When I was researching the corrected story involving Dawson Trotman, founder of The Navigators, and Bill Bright, founder of CRU, I discovered something else about Dawson Trotman that blew me away…

It’s always been part of Navigator lore that Dawson came to faith while reviewing scripture memory verses he had learned because he wanted to impress girls in a young people’s group. Here’s the whole story from an interview with Justin Taylor, August 18, 2016:

By the time [Dawson] turned 20 he was a fairly pagan guy. He was bootlegging liquor down from San Francisco during prohibition, he was stealing stuff with regularity, and he was something of a pool shark in the local bars. But after getting caught drinking by local law enforcement officers, he said a quick “save me” prayer and committed to attending church again.

He went to the local young people’s (Christian Endeavor) meeting where they had a Scripture memory contest. He was a smart kid and wanted to impress the pretty girls so he ended up memorizing the 10 verses and coming back the following week to recite the verses with perfection.

While working on memorizing the next week’s verses, he suddenly realized the logic of the gospel. He was on his way to work at a local lumber yard and as he recalled John 5:24 in the King James Version: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life . . .” Trotman asked himself the honest question: Do I have everlasting life? He prayed to Jesus to give him this life on the sidewalk. Soon after he shared his conversion experience with a Christian co-worker who encouraged him to share this testimony with all of his co-workers at lunch the following day. That began Trotman’s speaking ministry.

…

The only church that Trotman knew was Lomita Community Presbyterian Church, so he began attending the Christian Endeavor meetings with regularity. Learning Scripture through memorization was how he came to understand the outline of the Bible. His leaders, Miss Mills and Miss Thomas, were the first Christians to pour into his life. They soon encouraged him to begin taking classes at the Bible Institute of Los Angeles (now Biola University) and the Los Angeles Baptist Theological Seminary (now Northwest Theological Seminary).

Did you see it? The young people’s group was part of Christian Endeavor. Dawson was born in 1906, thus when he was 20 and went to a Christian Endeavor youth meeting, it would have been 1926. Fast forward 100 years to 2026. Christian Endeavor lives (an organization founded in 1881).

Please note: “Ministry Director Josh Good.” I first mentioned Josh in the blog Hippos and Honeybees, November 21, 2019. At the time, Josh and I had been meeting by phone approximately monthly for about a year, and we continue to meet, processing life, discipleship, and leadership together. Josh is a great guy, young(!), with a lot of responsibility at home (five children), church, and the #2 guy of an international organization.

I am excited to learn that the founder of my organization was reached by Christian Endeavor, and now, as a descendant of Dawson Trotman, I’m able to give back “a little” to that organization! The wheel turneth.

Christian Endeavor remains committed to producing disciples – “producers” not “consumers,” as witnessed by a letter they sent a couple of years ago, prompting my blog Busy…but not fruitful. And thanks for their faithful service 100 years ago, resulting in the conversion of Dawson Trotman, founder of The Navigators.

Here’s some of what I have shared with Josh…more than once!

Command and teach these things. Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have…Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. (1 Timothy 4.11 – 16, ESV)

I’m meeting with two men, Chris and Tom, going through Every Man a Warrior together. Chris is a retired Navy captain. Tom is a Navy reservist. (Important to the story!) We’ve just finished Book 2 and because of August travel and our upcoming anniversary celebration, we’ll start Book 3 on September 14.

So I wrote them a little message encouraging them in their daily disciplines and giving two additional assignments. Chris’s response, in Navy lingo, blew me away:

In receipt and taking for action!

In the Air Force, we might say, “Understand and will comply.” Or, “Roger. Wilco.”

But I love Chris’s attitude: “In receipt and taking for action!”

So do we always respond to God’s Word that way? Not, “Well, that was interesting.” But, “Speak, Lord for your servant is listening.” (1 Samuel 3.9)

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. (James 1.22, NIV, emphasis mine)

…A good understanding have all those who do His commandments… (Psalm 111.10, NKJV, emphasis mine)

A few days ago, we looked at some important lessons on prayer. Today, we have a practical lesson on faith…

We’ve been in our new house just over a year, and it’s time to solve some of the storage challenges and make a little more room in our garage for both cars. (They’re in there, but it’s tight.) The solution? Overhead shelves so I ordered a pair from Costco, and my son Mark installed them. (I don’t do ladders.)

At one point one of the shelves was in, and Mark was working on installing the ceiling brackets for the other, and the easiest way to do that was, you guessed it, lay on the existing shelf:

As Mark observed, the shelves are designed to hold 800 pounds “if properly installed.” And they were. If they weren’t, Mark wanted his tombstone to read:

If properly installed

A demonstration of faith, is it not? Do you believe the shelf will hold you? Yes? Then put your whole weight on it.

