Urbana 96 Webcast
Jacqueline HugginsDecember 30, p.m.
A Modern Day Saul
by Amy Carden
listen to the audio: 25 min.
AUDIO
"When I grow up, I’m going to help people not believe in God or the Bible." The story about how Jacqueline Huggins, a Bible translator with Wycliffe Bible Translators, came to know Jesus as her "best friend" who she loves "more than anyone else in the whole world" was a reminder of the changing power of the love of God.
"If you keep talking to me about that Jesus person, I’m going to call the mental institution and have you committed," Jackie would say to her sister when she tried to witness to her. Her animosity toward religion stemmed from an experience in a foster home where religious practices were combined with an abusive situation. "There couldn’t possibly be a God because if God existed, He wouldn’t allow things like that to happen." That was when she vowed to tell people they did not need God or the Bible. This became her mission in life.
During this time, she was invited to a Bible study. Realizing how strategic it would be to have a whole room of Christians with whom to share her philosophy of life, she decided to go. However, she was prevented when her beloved cat got sick and died. God used this incident powerfully in Jackie’s life. In her grief, she thought, "Wouldn’t it be something if there really was a God, and I’m the one that’s wrong?" She prayed, "Okay, God, if you’re really there, prove it!" He did just that, reminding Jackie of a Bible she had been given for her birthday and prompting her to look up repentance in the back of it. This led her to Romans 2:4. "Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?" Jackie responded in repentance, asking God for His forgiveness.
Jackie’s understanding of her new-found faith continued to grow until her heart became inflamed with the desire to share her new faith and understanding of God. She joined church groups going door to door telling people about Jesus. She witnessed in prisons and juvenile detention centers, leading Bible studies and telling them about Jesus and the forgiveness of sins. Little by little she began to hear God say, "OK, now you have to go to the far away places, where people haven’t heard of Jesus Christ." Although she felt compelled to go, she delayed because of the deep needs in her own city of Philadelphia.
One day in 1978, she was standing on a street corner witnessing to a man who owned a local business. In the middle of her story about Jesus, the man stopped her. "Wait, wait," he said, "I know all about the Bible. I even know the plan of salvation, but I choose to reject it all." Shaken, Jackie prayed to God, "OK, where do you want me to go? People here are saturated with the gospel. Send me someplace where people don’t know this good news."
And that’s what she’s been doing ever since, translating the Scriptures into the language of the Kagayanen people in the Philippines. God had reached her with His word and she wanted everyone to have the opportunity to respond as she did. "Once you’ve experienced the love of God, you can’t keep that message quiet. "Let me ask you--what are you doing with that witness about what God has done for you?"
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