Ex 2:1-10: (5b,6)
The Doctor had amazing news for our family. “Our X-Rays of Gayle’s spine indicate that he had TB when he was a baby. “For some reason he was cured.”
One weekend I was returning to Mt. Zion Bible School after a visit to my parents. As I topped a hill on the gravel road it took a sudden turn to the right. The car went into a skid. Coming to the edge of the ditch the car began to roll over. The door on the driver’s side flew open and I was thrown out. I lay on my back beside the car. I watched the car teetering on the edge of the ditch. Would it roll over on to me?
A third incident occurred in my Senior year of High School. The boys took a trip to a nearby rock quarry to go swimming. In an attempt to swim across the quarry with my friend, I ran out of steam and began to go under.
A fourth thing happened that year. God showed me that He had preserved my life for a purpose. He wanted me to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.
God preserved Moses’ life for a purpose. He continues to preserve the lives those who He wishes to use in ministry. Has He guarded your life for a reason?
Dr. Gayle Woods
Rom 6:1-4 (4)
All Christians have their baptismal stories. Let me tell you mine. I had been saved for some time and was endeavoring to live for the Lord. I wished, however, to give a symbolic public testimony to the fact that I had made a commitment to follow Jesus all of my life. Therefore, when pastor Robert Thompson, Sr. of the Mt. Zion Church of God (Holiness) congregation announced a baptismal service I asked to be a candidate.
We had no baptismal tank and so we did it the old fashioned way. In mid-November the congregation boarded the school’s bus and headed toward a beautiful creek in the Ozarks south of Mt. Zion Bible School. It was a cold and windy day. When it came my turn I waded out into the water where Bro. Thompson affirmed my testimony of the saving grace of Jesus and then plunged me neath the freezing flood! The cold water shocked my sensibilities. For a symbolic moment I crossed the line into another world. Then I was raised quickly and triumphantly to the symbolic challenges of the Christ-like life. Shivering but warm in my soul I made my way out of the water of testimony into an unfriendly world to stand for my Lord.
It was through this experience that I came to realize that in Romans 6 Paul was trying to equate burial with our separation from a sinful life. In addition, Paul was trying to equate resurrection with the consistent holy life of the Christian.
Dr. Gayle Woods
