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Key Bible Verse: Crispus, the synagogue ruler, and his entire household believed in the Lord (Acts 18:8). Bonus Reading: 1 Thessalonians 1:4-10

In a thatched-roof cottage in Scotland, John and Janet Paton reared 11 children. This obscure family's son, John Gibson Paton, became a great missionary statesman and evangelist. In that simple cottage, God molded a child to be come His spokesman in the New Hebrides and Australia.

As a boy, J.G. Paton often pressed his ear against the door of a tiny room where his father prayed. He testified, "Never in temple or cathedral, on mountain or in glen, can I hope to feel that the Lord is more near, more visibly walking and talking with a man, than under that humble cottage roof. Eleven of us were brought up there. All of us came to regard the church as the dearest spot on earth and the Lord's day the brightest day of the week."

The Christian faith is a family matter. Crispus [in our Key Bible Verse] became a leader in God's church. More importantly, Crispus became God's leader in his home. Who knows what God is doing at your house through your Christlike example? Ultimately only God knows. Take courage, friend, and remain faithful.

—Robert Leslie Holmes in God's Man

• Take courage, friend, and remain faithful. Eternity alone counts the full results of your steadfast walk with the Lord.

Thought to Apply: There is just one way to bring up a child in the way he should go and that is to travel that way yourself.

—ABRAHAM LINCOLN (16th U.S. president)

Credits: Adapted from—Friday: Don M. Aycock, God's Man (Kregel, 1998)

Copyright © 2000 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity. For reprint information click here.

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