Across My Path – Steve Bell

He crossed my path as at a point of desperation.  Our family was floundering when we heard of a bi-lingual church pastored by a Canadian.  Nearly at family mutiny we loaded up on Sunday morning to check it out.  We were the first to arrive at a rented facility full of character where a balding man wearing a brown leather jacket and a contagious smile greeted us.

At the time we were in need of a gracious place to heal from recent wounds.  Steve provided it in ways that continue to resonate in our lives.  A few months later we requested an opportunity to work with him to complete our term in Mexico.  The letter he wrote in return reflects his heart, “Your note is a pleasant surprise…God is definitely doing something that's bigger than us all and I just want to say with joy, "Welcome, welcome, welcome."  

Steve lived his early childhood years in China with missionary parents.  Gut wrenchingly he and his parents had to leave the country with his siblings interned in a Japanese prison camp along with Eric Liddell.  Eventually reunited the family returned to Canada to some of their most meaningful ministry.  Steve would tell of how people would seek out his parents, often sleeping over after a late night conversation.   In those days they welcomed 1500 people a year into their home while serving mainly raisin bread and tea.  They lived out the creativity of a sign I saw in a friend’s kitchen the other day, “Bread and water can so easily be toast and tea.” 

Without doubt those years influenced Steve who would later become a pastor and serve several congregations before arriving in Mexico after his retirement.  There his life, his stories and his insight began to take hold in many lives including my own.  Much of his ministry centered on providing an atmosphere of grace for others’ faith to grow.  He would say, “The great need of the church today is men who have grown wise with grace.” 

Tuesday mornings was our time to have breakfast rancheros together and talk.  Seldom was it church “shop talk.”  No, instead he would informally mentor me as we talked about life in China, his father’s death, the neighbors who watched his family for years from a distance before asking for help, or a book he was reading.  And he loved to tell stories.  Once he told me he wasn’t just interested in the result of what God was going to do but also the story that went along with it. 

One story involved his mother.  It was during a difficult time while she was still in China.  I’m unsure of the particular difficulty but there seemed to always be ample ones to pick from.  At one point during her struggle she was reading the Bible when she came across the scripture, “My grace is sufficient for you.”  At which point she threw her Bible against the wall and responded, “I don’t want grace, I want to go home.”  Of course she stayed, and of course she received much grace, but the point was well taken.  God continues His work in us even when our life is messed up messy. 

On a shelf in our home sets a prized wooden maple bowl that Steve turned in his lathe and penned the design on as well.  Inside is a pine cone, and on the outside the tree’s long willowy arms reach out from the trunk. He gave it to me as a gift before we left Mexico with an explanation.  “This bowl is an illustration of what I want to do in my life.   If you look closely you can see a crack running up the trunk of the tree that I have incorporated into the design.  What I want to do is help those who have been wounded to discover God’s healing handiwork in their lives.”

I am thankful you crossed my path Steve.