Unscripted
After walking into a sandwich shop, I sensed the Holy Spirit nudging me to reach out to the young man who took our order. Unsure of how to start, I gathered my food and followed my husband to the patio area. Shortly after we sat down, the same young man came outside to sweep the area. I set aside my fear and began an unscripted conversation. In this unexpected moment, God provided the opportunity for us to discuss how Jesus’ love and the power of the Holy Spirit could help the young man overcome the situations he was facing.
Songs Before Dawn
While spending a few days in the great outdoors, a bird woke me up one morning before dawn. His persistent singing eventually roused the rest of his winged friends, who also sang until the trees teemed with excitement. It was as if the first tweets I heard were a lullaby for the night animals and an alarm clock for the day creatures. One bird appeared to prepare an entire forest for the sun to rise.
Shine Brightly
Shane (name changed to protect his identity) took a big job at a well-known company. Within a few months of overseeing its operations, he discovered some dark financial secrets. Doing his job, he delved into a morass of monetary fraud. As he exposed the impropriety, an unexpected thing happened. He was brought before the board of the company and threatened. Shane, a believer in Jesus, stood his ground. His integrity shone brightly even though he was released by the company’s board under false pretenses.
One Great Commission
In the 1800s, British missionary Hudson Taylor sensed God’s call to reach the people of China with the good news. During decades of ministry, more than 800 missionaries were established and 125,000 Chinese became believers in Jesus. Taylor once said, “The Great Commission is not an option to be considered; it is a command to be obeyed.”
Dealing With Skepticism
Organized religion is not for me,” a friend said to me recently. I have been praying for this friend’s salvation for more than 15 years, and every time we get together I pray that God will use me to lead her closer to Jesus. But she still seems so skeptical, and I’m afraid of saying anything that might sour our relationship.
sing your way home
Nine-year-old Willie might have saved his life simply by singing a praise song. The boy was kidnapped from his driveway by a stranger. But the kidnapper then dropped him off unharmed after driving around for hours. Willie says he continued to sing the song “Every Praise” by Hezekiah Walker until the kidnapper grew tired of cursing and telling him to shut up.
No Expert
My daughter’s preschool teacher asked me to speak to the children about being a writer. Visiting parents were being presented to the class as “experts” in their professions. I agreed to talk to the children, although being an “expert” unnerved me a bit. I didn’t feel like an expert. That week, I’d been frustrated by a lack of good ideas and wondered if I would ever write anything of value again! I thought, You’re no expert. You’re not qualified to speak.
rebuilding
On October 31, 2003, 13-year-old Bethany Hamilton was attacked by a 14-foot tiger shark while surfing off the North Shore in Hawaii. Bethany survived, but she lost her left arm and more than 60 percent of her blood in the assault.
too much fun?
In the movie Ice Age: Continental Drift, many of the creatures are trying to save the world from imminent disaster. Two possums named Crash and Eddie, however, simply engage in fun and games.
take a stand
Home-field advantage is no myth. According to Tobias J. Moskowitz and L. Jon Wertheim, in their book “Scorecasting,” the home team wins more often than the visiting team. Why? The writers state: “Officials’ bias is the most significant contribution to home-field advantage.” The officials respond to the pressure from the fans because they don’t like to get booed. When the contests are close, the officials tend to make calls that favor the home team.
prepare the way
In 2004, a massive tsunami created by a 9.3 magnitude earthquake in Indonesia destroyed entire towns and villages. Hundreds of thousands lost their lives simply because they didn’t know the wave was coming. Many countries have now put tsunami warning systems in place, allowing citizens to be alerted so they can move to higher ground.
positive ID
I was pushing my daughter’s pink stroller up and down the aisles of an auto-parts store when my toddler excitedly began pointing straight ahead at a fellow customer who looked just like the pictures of Jesus in her illustrated Bible. She called out to the man, using the Lord’s name. Despite her innocence and joy, the man appeared to be irked by my daughter’s mistake about his identity.
oblivious
Dante Autullo had no idea that a 3.5-inch nail was embedded in his brain. He was totally oblivious. Having accidentally shot himself in the head with a nail gun in January 2012, Autullo thought he had only suffered a small cut . . . so he went back to work! Later, he started to feel nauseous and doctors subsequently found the nail lodged in the center of his brain. Amazingly, Dante came through surgery with no side effects, but with a new titanium plate in his skull.
the little people
They had gathered on the lush, rolling slopes to hear Him. And He stood there on the hill, looking into the eyes of as many of them as He could.
go, reveal Him
If you didn’t grow up in a Christian home, chances are that you didn’t come to faith through a message heard on radio or TV, read in a magazine article, or heard in a debate. No, it’s likely a believer in Jesus entered your life and provided spiritual illumination beyond this world.
