A Visit to Dr. Norman Vincent Peale
by Michael A. Bengwayan
One of the figures who changed my life in early college until now was Dr. Norman Vincent Peale.
I met him under a shanty that housed my pigpen, hearth (where I cooked each cock’s crow the kitchen slops I gathered daily from Session Road’s restaurants); and handmade cot (softened by discarded cartoons which served as bed, study area, comfort and refuge); through his world famous “The Power of Positive Thinking” which I read each evening till the last pine branch embers died out.
The book was lent by an elderly man at the old Resurrection Church who
came every vesper where I served as a sacristan. He left it one evening
and I saw it as I was cleaning unaware that he came back for it and
watched me as I read the cover of the book.
“Do you like to read it?”, he asked. “Of course”, I replied. “I will lend it to you provided you promise that when you are through, lend it to others”, he said. I never asked his name. I said “yes”, he waved and disappeared in the night.
I read Dr. Peale’s book every night. His inspiring words motivated me. They were words that energized. It made me believe everything is possible. And I believed in him. I did not know then that he was inspiring millions around the world as I read his words. I wished then I could glimpse a bit of him.
But truth is a dark reality cut off from fiction. Rat-poor and eking out a living doing odd jobs every summer after high school year, I can’t even dream of going to college.
Sometime in the early 80s, I read he died. But his words never died in me. Believe in God and nothing is impossible.
I believed in God and many impossible things happened in my life.
In 2002, after winning a four-year Echoing Green Foundation International Fellowship the year earlier, I promised myself to visit the nearest memorial of Dr. Peale. My friend Jeremy Jeremy B Abeya who was then working at the Anglican Diocese of New York City could not accompany me so he printed me a map to help me find my way.
After two hours, 26 years since I first read his book, I met Dr. Norman Vincent Peale –his statue at Marble Collegiate Church along Fifth Avenue, near Manhattan, New York City where he served for many years as a pastor.
He loved God and loved people. The two most important commandments.
I stood there in front of his statue for a long time, thinking of the man, feeling blessed for the opportunity.
A dream come true for a young man like me who once gathered kitchen slops to feed to pigs from 10,000 miles away..
I never thought it could happen.but God has a way in making dreams true.
“Do you like to read it?”, he asked. “Of course”, I replied. “I will lend it to you provided you promise that when you are through, lend it to others”, he said. I never asked his name. I said “yes”, he waved and disappeared in the night.
I read Dr. Peale’s book every night. His inspiring words motivated me. They were words that energized. It made me believe everything is possible. And I believed in him. I did not know then that he was inspiring millions around the world as I read his words. I wished then I could glimpse a bit of him.
But truth is a dark reality cut off from fiction. Rat-poor and eking out a living doing odd jobs every summer after high school year, I can’t even dream of going to college.
Sometime in the early 80s, I read he died. But his words never died in me. Believe in God and nothing is impossible.
I believed in God and many impossible things happened in my life.
In 2002, after winning a four-year Echoing Green Foundation International Fellowship the year earlier, I promised myself to visit the nearest memorial of Dr. Peale. My friend Jeremy Jeremy B Abeya who was then working at the Anglican Diocese of New York City could not accompany me so he printed me a map to help me find my way.
After two hours, 26 years since I first read his book, I met Dr. Norman Vincent Peale –his statue at Marble Collegiate Church along Fifth Avenue, near Manhattan, New York City where he served for many years as a pastor.
He loved God and loved people. The two most important commandments.
I stood there in front of his statue for a long time, thinking of the man, feeling blessed for the opportunity.
A dream come true for a young man like me who once gathered kitchen slops to feed to pigs from 10,000 miles away..
I never thought it could happen.but God has a way in making dreams true.
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