain appeared first on Michelle Ule, Author.
January 9, 2018
Utmost Ongoing: Reflections on the Legacy of Oswald Chambers
Published by Discovery House in October, 2017, Utmost Ongoing honors Oswald Chambers’ ministry 100 years following his death through a series of essays.
I’ve written a great deal about My Utmost for His Highest on my blog. (See a list of the 80+ posts here)
This was an opportunity, however, to reflect on my favorite reading and join a list of significant essayists.
We told the stories of how God used a specific reading in our life and how it changed us.
The authors came from all corners of Christendom, present, and included well known names.
(I’m particularly touched I’m listed beside Joni Eareckson Tada!)
I felt greatly honored to participate.
Utmost Ongoing: My favorite reading
I didn’t have to think twice when Discovery House asked me which reading had the greatest impact on my life.
It’s August 28: What’s the Good of Prayer?
You’ll need to read Utmost Ongoing to see what happened in my life to make that reading so significant. 
January 2, 2018
How to Choose a Year of Deliberate Grace
My world needs it. I need it. God stresses it.
It will make the people I love happier–in part because the peace which passes all understanding should reign.
Right?
What is deliberate grace?
A choice to extend grace to an individual, organization or event when the opportunity arises.
Or, when a difficult situation rears its ugly head (as is most likely to happen) and demands a reaction.
I’m going to try very hard to not over-react and, instead, pause and think before responding.
What is grace?
I like Merriam Webster’s definition: “disposition to or an act or instance of kindness, courtesy, or clemency.”
Clemency–waiving my rights,choosing to be merciful.
Deliberate: “to think about or discuss issues and decisions carefully.”
Or–not overreact which is my culturally developed response. Sigh.
Why?
Because that’s what God does for me: He applies deliberate grace to my (many) (petty) sins.
And because my community, family, friends and world needs it.
I’m choosing to overlook, not get insulted, and hunt for the best slant on what will come my way in 2018.
(Hopefully, for the rest of my life, too).
The people I meet often don’t deserve it.
But as the world turns harsher and more contentious, the sweet extension of grace drops like a glistening diamond into fraught circumstances.
It can change everything.
How?
How will I recognize when to apply deliberate grace?
That will be the major problem for me.
My impatience too frequently trips me into nasty-tongued attitudes–even if I do somehow manage not to voice them.
I need to be more more careful in my actions and choices. I need to slow down, take my time and remember that deep breaths are important.
Deliberately overlooking this obstacle . . .
If I view life through the lens of “how can I be a blessing here and not a curse?” events can go smoother.
The best way to slow myself down is to take time, to ponder, and to start with the end in mind: a day full of deliberate grace.
If I begin with Bible reading, prayer and a flexible plan with margins built in, life may go better.
And when it doesn’t, I need to remember to hand out deliberate grace–particularly when I don’t want to.
When and Where?
Whenever and wherever the need arises.
Based on my past, I can guess at where and when I’m most vulnerable to a nasty attitude and reaction.
At one time in my life, I had a regular appointment that drove me crazy every single time.
I had to go for my health and that of my child, but I came away every time filled with anger and bitterness.
When I finally recognized the pattern, I decided to pray before each appointment.
That helped a lot: because I went determined to be gracious, peaceful and thankful.
I’ll aim for the same in 2018.
But again, it takes time and a willingness to slow down.
Those are hard for me.
Fruit of the Spirit
Christ Church, Dublin, stained glass Fruit of the Spirit (Wikipedia Commons)
Deliberate grace manifests itself when we can extend the fruits of the spirit to the world around us.
You know what I mean: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness faith.
Against such there is no law and the world–and the rest of us–can benefit from it being used!
Rewards
God rewards us for choosing to extend deliberate grace:
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:8-9)
“Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16)
“He gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” (James 4:6)
“For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.” (Romans 6:14)
Won’t you join me on a year of choosing deliberate grace?
Tweetables
2018: a year of choosing deliberate grace while living with the rest of you. Click to Tweet
What is a deliberate grace and why does the world need it from me and you? Click to Tweet
Why the world–and our communities–need us to extend grace to all. Click to Tweet
A reminder: in 2018, I’m reducing my posts to every Tuesday rather than twice a week.
If you’re interested in hearing from me, consider investigating the archives: 750 posts strong!
You can use the search feature to the right.
