In today's Footsteps, TWR's Gwen and Sterling Ottun talk about the youth group that they began at their church on Guam, and at one point, Sterling claims that some of the parents of the kids describe him as "the white guy that runs around and knocks on people's doors."  He goes on to say, "They kind of consider me a little crazy."  I pointed out to Sterling that his description reminded me of how people once referred to D.L. Moody as "Crazy Moody" as he was picking up children for his Sunday school class in Chicago.  Here's the way Moody's son tells the story...

"Beginning his mission work with children, he had gradually…gained access to their homes, and unconsciously entered regular evangelistic work before he knew it.

"To aid him in his visiting, Mr. Moody bought a little Indian pony, known as his 'missionary horse.'  The pony was of course a source of special enjoyment to the children, and, by giving rides to the younger ones, was made to contribute to the popularity of 'Moody’s Sunday-school'…

"It was not an uncommon sight to see him on one of his missionary trips with one or two children behind him on the horse, a little one in his arms, and more crowding about seeking the 'next turn.'  Many stories are told of that wonderful pony, among others how Moody, riding at full speed, seized a rather boisterous, mischievous boy who had been throwing stones at him, and lifting him up by the coat collar, placed him across his saddle and carried him two or three blocks, securing thereby his lasting respect.

"In those days young Moody did not always receive the sympathy and respect which came to him only as the reward of years of trial in many critical experiences.  Writing of those early days, his friend and most intimate associate in evangelistic work, Major D.W. Whittle, thus describes him:

“'It must have been in the spring of 1859 that, as I was passing up Clark Street in Chicago, some one on the sidewalk said, "There goes “Crazy Moody."  I turned, looked down the street, and saw a young man of about twenty-one, short and stocky in figure, weighing about one hundred and fifty pounds.  He was riding a small pony, his trousers in his bootlegs, a cap on his head…I had been interested to some degree of the revival meetings of 1857 and 1858, and had heard how Moody was visiting houses, building up a mission school, talking to people on the streets, and doing all sorts of eccentric things.  The newspapers were full of jokes about him...Like many others, I had the impression that he was crazy.  How little I thought as I looked at him that day that my life would be influenced by him and his wonderful career!'" 

I encourage you to listen to yesterday's and today's Footsteps.  Subsitute a bus for the pony, and see if Sterling Ottun doesn't remind you of "Crazy Moody."

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(Photo of TWR's Gwen and Sterling Ottun)

1. William R. Moody, The Life of Dwight L. Moody: By His Son William R. Moody (New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1900), 74-75, accessed December 8, 2015, https://books.google.com.