Missing OC
The blog this week is a memorial to people that have greatly influenced me—specifically to those who’ve already gone home. Day 7...last one.
Gertrude Hobbs learned shorthand as a young woman. She could record dictation at the rate of 250 words per minute, but she didn’t get a chance to use her shorthand skills as a court stenographer after falling in love and marrying in 1910 at the age of 26. Seven years later, though, her husband died from complications following an emergency appendectomy while they were in Egypt.
She went back to London with her four year-old daughter and began transcribing her notes from her husband’s lectures—which she had recorded with great accuracy using her shorthand skills. She sent out the transcriptions to friends and soldiers during WWI. After more and more people began asking for her husband’s words, Gertrude, nicknamed “Biddy” by her husband, formed Oswald Chambers Publications and published the daily devotional, My Utmost for His Highest, in 1927. My Utmost is one of the most widely read publications in the world. To read it online, click here.
Oswald Chambers (1874-1917). “OC.” Oswald was a gifted artist and musician, and pursued art as a career in his early years. Then he felt called to be a teacher. So he began teaching in London. Biddy took notes. When World War I began, they moved to Cairo, Egypt, and he taught soldiers. Biddy took notes. They lived among the people he taught.
On November 15, 1917, Biddy Chambers sent out a simple telegram from Cairo to family back in London: “Oswald in His presence.” This incredible teacher had passed away at the age of 43. But it was his death that motivated his wife to transcribe his notes and give his words to the world. What a beautiful partnership these two had that has now produced fruit far beyond both their lives!
I can personally say that no other devotional has impacted me the way My Utmost has. With amazing consistency, the words for each day’s reading seem so often to be just what I need to hear. And when I forget to read it, I have giants like Sam Cornwell to remind me of Oswald’s timeless words. The August 28 reading made me get on my knees and pray about something in 1993. I prayed about it every day. Then I got an answer. Three weeks later, I asked a girl to marry me on October 1, 1993. Here’s a portion of that Aug. 28 reading that helped me many years ago... and many years since:
The problem is that no one will ever [pray] until he is at his wits’ end. When a person is at his wits’ end, it no longer seems to be a cowardly thing to pray; in fact, it is the only way he can get in touch with the truth and the reality of God Himself. Be yourself before God and present Him with your problems— the very things that have brought you to your wits’ end. But as long as you think you are self-sufficient, you do not need to ask God for anything.
More than twenty years later, it remains the best decision I ever made. So Oswald, thank you for giving your heart to God. Biddy, thank you for giving his words to the world. My life has been changed because of both of you.
P.S. Still reading? :) Click here if you want to see a wonderful video biography of Biddy and Oswald (26 minutes long).
