It Happened on the Brooklyn Subway<\/b><\/p>\n
Marcel Sternberger was a methodical man of nearly 50, with bushy white hair, guileless brown eyes, and the bouncing enthusiasm of a czardas dancer of his native Hungary. He always took the 9:09 Long Island Railroad train from his suburban home to Woodside, N.Y.., where he caught a subway into the city.<\/p>\n
On the morning of January 10, 1948, Sternberger boarded the 9:09 as usual. En route, he suddenly decided to visit Laszlo Victor, a Hungarian friend who lived in Brooklyn and was ill.<\/p>\n
Accordingly, at Ozone Park, Sternberger changed to the subway for Brooklyn, went to his friend\u2019s house, and stayed until midafternoon. He then boarded a Manhattan-bound subway for his Fifth Avenue office. Here is Marcel\u2019s incredible story:<\/p>\n
The car was crowded, and there seemed to be no chance of a seat. But just as I entered, a man sitting by the door suddenly jumped up to leave, and I slipped into the empty place. I\u2019ve been living in New York long enough not to start conversations with strangers. But being a photographer, I have the peculiar habit of analyzing people\u2019s faces, and I was struck by the features of the passenger on my left. He was probably in his late 30s, and when he glanced up, his eyes seemed to have a hurt expression in them. He was reading a Hungarian-language newspaper, and something prompted me to say in Hungarian, \u201cI hope you don\u2019t mind if I glance at your paper.\u201d<\/p>\n
The man seemed surprised to be addressed in his native language. But he answered politely, \u201cYou may read it now. I\u2019ll have time later on.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the half-hour ride to town, we had quite a conversation. He said his name was Bela Paskin. A law student when World War II started, he had been put into a German labor battalion and sent to the Ukraine. Later he was captured by the Russians and put to work burying the German dead. After the war, he covered hundreds of miles on foot until he reached his home in Debrecen, a large city in eastern Hungary.<\/p>\n
I myself knew Debrecen quite well, and we talked about it for a while. Then he told me the rest of his story. When he went to the apartment once occupied by his father, mother, brothers and sisters, he found strangers living there. Then he went upstairs to the apartment that he and his wife once had. It also was occupied by strangers. None of them had ever heard of his family.<\/p>\n
As he was leaving, full of sadness, a boy ran after him, calling \u201cPaskin bacsi! Paskin bacsi!\u201d That means \u201cUncle Paskin.\u201d The child was the son of some old neighbors of his. He went to the boy\u2019s home and talked to his parents. \u201cYour whole family is dead,\u201d they told him. \u201cThe Nazis took them and your wife to Auschwitz.\u201d<\/p>\n
Auschwitz was one of the worst Nazi concentration camps. Paskin gave up all hope. A few days later, too heartsick to remain any longer in Hungary, he set out again on foot, stealing across border after border until he reached Paris. He managed to immigrate to the United States in October 1947, just three months before I met him.<\/p>\n
All the time he had been talking, I kept thinking that somehow his story seemed familiar. A young woman whom I had met recently at the home of friends had also been from Debrecen; she had been sent to Auschwitz; from there she had been transferred to work in a German munitions factory. Her relatives had been killed in the gas chambers. Later she was liberated by the Americans and was brought here in the first boatload of displaced persons in 1946.<\/p>\n
Later, she was liberated by the Americans and was brought here in the first boatload of displaced persons in 1946.<\/p>\n
Her story had moved me so much that I had written down her address and phone number, intending to invite her to meet my family and thus help relieve the terrible emptiness in her life.<\/p>\n
It seemed impossible that there could be any connection between these two people, but as I neared my station, I fumbled anxiously in my address book. I asked in what I hoped was a casual voice, \u201cWas your wife\u2019s name Marya?\u201d<\/p>\n
He turned pale. \u201cYes!\u201d he answered. \u201cHow did you know?\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked as if he were about to faint.<\/p>\n
I said, \u201cLet\u2019s get off the train.\u201d I took him by the arm at the next station and led him to a phone booth. He stood there like a man in a trance while I dialed her phone number.<\/p>\n
It seemed hours before Marya Paskin answered. (Later I learned her room was alongside the telephone, but she was in the habit of never answering it because she had so few friends and the calls were always for someone else. This time, however, there was no one else at home and, after letting it ring for a while, she responded.)<\/p>\n
When I heard her voice at last, I told her who I was and asked her to describe her husband. She seemed surprised at the question, but gave me a description. Then I asked her where she had lived in Debrecen, and she told me the address.<\/p>\n
