Dear Haddon,
A year ago, I posted an epistle that included a prayer for you that concluded this way: “And lastly I ask that You would use Haddon to courageously teach and proclaim the Scriptures even as the prince of preachers did many years ago – Charles Haddon Spurgeon -that You will use him to influence many generations for the sake of the gospel.”
You have a great namesake – a man who treasured the Word of God. Here is just a little about him…
Charles Spurgeon was born in 1834 and died in 1892. On 6 January 1850, when he was 15, a snow storm made him seek shelter in a chapel. While he was there, a worker there said to him, “Young man, you look very miserable.” Spurgeon knew this to indeed be true. The worker, seeing his need, replied, “Young man, look to Jesus Christ! Look! Look! Look! You have nothin’ to do but to look and live.” Shortly thereafter, God opened his heart to believe the gospel and he was baptized. It was not long after that that he preached his first sermon and at 19 he became the pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London where he served for 38 years.
Here are a few choice quotes from your namesake:
- There may be some sins of which a man cannot speak, but there is no sin which the blood of Christ cannot wash away.
- Bible study is the metal that makes a Christian. This is the strong meat on which holy men are nourished.
- You say, “If I had a little more, I should be very satisfied.” You make a mistake. If you are not content with what you have, you would not be satisfied if it were doubled.
- I believe the holier a man becomes, the more he mourns over the unholiness which remains in him.
- Learn to say no. It will be of more use to you than to be able to read Latin.
It has been a crazy first year of life for you. Right about the time you were born last year we entered Covid-19 and pandemic mode. And then later in the year you moved from our house to your new house in Raleigh. I miss seeing you every day and watching you grow and even though you won’t remember much about this first year of your life I hope that you will…
Never ever forget that you are very loved!
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