December 3, 1926 • Jungle Doctor Signed a Decision Card

aul White signed a decision card on this day, December 3, 1926, taking the Son of God as his Savior. Afterwards he didn't feel the least bit different. He could have chucked Christianity then and there, but something within himself said that his faith rested not on a feeling but on God's promise. He decided to act on God's promise.

He made another important decision this day. If he was going to be a member of God's family, he "would do so in the full light of day." If he had not made that vow then and there, would he have become world-famous? At once he began telling people that he had asked Christ to run his life. One of the people he spoke to was his chemistry teacher. Bill wasn't impressed. "Go for facts, White. That all sounds rather emotional...in anyone's thinking an empty tomb is a remarkably poor foundation for a religion. Now get on with your work." Paul got on with work--the work of telling even more people about Christ. Before his life was over, he would be internationally known as the "Jungle Doctor."

He had no inkling that that nickname lay over his horizon when he set out to complete his education as a medical doctor. He fixed his eyes on becoming a missionary to Africa. Paul's Dad had served in the Boer War in South Africa and fired his son's imagination for the Dark Continent.

Paul needed money. A chemistry job was offered him and he was greatly tempted to take it, but he realized it was a distraction. Instead, he fought hard to win and maintain a medical scholarship. Although far from an ace student, he got the funding and persevered to the end of his difficult courses in which a single failing grade would have cost him his scholarship.

God worked miracles to get Paul to Africa. In Tanganyika, he learned to clothe his teaching in fables, creating stories with the timeless quality of Aesop's fables. But Paul pointed people to Christ, something Aesop could not do. He began writing stories when his wife's health forced him to leave Africa and return to Australia. The tales became known world wide.

When we decide to follow Christ, we never know what lies in store. Few of us become as well known as Paul White was. But the choice to follow Christ remains the most important decision of our lives.

Bibliography:

1. Gale Research Co., Contemporary Authors. New Revision Series. Detroit: Gale Publishing, 1988.
2. Graves, Daniel S. Doctors Who Followed Christ. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Kregel, 1999.
3. White, Paul. Alias Jungle Doctor. Exeter, England: Paternoster, 1977.
4. -------------. Doctor of Tanganyika. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1955.
5. -------------. Get Moving. Sydney, Australia: Anzea Books, 1976.
6. -------------. Jungle Doctor Fables. Chicago: Moody, 1971.
7. White, Ruth. Letters to the author.
8. Who's Who in Australia. Melbourne: Herald, 1980.

Last updated April, 2007.