Roy Robertson recounted the following true story: “My ship, the West Virginia, docked at Pearl Harbor on the evening on December 6, 1941. A couple of the fellows and I left the ship that night and attended a Bible study. About 15 sailors sat in a circle on the floor. The leader asked us to each recite our favorite Scripture verse. In turn each sailor shared a verse and briefly commented on it. I sat there in terror. I couldn’t recall a single verse. I grew up in a Christian home, went to church three times a week, but I sat there terrified. I couldn’t recall a single verse. Finally, I remembered one verse – John 3:16. I silently rehearsed it in my mind.
“The spotlight of attention grew closer as each sailor took his turn. It was up to the fellow next to me. He recited John 3:16. He took my verse! As he commented on it I sat there in stunned humiliation. In a few minutes everyone would know that I could not recall from memory even a single verse. Later that night I went to bed thinking, “Robertson, you’re a fake!”
“At 7:55 the next morning I was awakened by the ship alarm ordering us to battle stations. 360 planes of the Japanese Imperial Fleet were attacking our ship and the other military installations. My crew and I raced to our machine gun emplacement, but all we had was practice ammunition. So for the first fifteen minutes of the two hour battle, we only fired blanks hoping to scare the Japanese airplanes. As I stood there firing fake ammunition I thought, “Robertson, this is how your whole life has been – firing blanks for Christ.” I made up my mind as Japanese bullets slammed into our ship, “If I escape with my life, I will get serious about following Jesus.”
Roy Robertson went on to help Dawson Trotman found the Navigators. Robertson led the follow-up ministry for the 1990 Billy Graham Crusade in Hong Kong. That Crusade saw more people hearing the Gospel at one time than any other meeting in history.
Tags: fake, World War II
When we were raising our children, one of the comments that we would often heard was, “Not Fair!” It seemed whatever we did as parents didn’t seem fair. Our children were different ages, had different temperaments, and in were in different circumstances, yet they all wanted us to treat them fairly. If they didn’t get what they wanted when they wanted it, they thought it was “Nor Fair”!
So many situations in life shout, “Not fair!” I observe Christian couples who struggle to have children while others are blessed with children and ignore or abuse them. I look at families whose children are all alive and well, and others who have a disabled child. I see friends who long to serve God but can’t because of health issues. “Not fair.”
I then must remember that we are not the judges of fairness. God is sovereign and does things the way He chooses according to His plans and purposes, not ours. The question isn’t about fairness. In the end, it’s about trust in a faithful God who knows what He is doing.
He is the Rock, His work is perfect; for all His ways are justice” (Deuteronomy 32:4).
Life is not always fair, but God is always faithful.
Tags: fair, justice, trust
General Ulyses Grant had a faithful friend and chief of staff during his war years. He was the Galena Lawyer John A. Rawlins – closer to Grant than any other during the war. Grant gave Rawlins his pledge to abstain from alcohol. When he broke that promise, Rawlins pleaded with great earnestness that Grant refrain from his addiction, for his own sake, and the nation’s great and holy cause. These words were like “wounds” from that friend.
There stands today, in front of the Capitol in Washington, a magnificent monument to General Grant, on his horse in characteristic pose and flanked on either side by stirring battle scenes. At the other end and a little to the south of Pennsylvania Avenue is Rawlins Park, where a very ordinary statue of Grant’s friend stands. One cannot help but think of this other monument when looking at Grant’s grand memorial. For, it was Rawlins, the faithful friend, who kept Grant on his horse.
Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses (Proverbs 27:6, NIV).
May we be faithful friends to one another and hold one another accountable.
Tags: faithfulness, Grant
Shortly after my prostate surgery last October, I began having lower back pain. It started early during recovery and I thought it was from sitting in one place for too long. But it continued after I was up and about and back to work. I did stretch exercises, but it didn’t seem to help. I went to see my chiropractor and complained about it. He had me lay on my belly and pressed a certain point on my back.
“Ow!”, I said, “That’s it.”
He replied, “That’s what I thought. That’s where the nerves that go to the prostate are.”
He began therapy for that particular area and it got much better. I never would have thought of that. I was focusing on the symptoms instead of the root problem. And that got me to thinking. So many people are trying to fix the symptoms in their lives instead of going to the Great Physician to identify and fix the root problem.
If I have to suffer to learn that lesson, others may just as well learn from it, too.
It was the Lord Himself that said, “If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you” (Exodus 15:26).
Tags: pain, recovery, trials
The story is told of a high-wire artist who was to perform in a small city. When he arrived, he secured the help of two young men. They set up the platforms and strung the wire tightly across the street – 100 feet high and with no net.
As people gathered, the high-wire artist began his act. First, he carried a long pole across the wire. He then exchanged it for a chair. He went back out to the center of the wire, placed the chair on it, and sat down. Then he got up and went across the wire and exchanged the chair for a wheelbarrow, taking it back across the wire. When he got to the platform he asked one of his young assistants, “Do you believe I can take this wheelbarrow across that wire without falling?”
The young fellow answered, “Of course. I just saw you do it.”"OK,” the man said, “get in.”
It is one thing to say we believe something and another thing to have faith that acts on our belief. We can believe mentally without believing with our faith.
Our final challenge in this Trials of Our Faith series is to Get In.
Tags: belief, faith, humor, trust
Some years ago a speedboat driver who had recently survived a racing accident told of his experience. He had been at near top speeds when his boat veered slightly and hit a wave at a dangerous angle. The combined force of his speed and the size and angle of the wave sent the boat spinning crazily into the air. He was thrown from his seat and propelled deeply into the water – so deeply, in fact, that he had no idea which direction the surface was. He had to remain calm and wait for the buoyancy of his life vest to begin pulling him up. Once he discovered which way was up, he could swim for the surface.
Sometimes we find ourselves surrounded by confusing options, too deeply immersed in our problems to know “which way is up”. When this happens, we too can remain calm, waiting for God’s gentle tug to pull us in the proper direction. Our “life vest” may be other Christians, scripture, or some other leading from the Holy Spirit, but the key is recognizing our dependency upon God and trusting him.
“He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand” (Psalm 40:2).
Millions of people are afraid to fly by air. Many of them know very well what the statistics say – that they are safer in an airplane than in the family car or the bathtub. But that doesn’t matter. Researchers say that a conscious fear of crashing is usually not the problem. Instead, at the root of their anxiety is the fear that once they leave the ground they will lose control of their lives.
A similar crisis of faith occurs when a person puts himself in the care of God. He/she too is carried a long way from what the world considers “solid ground”. Trusting an invisible Lord can be frightening, especially for a new Christian.
Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not to your own understanding.“