Monday Morning Manna: Walking by Faith

One of the first articles that I had published (by the Baptist Standard) began with the words, “I walked the dusty streets of Lull again today.”? ?I was the Baptist Student Minister and Bible Instructor at Pan American University (now University of Texas Rio Grande Valley), and as such served with the staff of the Rio Grande Valley Baptist Area.? We were looking for places to start new churches, and I was searching for a place in this migrant community of Lull, north of Edinburg, Texas. More than fifty-five years have come and gone since then.? I’ve traveled, and in some cases prayer-walked, in all fifty states, every Canadian Province and in fifty-nine countries of the world. Two and a half years ago, following my second attempt at retirement, I was invited to return to the Rio Grande Valley to teach pastors and church leaders, some of whom had come from Mexico and Central America.? We began with twenty-five. Over the months we’ve trained several hundred in person, a few more via Zoom, an additional several hundred via Podcast, and thousands via live-stream. This week we will graduate another eighty leaders. On my free afternoon, I will drive through Lull again, thinking to myself, “You’ve come a long way baby,” but then focusing on Ephesians 2:10, “For we are?His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”? As I drive out of Lull, I will be singing an old spiritual:

“We’ve Come This Far By Faith, Leaning On The Lord. Trusting In His Holy Word. He’s Never Failed Us Yet. Oh, Oh- Oh- Can’t Turn Around, We’ve Come This Far By Faith.”

Dr. Dan R. Crawford, Senior Professor, Chair of Prayer Emeritus; Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas. Former Head of Task Force for the Teaching of Prayer in Theological Education for America’s National Prayer Committee.? Administrative Consultant for the Valley Baptist Missions Education Center. President of Disciple All Nations, Inc.