Spirited
Four-year-old Seth had a penchant for adventure, and the sight of an empty laundry basket at the top of the stairs proved just too inviting. Climbing in, he launched himself down the sixteen steps, tumbling into the door beyond the landing. His mother raced to investigate.
Light in the Darkness
A friend of mine grew up in a rural part of Hawaii where her family had no electricity. As a child, the dark hours of the night frightened her. Without streetlights or the occasional lamp-lit window, it was easy to imagine a scary ogre or hungry beast lurking around the corner. Eventually, my friend left Hawaii to attend college in another region of the US. Although modern lighting brightened the evening hours, her fear of the dark persisted. Finally, as a married adult with children, she began to ask God to help her overcome her fear, and He answered her prayers. She’s no longer afraid of the dark!
Protected and Safe
Molly DeLuca was playing in her backyard with the German shepherd her family had recently adopted. Suddenly, the canine leaped in front of her and began jumping up and down. He was protecting Molly from a rattlesnake that had slithered onto the scene. Later, the dog was rushed to the veterinarian where the family learned that he’d been bitten three times by the reptile. Amazingly, he made a complete recovery.
Divine Protector
As shots rang out, assistant high school football coach Frank Hall had to choose whether to run toward or away from the sound. This self-proclaimed “regular guy”—afraid of confrontations, heights, roller coasters, and scary movies, and who practically jumps through the ceiling when his kids startle him—chose to charge the gunman, his voice booming, “Stop! Stop!” The 17-year-old gunman, who had already killed three students and wounded three more in the school, was startled by Hall’s blitz. He shot at Hall, missed, and then ran outside, where police apprehended him on a nearby road.
divine gps
Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) technology has changed the way we get from one place to another. All I need to do is type in an address and my GPS device guides me to my destination.
suited up
During a visit to an art institute, I observed a German suit of armor made in 1521. None of the other defensive ensembles seemed as complete as this one. It featured vented metal to cover the face; a curved breastplate to deflect blows; metal that continued down the arms, hands, and covered each finger; leg shields that were seamlessly fitted to metal shoes. The craftsman had imagined every possible offensive strike and addressed each in his design.
trust and reality
The young man looked at me in wide-eyed fear. He could climb no further. “What happens,” he cried, “if I fall off the rock?” “The problem isn’t falling; the problem is hitting the ground,” I said, smiling. He sent an accusing stare in my direction.
safe
Overwhelmed with work and tired from a busy weekend of ministry, I couldn’t stop the tears when I came home to a leak in the kitchen ceiling of our new house. Hardly an insurmountable problem, especially since our house is under warranty, I still felt my vulnerability anew. Not only had we recently encountered the challenges of moving to a new town, we had also faced considerable pushback from our neighbors for having a Bible study in our home. So as I watched each drip fall from the bulging sheetrock onto the tile floor, I longed for something to be easy.
why didn’t He protect us?
Our lives began to fall apart when my daughter took her life,” the woman told me during a break in the conference we were both attending. “And then our second daughter spiraled into depression and started to ‘self-harm.’ After several months we discovered the reason why: While my husband and I were missionaries in Indonesia, two of our three children had been sexually abused at a mission-run school. We had given our lives to serve God. . . . Why didn’t He protect us?” I would hear similar stories at that conference—people who felt betrayed by God.
angels watching over me
Jacob was on the run from his brother. Frightened and alone, he walked as far as he could, then grabbed a rock for a pillow. Dreaming that God was standing on the top of a stairway, Jacob heard Him promise, “I am with you, and I will protect you wherever you go” (Genesis 28:15). He saw angels ascending and descending the stairway—going out to patrol the world and coming back to report what they had done (Job 1:6, 2:1; Hebrews 1:14).
saving rahab
The RQ-170 Sentinel is a sophisticated, secretive, unmanned stealth aircraft used to collect intelligence before and during military operations. It’s believed that this spy drone played a critical role in surveilling the compound in Pakistan where Osama bin Laden was hiding in the months before he was killed.
the Rock
In 2003, the 700-ton Old Man of the Mountain—a 40-foot-tall natural outcropping of granite ledges in the White Mountains of New Hampshire—crumbled and slid down to the base below. Some of the residents responded to the incident with deep emotional sadness and devastation. One man said that he had lost the oldest member of his family. Since the rocks rolled, local businesses have also seen tourist revenue take a tumble.
a lot by a lot
The first 4 years my adopted Ugandan son was with me, I experienced no fears about the future or my ability to support him. Recently, however, as I’ve struggled to pay bills and survive on a small ministry salary that provides us with no buffer, I’ve entered into a worrisome state. My fleshly desires have tilted toward greater financial security rather than the need to trust God’s provision on a seemingly day-to-day basis.
never asleep
Several highway drivers phoned the police, reporting that a truck was erratically swerving down the road and jerking from side to side. About 6:30 a.m. the police spotted the vehicle and flashed their lights for the truck to pull over. When the officer approached the vehicle, he found an 8-year-old boy at the wheel. The boy’s father was asleep in…
