God chooses unlikely and even unruly people to transform them into instruments of righteousness. (Romans 6:13) The story of Doug Nichols was published in the Decision magazine in May 2024.
Wasted teenager? Doug Nichols states: “I wasted my school years fighting, drinking, and gambling, I had never even read a whole book. They sent me home early, giving me a diploma.”
Coffee time: After getting drunk at 1 A.M., I came home. One of the Christians saw me and invited me to have coffee at that time. For three hours, he kept pouring coffee and sharing the Gospel. By 4 a.m., Doug was sober, full of coffee, understood the gospel, fell on his knees, and received the Lord as his savior.
Bible Challenge: Doug began reading the Bible, but he found it hard to understand because of his poor reading skills. As suggested by a friend, I went to a bible school. In the first semester, he failed in all the subjects. He packed to go home, that time a senior retired missionary came and tutored him until he completed Bible school. There he met Margaret, the daughter of missionaries to China and they were married in 1968.
Missions: Twelve organizations rejected them to become missionaries as they were not qualified. Operation Mobilization accepted them and were sent to India.
TB Sanitarium: Doug became sick and was diagnosed with Tuberculosis and was admitted to TB Sanitarium run by the government. He did not speak the local language but gave tracts to fellow patients. One night at 2 AM he woke up to see a person struggling to get out of bed. Doug carried him to the bathroom and brought him back. This act of kindness spread and patients started coming to receive tracts. Many of them accepted the Lord.
Christian Growth Ministries: They served later for 21 years in the Philippines. Based in South Carolina now takes care of 200,000 street children in the Philippines and trains some of the 51,000 untrained pastors there. They were faithful in a little; God gave them awesome responsibility.
Am I willing to do acts of kindness to strangers?