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a 100-yard dash I arrive before I start." Of course the audience
had a big laugh. But I never dreamed I would someday "arrive
before I started."
I was very much surprised, recently, to learn that only a
very small percentage of all people have ever flown in an airplane.
I used to say that I would never fly unless I absolutely had to, in
God's work--and then I would trust God to protect me. The time
finally came when, 19 years ago, I had to fly from Seattle to
Portland. I had broadcast the program on Sunday morning from the
studios of a Seattle station, and had to be in the studios of the
Portland station for the broadcast a very few hours later. The
only way I could get there on time was to fly.
Half way along that first flight of mine, the captain came
through the cabin, speaking very quietly in the ear of each
passenger the tremendous news he had just heard over the plane's
radio that the Japanese were bombing Pearl Harbor--the United
States was at WAR! That, of course was Sunday, December 7, 1941.
You can understand why I shall never forget my first flight in the
air!
I think I have told you in former letters how 19 years is
a complete time-cycle. Days, months, and years, as God counts
time, are measured by the movements of the earth, moon, and sun, in
relation to each other. The earth, moon, and sun come into the
same relation to one another only every 19 years. The preaching of
Christ's Gospel to the world by the Apostles covered exactly two
19-year cycles. The first 19 years was confined to Palestine and
Asia Minor. The second 19 it expanded into Europe. I think I have
mentioned before how Jesus began teaching His disciples in the
autumn of 27 A.D., and I was converted and started being taught the
true Gospel from the written Word (Jesus was the spoken Word of
God) in the autumn of 1927--exactly 100 time cycles later. The
Apostles were ordained and started on their ministry of Christ's
Gospel in the spring of 31 A.D., and precisely 100 time cycles
later, late spring or early summer 1931, I was ordained and started
full time preaching Christ's Gospel. Christ OPENED THE DOOR of
radio and the printing press early January, 1934. And 19 years
later, early January, 1953, He opened the door for the broadcast to
leap over to Europe!
Perhaps these are only remarkable coincidences with no
significance, but I couldn't help thinking of these 19-year dates
when, for the first time, I SAW Pearl Harbor, flying over it in a
jet plane, exactly 19 years after my first plane ride when I first
heard of the BOMBING of Pearl Harbor! Whether it means anything or
not, it was interesting to me, and I thought it might be to You.
We had left Sydney, Australia, at 6:00 p.m. Sunday evening,
and arrived over Pearl Harbor at 7:00--in the MORNING--arriving
before we started! Of course you understand the explanation: we
had crossed the international date line. But, after this exact
time cycle, it was AGAIN on SUNDAY MORNING, 19 years later, just as
it was Sunday morning, 19 years before, when Pearl Harbor was being
bombed.