Surrender

V. Raymond Edman. What an interesting person! Missionary, pastor, college professor and president.

After serving in WW I, Edman served as a missionary in Ecuador. About a year after his arrival, his fiance' Edith arrived in Ecuador and they were married in 1924. Life together was not an easy life on the field, especially with sickness. In 1925, Edman encountered his first sickness. Everyone expected Edman to succumb to the sickness. After being transferred from the mountains to the port city of Guayaquil, the mission leaders purchased a coffin for Edman and sent for his family to catch the train to the coast.

Because Mrs. Edman did not have a black dress, she was instructed to place her wedding dress in black dye in preparation for the eventual death. Even the funeral was set for 3 P.M. on that dark Saturday, July 4. Amazingly, God spared him and he returned to the US for a time to fully recover.

His passion of devotion to Christ was evident in his own life too. He regularly started the day at 3:00 AM, but never after 5:00 AM. Prayer and reading the Scriptures were a given in his life.

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect about his life was the manner in which he passed into the presence of the King. On Friday, September 22, 1967, Edman rose for prayer at 3 AM, a day which would be his last on earth. Edman's biographer, Earl Cairns, gives a detailed narrative of Dr. Edmans passing into glory:

Dr. Edman began to speak at 10:40 on the topic In the Presence of the King, using his audience with Emperor Haile Selassie in 1947 to illustrate his theme. He told of how he had been briefed on what to wear, when to bow, and what steps to take. He applied this preparation for the audience with the emperor to the need of those who come to chapel to prepare themselves to come into the presence of the Kings of kings. He spoke of the need for reverence, silence, prayer and worship when one came in and them the need for hearty participation in the service. He began to close his talk at about 10:53. Suddenly he stopped speaking and collapsed after a slow half turn (192).

After the student body had been dismissed, the doctor came into chapel and pronounced him dead. What an appropriate transition for a life so well lived for the King.

Here are some powerful words of his, as quoted by the CrossGlobal Link Missions Moment (4/12/11):

I had utterly abandoned myself to Him. Could any choice be as wonderful as His will? Could any place be safer than the center of His will? Did not he assure me by His very presence that His thoughts toward us are good, and not evil? Death to my own plans and desires was almost deliriously delightful. Everything was laid at His nail-scarred feet, life or death, health or illness, appreciation by others or misunderstanding, success or failure as measured by human standards. Only He himself mattered.

May God activate my senses and my heart so that I may know He is at hand (Philippians 4:5).