Truman Smith

Psalm 90:16 “Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children.

A few of you remember my father, Truman Smith, most of you have only heard his name.

My father could be seen every morning on his knees early, praying for me and a myriad of other people and things. The sight of that commitment sticks in my mind even to today. My parents hoped that my life would follow the lives of the men they named me after.

My father died after more than a decade of suffering through the ravages of Parkinson’s. His mind was more or less lucid the whole time. But, his confidence in our Heavenly Father didn’t waver. And, my mother who cared for him daily, demonstrated the same full faith commitment.

My father’s chair side table was never without his Bible open and other supporting books opened and stacked.

I remember vividly the day my dad died. He had suffered for a number of years from Parkinson’s disease. When we went to say our goodbyes to him, and collect up all of his “assets,” they all fit into a paper bag!

He had been faithful to His Lord and to His calling. And, now after the last few years of wasting away from the ravages of Parkinson’s, nearly nothing remained except to inherit the “city” he had anticipated for most of his adult life. He lived in this one, but he never really belonged to it. As such he collected little of its assets!

What did I learn from him that I most would like for you to remember? Two things.

First, the roots of life are developed in the disciplines of the private.

Second, the longest lasting convictions or values are in significant antagonism to the norms around us.

When I think about him today, one of the songs that helps me remember his faith is: There is a fountain filled with blood. You can find it at: (skip the advertisement)

https://youtu.be/hqSqrjPVQdg

From Watchman Nee on the blood of Christ. It is enough for God

“For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”

Hebrews 9:13-14

“There is no help there, so let us be bold in our approach because of the Blood: ‘Lord, I do not know fully what the value of the Blood is, but I know that the Blood has satisfied Thee; so the Blood is enough for me, and it is my only plea. I see now that whether I have really progressed, whether I have really attained to something or not, is not the point. Whenever I come before Thee, it is always on the ground of the precious Blood. Then our conscience is really clear before God. No conscience could ever be clear apart from the Blood. It is the Blood that gives us boldness.

“No more conscience of sins”: these are tremendous words of Hebrews 10:2. We are cleansed from every sin; and we may truly echo the words of Paul: “Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin” (Romans 4:8).

https://ccel.org/ccel/nee/normal/normal.v.vi.html