Asking her to hold the line, I turned to Paskin and said, \u201cDid you and your wife live on such-and-such a street?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes!\u201d Bela exclaimed. He was white as a sheet and trembling.<\/p>\n
\u201cTry to be calm,\u201d I urged him. \u201cSomething miraculous is about to happen to you. Here, take this telephone and talk to your wife!\u201d<\/p>\n
He nodded his head in mute bewilderment, his eyes bright with tears. He took the receiver, listened a moment to his wife\u2019s voice, then suddenly cried, \u201cThis is Bela! This is Bela!\u201d and he began to mumble hysterically. Seeing that the poor fellow was so excited he couldn\u2019t talk coherently, I took the receiver from his shaking hands.<\/p>\n
\u201cStay where you are,\u201d I told Marya, who also sounded hysterical. \u201cI am sending your husband to you. We will be there in a few minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bela was crying like a baby and saying over and over again. \u201cIt is my wife. I go to my wife!\u201d<\/p>\n
At first I thought I had better accompany Paskin, lest the man should faint from excitement, but I decided that this was a moment in which no strangers should intrude. Putting Paskin into a taxicab, I directed the driver to take him to Marya\u2019s address, paid the fare, and said goodbye.<\/p>\n
Bela Paskin\u2019s reunion with his wife was a moment so poignant, so electric with suddenly released emotion, that afterward neither he nor Marya could recall much about it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember only that when I left the phone, I walked to the mirror like in a dream to see if maybe my hair had turned gray,\u201d she said later. \u201cThe next thing I know, a taxi stops in front of the house, and it is my husband who comes toward me. Details I cannot remember; only this I know\u2014that I was happy for the first time in many years…..<\/p>\n
\u201cEven now it is difficult to believe that it happened. We have both suffered so much; I have almost lost the capability to not be afraid. Each time my husband goes from the house, I say to myself, \u201cWill anything happen to take him from me again?\u201d<\/p>\n
Her husband is confident that no horrible misfortune will ever again befall the. \u201cProvidence has brought us together,\u201d he says simply. \u201cIt was meant to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Skeptical persons will no doubt attribute the events of that memorable afternoon to mere chance. But was it chance that made Marcel Sternberger suddenly decide to visit his sick friend and hence take a subway line that he had never ridden before? Was it chance that caused the man sitting by the door of the car to rush out just as Sternberger came in? Was it chance that caused Bela Paskin to be sitting beside Sternberger, reading a Hungarian newspaper?<\/p>\n
Was it chance\u2014or did God ride the Brooklyn subway that afternoon?<\/p>\n
Paul Deutschman, Great Stories Remembered, edited and compiled by Joe L. Wheeler, Focus on the Family Publishers, December 1996.<\/p>\n
Deadly Forest Fire<\/b><\/p>\n
Last July the nation\u2019s deadliest forest fire blazed up all at once, like the roar of a tornado. Unable to escape, 14 firefighters were killed.<\/p>\n
But Brad Haugh managed to survive. At about 2 p.m., Haugh and his partner broke for lunch. As he opened a can of Beanie Weenies, the pull-off ring on the lid broke. Haugh pulled out his knife and cut the lid off, a procedure that delayed by about five minutes his return to work. Later, he would conclude that those five minutes might have saved his life by slowing his descent down a ridge.<\/p>\n
At about 3:30 p.m. the out-of-control fire raced toward Haugh. Scrambling through the brush, he reached the ridge top. He started to turn around to look back at the fire, but remembered how Lot\u2019s wife had turned to look at Sodom and Gomorrah. Twenty minutes later he reached safety.<\/p>\n
Today in the Word, March 14, 1995<\/p>\n
Priestly Intercession<\/b><\/p>\n
Again, it may be seen from this promise that God, to some extent, has seen fit to condition His action upon the believer\u2019s prayer; for the Scripture says; \u201cIf ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it\u201d; and this is the secret of all true evangelism.\u2026 It is, then, the teaching of Scripture that the action of the mighty power of God in convicting and illuminating the unsaved is also, in a large measure, dependent upon the priestly intercession of the believer.<\/p>\n
L. S. Chafer, True Evangelism, pp. 90-1<\/p>\n
Master\u2019s Hand<\/b><\/p>\n
He sat by the fire of seven-fold heat, As He watched by the precious ore. And closer He bent with a searching gaze As He heated it more and more.<\/p>\n
He knew He had ore that could stand the test And He wanted the finest gold, To mold as a crown for the King to wear, Set with gems of price untold.<\/p>\n
So He laid our gold in the burning fire, Though we fain would have said Him, \u201cNay.\u201d And He watched the dross that we had not seen, As it melted and passed away.<\/p>\n
And the gold grew brighter, and yet more bright And our eyes were so dim with tears, As we saw the fire, not the Master\u2019s hand, And questioned with anxious fear.<\/p>\n
