By Rev. Dr. Ed Hird

One of my favorite authors is Dr. A.W. Tozer.  I appreciate him because he stirs me to think, to feel, to hope, and to search.  In this information age of ever-increasing data, Tozer gave us more than just more knowledge; he gave us wisdom to live by.  He believed that the widest thing in the universe is not space: it is the potential of the human heart.

Tozer saw it as one of the world’s worst tragedies  that we allow our hearts to shrink until there is room in them for little besides ourselves.  There are times in my life when my heart has shrunk and hardened.  Dr Tozer has been like a ‘heart surgeon’ to me,  performing spiritual angioplasty when I have needed it the most.  He has helped me keep my heart open and soft towards my family, my community, and my God.

Tozer’s final years of life were spent in Toronto. On May 12, 1963, he died of a heart attack at age 66.  Some wonder why Tozer’s writings are as fresh today as when he was alive.  It is because, as one friend commented, “He left the superficial, the obvious and the trivial for others to toss around. . . . His books reach deep into the heart.”

Tozer’s love for words also pervaded his family life. He quizzed his children on what they read and made up bedtime stories for them. “The thing I remember most about my father,” reflects his daughter Rebecca, “was those marvelous stories he would tell.”

His humor, written and spoken, has been compared to that of Will Rogers–honest and homespun. People could one moment be swept by gales of laughter and the next sit in a holy hush.  Tozer believed that the essence of true religion is spontaneity.

Tozer held that one way society destroys people is by preventing them from thinking their own thoughts.  As Canadians with our emphasis on accepting all views, we are particularly susceptible to being programmed by our media.  Our ‘vastly improved methods of communication’ of which the shortsighted boast so loudly now enable a few people in strategic centers to feed into millions of minds alien thought-stuff, ready-made and pre-digested.  A little effortless assimilation of these borrowed ideas and the average person has done all the thinking he will or can do.  Tozer believed that the mind should be an eye to see with rather than a bin to store facts in.  Every time I read Tozer,  I feel like the fog has lifted from the tops of the forests, and I can see clearly again.

In Greater Vancouver, there are many very successful people.  Sometimes the most successful outwardly are the most wounded inwardly, especially in one’s primary relationships.  “Not the educators nor the legislators nor the scientists can give us tranquillity of heart, and without tranquillity, whatever else they give us is useless at best.”  Tozer commented that in this world people are rated by what they do.  They are rated according to the distance they have come up the hill of achievement.

Tozer believed that excessive preoccupation with the struggle to win narrows the mind, hardens the heart, and blots out a thousand bright visions that might be enjoyed if there were only leisure to notice them.  No one, said Tozer, is worthy to succeed unless he is willing to fail.  Jesus died an apparent failure, discredited by the leaders of established religion, rejected by society, and forsaken by his friends.  We can afford to follow Jesus to failure.  Faith, says Tozer, dares to fail.  Jesus’ resurrection is the ultimate reason why failure and crosses need not intimidate us.

One hundred and twelve years after his birth, Dr. A.W. Tozer still serves as a symbol of resurrected hope and wisdom in our fragmented age.

The Reverend Ed Hird, BSW, MDiv, DMin

-author of the award-winning book Battle for the Soul of Canada

-previously published in the Deep Cove Crier/North Shore News

P. S. Click this Amazon link to view for free the first two chapters of our new novel Blue Sky.

“I’m afraid there’s been an accident…”

Sandy Brown and her family have just moved to Spokane, Washington where her husband, Scott, is pastoring a new church. With a fresh start, Sandy is determined to devote more time to her four children. But, within weeks of settling in their new life, the Brown family is plunged into turmoil.

Sandy receives shocking news that her children aren’t safe, which brings back haunting memories of the trauma she experienced as a girl. Then, the unthinkable happens…

A brutal attack puts Sandy on the brink of losing everything she’s loved. Her faith in God and the family she cherishes are pushed to the ultimate limit.

Is healing possible when so many loved ones are hurt? Are miracles really possible through the power of prayer? Can life return to the way it was before?

Blue Sky reveals how a mother’s most basic instinct isn’t for survival… but for family.

If you’re a fan of Karen Kingsbury, then you’ll love Blue Sky. Get your copy today on paperback or  kindle.

-Click to check out our marriage book For Better For Worse: discovering the keys to a lasting relationship on Amazon. You can even read the first two chapters for free to see if the book speaks to you.

-The sequel book Restoring Health: body, mind and spirit is available online with Amazon.com in both paperback and ebook form.  Dr. JI Packer wrote the foreword, saying “I heartily commend what he has written.” The book focuses on strengthening a new generation of healthy leaders. Drawing on examples from Titus’ healthy leadership in the pirate island of Crete, it shows how we can embrace a holistically healthy life.

In Canada, Amazon.ca has the book available in paperback and ebook. It is also posted on Amazon UK (paperback and ebook), Amazon France (paperback and ebook), and Amazon Germany (paperback and ebook).

Restoring Health is also available online on Barnes and Noble in both paperback and Nook/ebook form.  Nook gives a sample of the book to read online.

Indigo also offers the paperback and the Kobo ebook version.  You can also obtain it through ITunes as an IBook.

To receive a signed copy within North America, just etransfer at ed_hird@telus.net, giving your address. Cheques are also acceptable.

-Click to purchase the Companion Bible Study by Jan Cox (for the Battle of the Soul of Canada) in both paperback and Kindle on Amazon.com and Amazon.ca 

Indigo also offers the paperback and the Kobo ebook version.  You can also obtain it through ITunes as an IBook.

-Click to purchase the Companion Bible Study by Jan Cox (for the Battle of the Soul of Canada) in both paperback and Kindle on Amazon.com and Amazon.ca