(This is from the January 3, 1938 issue of “Life” magazine. In the magazine, it was found in the section called “Speaking of Pictures” and each point has an associated picture also telling the story. – Barefoot Bill)
Dr. Frank Buchman, leader of the Oxford Group, is a 59-year-old Pennsylvania clergyman who emigrated to England, started the Group 17 years ago. His evangelical movement preaches Absolute Honesty, Absolute Purity, Absolute Unselfishness, Absolute Love. It draws many wealthy followers, gains converts by having meetings at which members testify to the good the Movement does them. Buchmanites never talk of anyone being “converted,” but of someone experiencing a “change.” Shown on following pages is a “change” as illustrated in “Rising Tide”.
BILL AND MARY – AND HOW THEY TURNED THE TIDE
“Rising Tide,” Oxford Group magazine uses the technique of the “Photocrime” to show how a suburban family undergoes a “change”.
1. (Friday 8:06 A.M.) Got out the wrong side of bed this morning. Mary said I’d miss the train. I said I wouldn’t… 2. (Friday 8:11 A.M.) She was right. 3. (Friday 9:20 A.M.) Twenty minutes late at the office. The boss didn’t say anything, but he looked plenty. Brown snickered. Really that guy is impossible. Threw the whole day out of gear. 4. (Friday 7:20 P.M.) Missed an appointment for lunch. Couldn’t get the figures straight on a rush estimate and had to work late. Don’t know why it is. Some days seem to go all wrong. 5. (Friday 8:35 P.M.) Picked up RISING TIDE to read on the way home. Wasn’t this the crowd old George was interested in a year ago? Looked through it several times; casually showed it to Mary. Might do her good. 6. (Saturday Morning) Amazing coincidence. Ran into old George today. He looks years younger. Asked if he was still interested in the Rising Tide crowd. He said, “Interested isn’t the word. I’m part of it; it’s the goods.” I said I was only curious. Suggested he drop in to see us. 7. (Saturday Afternoon) He came this afternoon and brought his wife Dorothy. She is different. Might do Mary a lot of good – make her more thoughtful about me and the house. George said something about “a quiet time,” and said God could talk to me if I tried listening in. Told him I wasn’t on speaking terms with God! I must say though George HAS improved. 8. (Sunday 7:10 A.M.) Woke early this morning. Funny George telling me about padding that accident claim with his insurance company. First thing I remembered when I woke was my expense account on that trip last year. Haven’t thought of it for months. Must try to forget it again. 9. (Sunday Morning) While I was raking the lawn, Mary came out and told me she really wanted the thing Dorothy and George had – wondered if our marriage was such a success after all. She said she was sorry she’d blamed me for everything and admitted being irritable with Billy and me. 10. (Monday noon) What a day! Asked George to lunch. Told him Mary should see more of Dorothy because she would help her. He said, “How about you doing something?” “About what?” I said. “About Mary’s not being happy.” I said it wasn’t my fault. He asked me if I had had one of those “quiet times”. I said Brown was very difficult at the office. 11. (Monday noon) He said, “How about you at home?” I admitted I was irritable sometimes. Seemed a bit of a deadlock. Then he told me what he’d been like at home before he was changed. Made me see I’d been treating Mary pretty rottenly. He said I was selfish as hell. I told him to go there if he knew so much about it. 12. (Monday evening) Found Dorothy with Mary when I got home. George phoned me to come and eat her supper so she could stay and talk with Mary. After supper George and I got talking. I told him he was right in what he had said about me, and that I wanted to be different. 13. (Later Monday) George suggested a quiet time and said, “Measure your life against the standards of Christ – Absolute Honesty, Purity, Unselfishness and Love – then you’ll find out what you’re really like.” I wrote down a whole list of things about myself that I’d explained away for years. Then as he’d been honest with me, I was dead honest with him. 14. (Still later) Told George I’d tried so often to make myself different and had always failed. He said, “Of course you have, you need the power of God to clean you up and put you on your feet again. That’s what the Cross means.” I didn’t understand at first. He suggested we pray. Felt a bit self-conscious, but wanted to be different so badly that I asked God to give me that power and change me. 15. (Tuesday Morning) This has been an amazing day. I began by doing what George suggested. Got up fifteen minutes early and had a quiet time. The first thing I wrote down was about my expense account. Knew I’d have to do something about it right away. 16. (Tuesday) It cost me $25 to straighten it out, but I’m glad I did it. The boss was a bit put out at first, but when I told him why I did it, he wished me luck. It’s a start at any rate, and George told me that if I put right what I could, God would put right what I couldn’t. 17. (Tuesday evening) “Tell Mary you’re as selfish as the devil. That you’ve demanded attention and flattery from her all the time and never really given yourself to her and Billy. You’ve been more attentive to girls in the office than to her. Apologize.” – That is what I wrote down in my quiet time this morning. Did it tonight. We had a marvelous talk. Told each other things we’d been afraid to tell before. 18. (Wednesday 7 A.M.) We started the day with a quiet time and read from the Bible I bought yesterday. We needed half an hour to tell each other the thoughts that came. We saw how Billy’s problems are the same as ours were at his age and that we must tell him. Mary was thrilled that Billy could listen too. I got a sudden thought about Brown. 19. (Wednesday Morning) God said that it was my fault that I found Brown difficult because we both wanted Smith’s job when he retires. That I was to tell Brown, and invite him to supper. Was a bit scared of talking to Brown when I got to the office, but when I did, found he had been feeling just the same way. Never knew he was such a good scout before. He’s coming to supper tomorrow. 20. (Thursday evening) Brown comes to supper tonight. He wanted to know what on earth had happened to me. I told him. He stayed until midnight and said, “This is what I’ve been looking for for years. If you and I and the boss work this out together we can affect the whole industry.” 21. (Thursday midnight) Never realized what a great girl Mary is till all this happened. The world is in a mess but God has a plan. Mary and I realized this is a revolution not a picnic, and we’re in it together. It may be the greatest revolution of all time by which the Cross of Christ will transform the world.