Happy new year.
The post How to Choose a Year of Deliberate Grace appeared first on Michelle Ule, Author.
December 29, 2017
Time and My Utmost for His Highest
I’ve been writing about My Utmost for His Highest, Biddy and Oswald every Friday in 2017. I’m concluding the year with Oswald’s reflection on time.
Photo by Eduardo Olszewski on Unsplash
(Here’s the full list of blog posts–nearly 80).
Dr. Ken Boa noted that My Utmost for His Highest stands the test of time because Oswald didn’t use contemporary stories. All examples were taken from Scripture.
(You can always read My Utmost for His Highest in either the classic or updated version, at www.utmost.org. The quotations included in this post come from the website.)
Yesterday
Many of us get to the end of the year and see only regrets, difficulties and heartache.
(That certainly was true for many in northern California where I live).
The first paragraph speaks to that hurt:
Our present enjoyment of God’s grace is apt to be checked by the memory of yesterday’s sins and blunders.
But God is the God of our yesterdays, and He allows the memory of them in order to turn the past into a ministry of spiritual culture for the future.
God reminds us of the past lest we get into a shallow security in the present.
We use those memories to help us move forward into the future.
Fortunately, God waits for our hearts to be turned to him and the memories of our past often serve as the prompt.
“If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (I John 1:9)
Many churches provide watch services to enable folks to confess sin–so we can enter a new year in peace.
Tomorrow
Oswald Chambers led watch services in Egypt on December 31 that focused on prayer. That is why he could say
“God’s hand reaches back to the past, settling all the claims against our conscience.”
Photo by Jeff Golenski on Unsplash
Each day, each new year, was an opportunity to see what God would do.
On December 31, 1916, he wrote a simple message of encouragement on his blackboard at the service: “Finish, 1916.”
When the clock struck midnight, he turned over the board to display his hope for the new year:
“1917, a great New Year to you all. ‘And God shall wipe away all tears.’ Revelation 21:4.”
We don’t need to fear the future, according to Oswald, because
“God will send His forces out where we have failed to do so. He will keep watch so that we will not be tripped up again by the same failures.”
Of course, we need to be listening for God’s voice and direction–and obeying them–to avoid those failures.
Today
Always pragmatic in faith, Oswald Chambers didn’t shy away from truth.
“Our yesterdays hold broken and irreversible things for us.
It is true that we have lost opportunities that will never return, but God can transform this destructive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness for the future.
Let the past rest, but let it rest in the sweet embrace of Christ.”
We need to be conscious of the truths we learned–often the hard way–from the past. But we don’t need to let them overshadow our present.
We give them to God, accept His forgiveness, and move forward into today and thence tomorrow.
The final paragraph includes my favorite line. I used it to conclude both books I wrote about Biddy and Oswald Chambers.
“Leave the broken, irreversible past in His hands, and step out into the invincible future with Him.”
What a terrific way to view time and the new year!
Utmost Responses
I write a response to each day’s My Utmost for His Highest reading on my Facebook writer page.
It’s similar to the above and can be useful if you’re struggling to understand what each day’s reading means.
(I’m often there myself, which is why figuring them out each morning has been very helpful for me!)
If you’d like to join the conversation, check it out here.
Michelle Ule’s blog in 2018.
This concludes the 8th year of my blogging twice a week.
At the request of loved ones and the recommendation from my literary agent, I will be concluding this twice-a-week schedule today.
From here on, I’ll be blogging only once a week.
I’ll reserve the final week of the month to post a story related to Oswald and Biddy Chambers in 2018.
For the first five months, that will be posts about the group of students I call “The BTC Regulars.”
I’ll be following what became of some of those students who studied under Oswald Chambers for at least two years.
My hope is to demonstrate how the Word of God does not return void. These individuals led a full, rich life as missionaries, using the skills taught by Oswald Chambers.
The remaining posts each month will center around my interests: history, research, Christianity, books and family stories. I hope you’ll continue to read my posts.
Michelle’s newsletter
You also can get a sense of what I’m doing in my writing life–which is what’s behind this change–by subscribing to my monthly newsletter.
Here’s a link to the December 2017 edition, for a sample.
Here’s the link to subscribe–it’s free, of course!
It comes out mid-month.
God bless you–and happy new year!
The post Time and My Utmost for His Highest appeared first on Michelle Ule, Author.