Yet our gold shone out with a richer glow, As it mirrored a Form above That bent o\u2019er the fire, though unseen by us With a look of infinite love.<\/p>\n
Can we think that it pleases His loving heart To cause a moment of pain? Ah, no, but He saw through the present cross The bliss of eternal gain.<\/p>\n
So He waited there with a watchful eye, With a love that is strong and sure, And His gold did not suffer a bit more heat Than was needed to make it pure!<\/p>\n
Anon<\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n
The Mud Bath<\/b><\/p>\n
The Thames, flowing through London, was at low tide, causing the freighter to be anchored a distance from shore. The long plank, which led from the ship across the mud flats to the bank, suddenly began to jiggle precariously.<\/p>\n
The smallish man who was carefully pushing his barrow across the plank from the freighter to the shore lost his balance and found himself tumbling into the muddy waters. A roar of laughter erupted from the dockers and from the tall worker on board ship, who had jiggled the plank.<\/p>\n
The muddied man\u2019s instinctive reaction was anger. The fall was painful; he was dripping wet and knee deep in muck. \u201cThis is your opportunity,\u201d a voice whispered in his heart.<\/p>\n
The victim, unknown to his tormentors, was a clergyman disguised as a docker in hopes of getting to know how the dockers felt, lived and struggled. Perhaps as he gained their confidence and made friends, he could tell them of the love of the Savior, who died to give them new life and hope and joy.<\/p>\n
George Dempster came up laughing. A docker made his way to where Dempster had been dislodged, dropped some empty boxes into the slush and jumped down to help him out. \u201cYou took that all right,\u201d he said as he helped Dempster clamber back to the boxes he had dropped. His accent was not that of a cockney. He was no ordinary docker.<\/p>\n
Dempster told the story of this unusual docker in Finding Men for Christ. He recounted the ensuing events:<\/p>\n
\u201cDid I? Well, what\u2019s the use of being otherwise?\u201d I replied and followed this by a challenge.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou haven\u2019t been at this game long.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNeither have you,\u201d he retorted.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo! And I shan\u2019t be at it much longer if I can help it. Tell me your yarn, and I\u2019ll tell you mine.\u201d<\/p>\n
I was watching his face as well as I could with my eyes still half full of mud. He was trying to scrape some of the slime from me and meanwhile becoming almost as filthy as I was. We agreed to exchange yarns. I therefore proposed that we should adjourn to a coffee shop nearby and over a warm drink exchange the story of our experiences, and how we came to be \u201cdown under\u201d life\u2019s circumstances.<\/p>\n
Along we journeyed through Wapping High Street, up Nightingale Lane to London Docks and so \u201cTo where I dossed\u201d (slept). When we reached the Alley and I indicated the door he said, \u201cDo they let beds here?\u201d \u201cWell,\u201d I replied, \u201cI sleep here, come in and see.\u201d \u201cOh! I\u2019ve often passed this place but did not know they put men up here.\u201d<\/p>\n
We entered and I instructed that a cup of coffee and something be brought for my friend, while I disappeared without explaining to anybody exactly how I came to be so inelegantly decorated. Mud baths had not yet become a prescribed treatment for certain human ailments, but never could such a remedy, however well prepared or appropriately prescribed, prove so effectual as this one. It had been involuntarily taken it is true, but for like results who would not undertake even such drastic treatment daily? \u201cHis ways are higher than our ways.\u201d His permissions are all for somebody\u2019s good, and in this instance the reason for His permission was not long unrevealed.<\/p>\n
A hurried bath soon put me right. After donning my usual attire, while seeking Divine guidance I hastened to return. \u201cHere we are, now for our yarns,\u201d I began. He was staring in amazement and was for a few moments lost for reply.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is your yarn, is it? What do you do this for?\u201d The first part of his question needed no reply, but I did not hesitate to answer the second. \u201cTo find you.\u201d He looked perplexed as we sat gazing at each other; then dropping his eyes before my enquiring look, shook his head sadly and rose as if to depart. Restraining him I said cheerily: \u201cNow, friend, a bargain is a bargain. Thank you for helping me out of the river and thus giving me the privilege of meeting you, but you promised, you know, and I want that story of yours. You can see mine.\u201d<\/p>\n
He was a tall, well-built man in middle life. There were indications beyond his speech that his years had not been spent in his present conditions and surroundings. His features gave evidence of intellect, and the obvious deterioration was recent. His expression was softening even as we stood facing each other. The previous callous demeanor was giving place to something finer. I pursued the question, feeling certain now that here was the purpose of my adventure..\u201cCome now, tell me if I can be of help to you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Very decisively he answered at once, \u201cNo, you cannot.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I\u2019ve gone too far.\u201d<\/p>\n
