March 9, 2006

God's Word

Read Isaiah 55:8-11

My maiden name is Reed. My grandmother, Mary Hankins Reed, went West in a covered wagon. Two of my aunts from Nebraska traced the Hankins family back to Virginia, enabling them to join the DAR. Nobody seemed interested in following the trail of the Reed genealogy until the advent of the computer; when a cousin, a Statistics Professor, traced the family to Cornwall and Wales.

To celebrate our fiftieth wedding anniversary, Bob and I decided to visit Cornwall and Wales. Bert Prisk's family came from Cornwall (his relatives were miners, mine were farmers), and he gave us reliable information on the old city of Truro. We visited Truro, St. Ives, Penzance, and Newport, Wales. There were many Reeds in the telephone books, and there were several business establishment in all the towns with the name of Reed.

In St. Ives, we visited a delightful bookstore with books about Cornwall and its history. Among these books was a religious history of Cornwall. John Wesley (1703 – 1791) traveled many exhausting miles throughout Cornwall preaching the Word of God. Today, after two hundred years, there are Methodist Halls of Worship in many villages and hamlets. One book stated that Wesley probably changed the lives of the Cornish more than any other preacher. He continually spoke of eternal salvation through Jesus Christ. In 1789, Wesley at the age of 86 preached his last sermon to hundreds of Cornish people. He knew his message would be perpetuated, because he was God's servant, preaching God's Word.

This message was brought to America where it spread throughout the country in Methodist churches. In the 1930's, my parents, who attended no church, chanced upon a service in the Van Dyke Methodist Church. This same message changed their lives, and I was fortunate to be raised in a Christian family. It was a thrill to see some of the area where John Wesley traveled and to know God's word does not return to Him without doing everything He sent it to do.1 God's word does not return to Him
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Marianne Kiess

1 – The Learning Bible
2 – The King James Version