KEPT by.. appear. The congregation will read and assent. But, the Lord willing, there will be one present, who, though unable to trace the outline o f the words as they stand out in print, can show them plainly written in her life: “ Kept by the power o f God.” “ Kept”—-though the world would point to sacrifice. “ Kept”— though shortsighted friends would speak o f comforts lost. And when her dear ones, ready now for service anywhere as. the Lord shall lead, may, at length, find their places on distant mission fields, the keep ing power will continue, for “ he is faithful that promised.” A group of 106 young people chose six pregnant words as their class motto. But the words belong as truly to every adult who, by prayer and gift, has qualified—
U p the gentle slope o f one of the many hills that over look Hollywood, one comes to a winding path, to a clump o f friendly apricot trees, their branches inter locked, and finally to a little cottage that hides away shyly behind the red roses that bloom near the door. It is a severely plain little house, and plain people live in it. The central figure is a woman o f perhaps sixty years of age, blind, but with a seeing heart. Tw o devoted girls live with her— orphan sisters, long separated from each other, who were united and adopted by this one who loved them and saw before them a life o f service for Christ. When blindness came suddenly, a few years ago, this mother became practically dependent upon her adopted daughters for the family’s support. But, using faith’s telescope, and refusing to consider present distresses, this brave little woman insisted that the girls carry forward, without hindrance, their plan to attend the Bible Insti tute of Los Angeles, in preparation for a life o f missionary service. Both sisters enrolled in the fall of 1933, one o f them living at home for a term and keeping house, while the other enjoyed life in the dormitory; and then, at the be ginning of the new semester, exchanging places. Saturdays, and Sometimes other afternoons, they spent doing housework, not only in their own home for which they were responsible, but also in any other place where they could find a day’s employment to help to meet ex penses. Often, turning homeward, as they urged weary bodies up the hill, the girls would ask themselves the ques tion : “ Are we really doing right ?” But the query would die on their lips as they met the smiling face o f the one who could not see their troubled glances but could read their hearts. “ Oh, I am so rich—to have you,” she would say. “ To have you as a gift to give to Christ !” When it.looked as though the plan for Christian training could not possibly go on, the Lord sent into the home and the hearts, o f these three trusting ones, a little Japanese girl and her sister whose mother sought for them a place to board. Thus the training days continued. A few weeks ago, the senior class of 1935 was organized, and these two girls were in it. The class motto was chosen: “ Kept by the power o f God.” And on the evening o f June 13, these sis ters, with more than a hundred classmates, are due to re ceive diplomas of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles at its twenty-fifth annual commencement. When that occasion arrives, on placard and on program, the class motto will
Having witnessed first to a group of his countrymen in the Philippine Is lands, the young man in the inset is now equipped with Bible Institute training for more efficient work in his homeland, to which he plans to return! though he may not recognize thé' fact—as a member of this year’s graduating class.
“ K ept ”— T hrough Y ears of W aiting . .Other members of the group to be honored on Com mencement day have been kept by God’s power during a long period o f anticipation. One young man came to the Institute from the Philippine Islands. Looking at his smil ing brown face today, no one would surmise that only a few years ago this boy was a naked pagan, a wild member of one o f the unevangelized tribes on the Islands.
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