He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. (Romans 4.20, 21, NKJV)

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen…But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. (Hebrews 11.1, 6, NKJV)

PS The finished product with stored Christmas decorations:

Ezekiel 37 is a well-known chapter containing the “Valley of Dry Bones.” There’s even a song about it! The song is not that deep theologically, but if you like gospel quartet…

The Dry Bones are about Israel returning from exile:

Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.’ ” (Ezekiel 37.11 – 14, ESV)

The story starts with dry bones…dead, and they look dead:

The hand of the LORD was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “Sovereign LORD, you alone know.” (Ezekiel 37.1 – 3, ESV)

A vivid picture of life without God:

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. (Ephesians 2.1 – 3, ESV)

Bringing the bones back to life was a two-step process:

Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’ ” So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. (Ezekiel 37.4 – 8, ESV)

Still on the ground. Still dead. Until they are filled with the Spirit, the “breath,” the pneuma, they are dead.

The wind [pneuma] blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit. (John 3.8, ESV)

To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. (Revelation 3.1, ESV)

And here’s the second step:

Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’ ” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army. (Ezekiel 37.9, 10, ESV)

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2.4 – 7, ESV)

Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. (John 5.24, ESV)

Ezekiel 36 contains a few lessons on prayer starting with a reflection on the first request of the Lord’s Prayer:

Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. (Matthew 6.9, NLT)

And what does Ezekiel 36 have to say about God’s attitude toward his name?

I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries. In accordance with their ways and their deeds I judged them. But when they came to the nations, wherever they came, they profaned my holy name, in that people said of them, ‘These are the people of the LORD, and yet they had to go out of his land.’ But I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they came. (Ezekiel 36.19 – 21, ESV)

“I had concern for my holy name…” There’s more:

“Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. (Ezekiel 36.22, 23, ESV)

And then this section of promises:

• I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land.
• I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And
• I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And
• I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And
• I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
• You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. (Ezekiel 36.24 – 28, ESV)

Finally, a stunning word on the relationship between prayer and the promises.

Then the nations all around—all those still left—will know that I, the Lord, rebuilt the ruins and planted lush crops in the wilderness. For I, the Lord, have promised it, and I will do it.”

The Lord God says: “I am ready to hear Israel’s prayers for these blessings and to grant them their requests. (Ezekiel 36.36, 37, Living Bible)

“I, the Lord, have promised it, and I will do it…I am ready to hear Israel’s prayers for these blessings…”

Promise fulfilled by prayer.

It’s like working in an office. All the supplies are there, but they don’t show up on your desk automatically. You have to ask for them.

Expectant faith and persevering prayer rooted in the promises of God. – A Core Value of The Navigators

I think I’m behind on this one, but I was lying in bed a few days ago, 5:00 a.m., praying The Lord’s Prayer. And there it was:

Give us this day our daily bread.

Pretty simple, but having heard a sermon on John 6 a few days before and then watching The Sheep Detectives, I thought to myself: “You’re an idiot! The bread is Jesus. After all,

I am the Bread of Life.

Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.” Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. (John 6.32 – 35, NIV)

I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” (John 6.48 – 51, NIV)

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4.4, NIV)

Give us today our daily bread. (Matthew 6.11, NIV)

I’m not the first one to make this connection. Google search has an optional AI capability, so I asked it:

Does anyone relate “give us this day our daily bread” to Jesus as the “bread of life”?

The answer was unequivocal:

Yes, theologians, scholars, and Christian traditions widely connect “give us this day our daily bread” from the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:11) directly to Jesus as he “Bread of Life” (John 6:35). While the petition serves as a literal plea for physical sustenance, it is deeply understood to have a secondary, spiritual layer.

Then it talked about something one of our pastors told us way back in 1973. That the Greek word for “daily” is used nowhere else except in The Lord’s Prayer:

The Greek word used for “daily” in the Lord’s Prayer is epiousion (ἐπιούσιον). This is a notoriously rare word found nowhere else in classical Greek literature outside of the Gospels.

Early Church Fathers, including Origen and St. Jerome, analyzed its literal root components: epi (above/super) and ousia (substance/essence).

Under this literal translation, the prayer is not merely asking for standard physical food, but for the supernatural bread from heaven—Jesus Christ Himself.

Google’s sources also pointed out the relationship between manna and Jesus as the Bread of Life.

God provided manna to the Israelites every morning in the desert (Exodus 16).

• In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches disciples to depend on God for daily provision just like the Israelites did.
• In John 6, Jesus explicitly uses that exact same manna narrative to explain His identity, stating that while the ancestors ate manna and died, He is the true “living bread that came down from heaven” who grants eternal life. Therefore, the daily dependence taught in the prayer ultimately finds its fulfillment in daily reliance on Jesus.

So, like a lot of truths in mathematics, I “discovered” the connection, but I’m certainly not the first nor only person to discover it!

Google closes:

While modern or secular interpretations focus exclusively on material needs (food, shelter, basic income), historical orthodox Christian theology views the petition as a two-fold request: physical bread to sustain the body for today, and the spiritual “Bread of Life” to sustain the soul for eternity.

Amen.

Give us this day our daily bread...I am the Bread.

