I’ve got an older book on my
shelf called ‘For Those Who Dare.”
It’s not a best-seller, but it’s a great read.
The book is a collection of mini-biographies of 101 Christians who changed the world by following the Lord in their callings.
For example, one of the short bios tells of a French surgeon back in the 16th century.
As a young man, Ambroise Paré wanted to be a doctor, but he couldn’t get into medical school because he didn’t know the the required Latin and Greek.
So instead, he learned to cut hair and bandage wounds at his local barbershop, which also served as a community first aid station.
Eventually, Paré ended up in the military where he treated battlefield
injuries.
During that experience, Peré was terribly distressed by the horrible pain soldiers went through as they had amputated limbs cauterized by a hot iron.
So with God’s help, he discovered an alternative… which was to tie severed vessels off with thread to stop the bleeding.
The medical establishment of the day was slow to
accept this discovery, because Peré didn’t have all the training they did.
Yet, thanks to his innovation, Peré is known as the founder of modern surgery today.
The book is full of stories like this.
And all the characters mentioned have a couple of things in common.
For one,
they see no separation between their faith in God and the activities He calls them to pursue.
They view God as Lord over all creation, and His truth as something to apply in every place under the sun.
And second, these world-changing believers think outside the box, even if it runs contrary to the prevailing ideas of the times.
… Something to think about as you pursue what God has given you to do today.