Paul Ott

How I thank God that I am a part of the family of God. I feel like I belong. The Bible says, “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so” (Psalms 107:12). Lately I have been thinking of the unerring, guiding hand of God.

Around the turn of the century, my mother and father had just been married and they came west. Dad was looking for a farm, that is about all he knew, but work was scarce and times were hard. He couldn’t find what he wanted, but God was still guiding and directing.

One day in the spring of 1905 a man came right to our door and offered Dad a steady job at a large corporation. God just locked us right down in Portland with that job. Dad went to work for them and worked there for the rest of his working days.

My father and mother were both sanctified people and were hungry for more of God. Mother found sanctification in a holiness church. They were here in Portland when Sister Crawford came with the Latter Rain Gospel in December of 1906, and believe me, they were not long in finding this. They came into the first little Apostolic Faith church on Second and Main Street with their little family. A couple of weeks after Sister Crawford got here, just 85 years ago this very night, January 7, 1907, my mother received her baptism.

“I can’t do it. I can’t be a Christian among the crowd that I have to work among.”

You don’t have to use much imagination to know what kind of a home I was brought up in. Oh, I thank God for that home, that heritage! I was a happy young child. I was about three years old when they came and got saved.  I knew a lot about the Gospel. I heard in children’s meeting that I could not love the world and love God. The love of the world crept into my heart, and it wasn’t long before it took over and I went after the world. It didn’t take long for the devil to make merchandise of that, I’ll tell you!

Oh, I thank God that He did not forsake me! I believe in prayer. Bless God, people prayed for me. I gave my life over to the world until I was about 19 years of age when I finally surrendered. God definitely called me, and I thank God that I felt like giving my heart to the Lord that day. For years I had run from God and tried to get away from the call of God, but that day I suddenly wanted to get saved. God saw my heart and He led me to a place of prayer. He showed me it was my time to get right with Him. I had turned down many chances to get saved, but that day He gave me another chance. I had said, “I can’t do it. I can’t be a Christian among the crowd that I have to work among.”

Thank God it’s real, the hope to see Jesus some day.

I will never forget that Sunday morning, March 11, 1923, when I stepped out into the aisle at Sixth and Burnside and headed for the place of prayer. Two old-timers, Brother Jim Porter and Brother Art Hiatt, knelt with me in prayer, and there I made my covenant with God. I made a total commitment to God that day, for time and eternity. The Devil said, “You can’t keep it; you can’t live it if you do get it,” but I was determined I was going to try. I prayed with all of my heart and Jesus came in. Oh, what a wonderful change! The song sprang up in my heart, “What a wonderful change in my life has been wrought, since Jesus came into my heart.” For days and days that song just kept ringing in my soul. The love of the world that I couldn’t give up, the Lord took it out “slick and clean.”

Thank God, the day the Lord came into my heart, a brand new life started. I was a new creature in Christ Jesus. The love of the world went out, and bless God, I didn’t have to fight over it. It was gone; I didn’t want those things anymore. In a hurry I left the young crowd that I was running with. I found my joy and my pleasure in the house of God. That has been 68 years ago. That change was so complete, I still marvel after all these years. The love of the world was gone and has been all these years. That first love that that God put down in my soul is still there. Thank God it’s real, the hope to see Jesus some day.

God gave me a wonderful heritage way back there. My parents came into this Gospel in the very beginning and I do thank God I am in it today. I am on my way to Heaven to meet them one day and I thank God for it.