I reminded us Sunday that Sebastian the Ram in The Sheep Detectives was right when he said God was a shepherd. The most beloved psalm in the Bible opens:

The Lord is my shepherd. (Psalm 23.1)

And Jesus affirmed it:

I am the Good Shepherd. (John 10.11, 14)

Did you know it’s also in Ezekiel? I wrote on June 16, 2026, the problem God had with his shepherds, the priests. Jeremiah addressed it in Jeremiah 50; Ezekiel, in chapter 34:

You have not…

• strengthened the weak or
• healed the sick or
• bound up the injured. You have not
• brought back the strays or
• searched for the lost. (Ezekiel 34.4, NIV)

The solution? Right. God is the Shepherd:

I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign LORD. I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak… (Ezekiel 34.15, 16, NIV)

And God delegates that work to us:

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” (Matthew 9.36 – 38, NIV)

What’s the solution to sheep without a shepherd? Pray for more “laborers” – more shepherds. (And those who pray are often sent.)

Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness…These twelve Jesus sent out… (Matthew 10.1, 5, NIV)

I almost never publish stories without fact-checking, but since I knew the story so well, I didn’t fact check the story I shared on August 7 about the connection between Dawson Trotman, founder of The Navigators, and Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, now known as Cru. I said that Dawson picked up a hitchhiker named Bill, led him to Christ, and the hitchhiker turned out to be Bill Bright.

Turns out I didn’t get it quite right, and I’ve corrected the original blog. Here’s the more accurate version:

A fellow named Bill picked up a hitchhiker one day in southern California. Bill was just coming into town, and the hitchhiker told Bill he should spend the night in the home of Dawson Trotman, founder of The Navigators. Bill spent just that one night in Dawson’s home and left the next day unconverted.

Later Bill began attending Hollywood Presbyterian Church and met Jesus through the ministry of Henrietta Mears, who had mentored Dawson earlier. Once Bill decided to venture into ministry, Mears suggested that he get in contact with Dawson Trotman who is likely the one who encouraged Bill toward campus ministry.

We’re talking about Bill Bright, who later went on to found Campus Crusade for Christ (now called “Cru.”) Bright went to UCLA to do evangelism, conservatively estimating that it would take him a year to see substantial fruit and thereby skimping on his preparedness for discipleship ministry. After a month, 50 students had come to put faith in Christ, and Bright had no idea what to do next. He phoned Trotman, who personally loaned resources, training, and key Navigator volunteers to Cru for the first five years of Bright’s time on UCLA’s campus. Cru is actually built on the framework of Navigators methodology and uses Nav resources to this day. – Portions of this story from an interview with Justin Taylor on the 60th anniversary of Dawson Trotman’s death, June 18, 2016

So there is a strong connection between Dawson Trotman and Bill Bright, and, in the theme of the August 7 blog, neither Dawson nor Henrietta Mears was particularly “strategic.” They were following the Spirit’s leading to serve those God put in their path.

What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. (1 Corinthians 3.5 – 8, ESV)

Ezekiel 33 opens with the well-known section about the serious responsibility of a watchman.

So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. If I say to the wicked, O wicked one, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, that person shall die in his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul. (Ezekiel 33.7 – 9, ESV)

It’s tough to warn people because they don’t listen. The chapter ends with precisely that fact:

As for you, son of man, your people who talk together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses say to one another, each to his brother, “Come, and hear what the word is that comes from the LORD.” And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say but they will not do it…And behold, you are to them like one who sings songs with a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument, for they hear what you say, but they will not do it. (Ezekiel 33.30 – 32, ESV)

Chilling. Preaching as entertainment. “You are like one who sings…and plays well on an instrument, for they hear what you say, but they will not do it.”

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. (James 1.22, NIV)

Last Sunday night we watched The Sheep Detectives (free with Amazon Prime Video). It’s a light-hearted mystery involving sheep solving the murder of their shepherd. It’s PG, very well done, wholesome in its entirety, with one reference to God that I’m sure some will take offense at. I don’t.

The exchange involves ewes Lily (brown) and Mottle (white) with Sebastian, a black ram who has been out and about in the world. Hence, he’s answering the questions.

The dialog goes like this:

Lily: What is this?

Sebastian: This is the church where someone named God lives.

Lily: Who is God?

Sebastian: It’s a bit confusing. God is a shepherd.

Mottle: So he could be our shepherd?

Sebastian: No, because he’s also a lamb.

Lily: What?

Sebastian: And he’s also invisible. And he’s made of bread. And he damns things?

Lily: Dams things? Like a beaver?

Sebastian: Yes.

Lily: So God is a big, invisible lamb beaver…made of bread?

Sebastian: Yes. And they eat him on Sundays.

Mopple: Poor God.

Has Sebastian heard about God? Yes. Has what he has heard about God true? Mostly. Has he understood anything that he’s heard? No.

I expect we all have not-yet-believing friends and neighbors who have heard all the words, and we think they have rejected Christianity. It may be that they have rejected their flawed understanding of Christianity.

I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD. (Ezekiel 34.15, ESV)

I am the good Shepherd. (Jesus, John 10.11)

Behold the Lamb of God. (John the Baptist, John 1.29)

No one has ever seen God. (Jesus – John 1.18, ESV)

I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” (Jesus, John 6.48 – 51, NIV)

They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. (Ephesians 4.18, ESV)

And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. (1 John 5.20, ESV)