Jim McConnell's Autobiography 1877 - 1957Canadian pioneer farmer in Ontario, Saskatchewan and British Columbia |
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34.
I often think of my earlier life -- 29 years spent on the old farm in Ontario, where I was born. The people then all seemed contented and willing to do their best under any conditions. In the factories and shops they worked 10 hours a day. and one dollar a day was good wages. On the farm we worked all the daylight hours, usually from 5 a.m. until 8 or 9 p.m. All the field work was done with horses and the old style farm machinery. On Sundays we often had a report given out in the Methodist church of the work of the missionaries carrying the gospel to all the dark places of the heathen people in Asia and Africa. I had really believed that soon the whole world would become Christians, and that people then would agree to live together in peace and harmony with no need of any more wars. But now, having lived over 82 years in this struggling competitive world, and having seen two destructive world wars with all its hatred and unbelievable acts of cruelty - - all this and the cold reality of our modern life today has completely shattered this earlier picture. We certainly cannot call this a Christian world any more. The Bible warns us that there will be famines, pestilence, earthquakes, wars, and rumors of wars. It just seems there is something in man's makeup that prevent any number of people from living together in harmony and peace. This causes a continual struggle for supremacy and power both among individuals and among nations, and so the strife and struggle goes on. It really seems now that in all the world there is only one family who really enjoys peace, harmony and fellowship among themselves as they face the daily tasks of life, and that is they who have heard the true gospel and obeyed it and have a vision of God's purpose in our lives and of the inheritance prepared for all those who are called and chosen according to His purpose. And so, the foregoing is a record of some of the most important events and incidents in one lifetime, and a review of the colossal changes as they took place, leading up to our present world of power, speed, and over-production, with abundance and luxury in some places and extreme poverty and want in others. Some who read this may have had many disappointments and sorrows in their life, and perhaps have often asked themselves, "Well, what is it all about, and what do we have to live for anyway?" This review of what has happened, as well as what we can see all about us, seems to indicate continual struggle and strife. But, should we be concerned, or should we worry about what is happening all about us here? Heb. 4 speaks about rest: Those who have attained it, and those who have not attained rest. Would it not be better for all, both young and old, to seek for that highway prepared for the wayfaring man that leads straight on beyond the things that perish; to that city that hath foundations? Then we will know why we are here, and also have a vision of what is prepared for us hereafter. (Here ends Jim McConnell's autobiography. Thirteen years later, he died in Kelowna, BC at 92 years old.)
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