The Debt I Owe

“What we do in life echoes in eternity.” ~ Maximus Decimus Meridius

I am indebted to a woman I have never met. Before you jump to any conclusions please let me explain. Her name is Ethel Slate and it was through her persistence and testimony that my father and my grandparents came to hear the Gospel.

We probably all have played with dominoes as children. We carefully line them in a row, sometimes in an elaborate design or maybe just a straight line. Then when the moment is just right (or before the dog or a sibling knocks them over) we hit the first one and watch them tip over one-by-one and see the end result. Ethel Slate is the first domino that started bringing many trophies of grace to the Lord.

My father was born in Waverly, NY in 1937. He was the oldest son of a family of four children. My grandfather Bill was not a Christian and neither was his wife Thelma. In the 20’s my grandparents were quite trendy and would dress up to go out dancing and to party. After they got married my Grandfather bought a farm in Catatonk, NY. During that time you did not have tractors and all of the modern convenience that you have on a dairy farm today. You plowed with horses, milked by hand, and pitched hay onto the wagons with a pitch fork. There were no days off and you worked seven days a week because cows cannot milk themselves.

The farm next door to my grandparents place was owned by the Slate family. The mother’s name was Ethel Slate. She was a Christian lady, the mother of three children and married to an unsaved man. In 1948 she started inviting my father, uncle and two aunts to go to church and vacation Bible School. In March of 1949 when my father was 12 years old an Evangelist named James Calhoun from Moody Bible Institute in Chicago came to town to hold a revival meeting for one week. He preached about how that the only way to go to heaven was to acknowledge that you are a sinner, and that there is nothing you can do to make yourself acceptable to God. He told them that they only way to heaven was to place your faith in Jesus Christ as your savior and to accept the gift of salvation that is graciously offered through Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross for the sins of the entire world. He told them about the three year ministry of Jesus Christ and how His brief life on this earth echoes in eternity. I am thankful to say that on March 14, 1949 that my father and grandmother went forward to be saved and two days later my Grandfather went forward to accept Christ as his Savior.

All of my aunts and uncles and their children eventually accepted Christ as their Savior and on November 11, 1982 so did I.

I have never met Ethel Slate, but I know that one day I will meet her in heaven and I can thank her. Because of her testimony and the grace of God four generations of my family are going to heaven. Ethel was a faithful Christian who was bold in her witness despite her own challenges within her own personal life. Ethel Slate had three children and only one of them was a Christian. Her husband’s name was Harley and he did not get saved until much later in life when one of his grand daughters was hit by a car in Candor, NY.

I am indebted to Ethel Slate, but I owe an even greater debt that I cannot repay to Jesus Christ. “O to grace how great a debtor, daily I’m constrained to be. Let thy goodness like a fetter bind my wandering heart to thee.”

Do you ever think back to the time you accepted Christ and thank God for the church, pastor or individual that was "ready to give an answer"? Their faithfulness will echo in eternity to the glory of God. Will the life we lead or the boldness we have echo in eternity?