Many of us today have never even heard of Albert Schweitzer. He died in 1965 at the age of 90. But he is certainly someone we should remember and learn from……
By the time he was 21 years of age, Albert Schweitzer was already successful and world-famous as a musician and a philosopher. Then he entered medical school, became a medical doctor, and gave the remainder of his long life to the healing ministries of the mission hospital he established at Lambarene in French Equatorial Africa. What brought about this change in the focus and direction of this man’s life?
Well, in a word, he became a dedicated and committed Christian. There came to him, he says, a certain awareness, an awakening.
He tells us about it in his book Out of My Life and Thoughts. He writes of “one brilliant summer morning” at Gunsback in 1896 when “there came to me, as I awoke, the thought that I must not accept this happiness I felt in my life as a matter of course, but I must give something in return for it.”
And so he did. His surging gratitude of spirit overflowed in kind acts of compassion, touching the lives of more than 200,000 persons.
Somewhere along the way most of us need some kind of “Gunsback awakening.” We need to become aware of how blessed we are, not simply because of our education and material possessions, but resolve to do something about our being blessed.
Have YOU had a “Gunsback awakening” where YOU realize how blessed YOU are, not simply because of YOUR education and material possessions? Have YOU resolved to do something about YOUR being so blessed?
GOD DIDN’T GIVE YOU THE STRENGTH TO GET BACK ON YOUR FEET SO YOU CAN RUN BACK TO DO THE SAME THINGS THAT KNOCKED YOU DOWN IN THE FIRST PLACE!
