Last week I spoke at a memorial service for my dear aunt and uncle who passed away on separate occasions.

If you have a significant decision on your heart, I pray these words will serve as a backdrop to help YOU think clearly and hear from God deeply about what He might be saying to you, too.

Here’s the link to watch (or you can read the text below):

Watch "Three Decisions"
(4-1/2 minutes)

Hi, my name is Eric Elder. Rowland and Martha were my uncle and aunt. When I think of them, three pictures come to my mind.

I was the out-of-towner. I came from Illinois for my first job after college, moved to Houston, and they and the family took me in and cared for me. The three pictures I see are all three significant decisions—three of the most significant I’ve ever made my life.

The first one I made was to put my faith in Christ.

I remember holding hands with Rowland and Martha and the missionary speaker, who I had heard that night and who happened to be staying at their home. We knelt around their coffee table as I prayed to seal that decision in my heart, and I’ve never looked back. That was February 9th, 1987.

The second significant decision I made was to marry my wife, Lana.

She was living in Michigan. I was living in Texas, and we were trying to figure out if we were ever going to commit to each other.

Rowland and Martha knew my dilemma. They offered for her to stay at their house while we pursued that path together and asked God if He wanted us together. So for six or eight months she stayed with Rowland and Martha until our wedding day, April 29th, 1989, right in this spot here.

The third significant decision was when I decided to go into full-time ministry and quit my secular job.

I was living in Illinois at the time. I flew down to Houston where my corporate office was. I was praying for a woman who was dying of cancer, asking God for a miracle in the last days of her life. I prayed till midnight. Nothing had changed, and I felt God say, “I want you to quit your job tomorrow and go into full-time ministry.”

I stayed at Rowland and Martha’s house that night. I remember being in the bed and thinking, “God, if I saw her healed—if I saw those lumps of cancer jump off her body—I’d do it in a heartbeat. But I didn’t see that, God, and I don’t know what to do.”

But God spoke to me, and two days later I quit. I’ve been doing full-time ministry since February 14th, 1995, and I’ve never looked back.

I say this to say that Rowland and Martha were a backdrop for three of my most significant decisions. I think it’s because of their calming environment, their welcoming home, their care and their prayer that allowed me to think clearly and hear from God deeply.

I think today they are providing a backdrop for each one of you here, me included.

If there’s a significant decision that’s on your heart—whether it’s to put your faith in Christ for the first time, whether it’s about your marriage, whether it’s about your kids or your job or your future, your finances, your health—I think we could do nothing better to honor them and honor God than by making a commitment today, making a decision today, to follow the God of Rowland and Martha, the God of Joan and Ted and Glen and their descendants.

If you want to make any kind of commitment in your heart, just say it with me.

“Lord Jesus, thank You for Rowland and Martha, their example, their love and care and prayer. Help us to follow You the same way they did, Lord. Let our legacy extend way beyond us, Lord, and touch the nations for You, that we could all join You at the most marvelous feast that they’re enjoying right now. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”