Leonard Surfing for Truth

Leonard Edwards cannot remember a time that he didn’t attend church.

He grew up going to services each Sunday, attending choir rehearsals, prayer meetings, Bible studies, and church field trips. When he was a teenager who wanted to hang out with his friends, his father would tell him, “You can hoot with the owls on Saturday nights, but you better be ready to soar with us eagles on Sunday morning because you’re going to church!” Even while he was in the Marines stationed in Okinawa, Japan, Leonard always went to church.

A few years ago, Leonard committed to read the Bible from cover to cover. “Those Bible readings opened me up to God in a way I can’t describe,” he explains. It sustained him just a few years later when his mother passed away. “Studying the Word of God helped cultivate my personal relationship with the Lord that carried me through my time of grief.”

Reading the Bible every day gave Leonard a thirst to learn more about the Scriptures. “I wanted to understand what I was reading,” he recalls, “and step up my game in my quest for a more personal relationship with God.” Leonard began to question some of the doctrines and teachings of his Sunday church. He found and completed a couple of Bible correspondence courses and was convicted by the Holy Spirit to become a Sabbath-keeper.

One Sunday morning Leonard was surfing through all the church channels available on his cable TV subscription. Suddenly, a certain preacher caught his eye. “For some reason,” Leonard remembers, “I stopped when I saw Pastor Doug Batchelor. His topic was, ‘Why We Keep the Sabbath.’” Through his message and the conviction of God’s Spirit he was led to join a Sabbath-keeping church.

“No one uses the Bible better than Pastor Doug,” Leonard shares. “He creates vivid word pictures that resonate with me. It helps me understand the Bible in ways I never knew.”

Leonard now loves the Sabbath. “The rhythm of life is easier, quieter, and less congested,” he explains. “My relationship with God is much stronger.”

Reflect: Have you discovered the Sabbath as a day to strengthen your relationship with God? Perhaps you need to rediscover this sacred time.

Key Bible Texts

Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee. (Deuteronomy 5:12 KJV)