Pastor Tom Harmon is a jolly fellow who preaches with passion. No matter how long his sermon lasts, you never grow tired of listening. You are never bored because he captivates you by sprinkling in stories from his life, adding splashes of humor, and making it all personally applicable. He regularly jokes that most of what he says isn’t in his notes or a planned part of the sermon, but normally that is the best part. Every now and then, when he says something profound, he interrupts himself by saying, “Amen Tom. Good preaching.”
I heard Pastor Harmon preach at a family camp that I served at a few summers ago. I looked forward to attending his chapel service every evening of the two weeks I served. He told story after story of his life, descended rabbit hole after rabbit hole, and yet always returned to his point. Of all his sermons he preached, and of all the stories he told, the most memorable part was how naturally he quoted scripture. At times it would just flow out of him – verse after verse. He recited it effortlessly, like it was a part of his vocabulary. It demonstrated his love for the Lord and His word. Pastor Harmon set an example of what memorizing scripture and making it a part of life and conversation looks like.
I was inspired and motivated, to learn, meditate, and memorize scripture just like Pastor Harmon after listening to him. I will always remember those two weeks serving during his teaching. I left camp resolved to memorize scripture. I began with a few chapters but soon decided to memorize the entire book of James. I finished that goal late last year. I am now on to my next goal: the book of 1 John. I began 1 John at the beginning of my freshman year but have paused it to commit to memory Psalm 37 since that one is speaking to me in particular right now. I will resume 1 John as soon as I finish Psalm 37. The lesson I am learning and living is to commit as much scripture as possible to memory, any verse that impacts me I memorize, challenging myself to commit larger and larger chunks of scripture to memory at a one time. I’m thankful for preachers like Pastor Harmon and I keep falling in love with Gods Word.