As I prayed silently, presently he looked me squarely in the face as if measuring whether he could trust me and confide. No words came, so I continued. \u201cDoes it not appeal to you as a very remarkable thing,\u201d I asked, \u201cthat we should be sitting here like this if you have really gone too far?\u201d<\/p>\n
No answer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWas it an accidental thing that I happened to get a job alongside you at that particular wharf this morning? Was it mere chance that those rascals chose me for their rather cruel joke? Is it pure coincidence that of all the crowd you should be the one to fish me out? Or\u2014did Someone know where to find you and is even now answering someone else\u2019s prayer for you?\u201d<\/p>\n
From the pocket he drew hastily two photographs. \u201cThese are mine,\u201d he said, laying them gently upon the table. One was the picture of a fine-looking lady, the other bore the figures of two bonnie young girls of nearly equal age, obviously the daughters of the elder woman. I was looking closely at them when I heard a groan and then a sob as my friend again dropped his head upon his arms.<\/p>\n
\u201cYours! And you here like this? Why?\u201d<\/p>\n
It was a sad story, but, alas, only too familiar. Bit by bit I got it from him; although several times with an almost fierce \u201cit\u2019s too late,\u201d he would have left me.He was a fully qualified medical man with a fine record. He had married into a well-known family where there was no lack of money. Having conducted a splendid practice in the south of England, all went well for him for years. Two girls were born to them, and it was a happy home with a very wide circle of friends. But as so frequently happens, the allurements proved too strong for the man whose gifts and natural endowments made him a popular and welcome guest wherever he went. He was too busy to continue his regular attendance at church; gradually he ceased altogether and always had plenty of excuses to offer when his wife urged him to accompany her.<\/p>\n
The girls were sent away to school where they were educated with a view to following a medical career, but he who should have been their guide and helper failed in his obligations because he had become addicted to drink<\/p>\n
At first this fact was hidden, but the habit grew stronger until it mastered him. His practice as well as his home and family were neglected. This naturally led to great unhappiness and depression. In spite of the loving devotion and care of his wife and daughters, he went from bad to worse and finally decided to disappear. So by a number of subterfuges he effectually vanished from the world which knew him and became a wanderer.<\/p>\n
After years of wandering in America and Canada, he returned to London. He had never been discovered; he had never communicated with his kin. Down, down he went, living the life of a casual hand, sometimes finding a job, sometimes literally begging for food. He slept out at night, often in lodging houses with those with whom he had nothing in common save a degraded and sinful way of life. When he could get drink, he took all he could obtain to drown his sorrows.<\/p>\n
Once he was lodged in the Tower Bridge Police cells but was discharged and warned. He had simply been found \u201cdrunk and incapable,\u201d and his identity had not been revealed. Now this thing had happened, and it could not be explained away by saying it was a coincidence. There was more in it than that. \u201cSomeone\u201d had known where to find him. Suppose those three whom he had so shamefully deserted had been all the time praying for his recovery? Recovery that he had so foolishly resisted\u2014so often longed for\u2014so often dreamed of.<\/p>\n
Suppose it were true that God was now \u201ccausing all things to work together for good to them\u201d\u2014those three\u2014\u201cthat love Him\u201d? Suppose that He was at this moment giving him another\u2014possibly a last\u2014chance to return<\/p>\n
Such, he later admitted, were his thoughts, and he began to pray for himself. He had known in past days the comforts and consolations of worship. Now he began to pray very deeply and truly as he heard from a friend the old, old message. Presently he said calmly, \u201cI see,\u201d and kneeling by the table, he and I talked with God.<\/p>\n
Never can I forget his prayer. At first the halting, stumbling petition of a brokenhearted repentant sinner who felt acutely two things. First, his base ingratitude to a merciful God Who had not cut him off in the midst of his sins, and then the cruelty of his conduct toward those who loved him on earth. As he confessed his feelings in these ways, he seemed to become capable of clearer utterance.<\/p>\n
How long we thus communed I do not know, but we were both much moved as we stood to shake hands. I seemed to feel again his grip on mine as I now record these happenings.\u201cAnd you will stand by me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes,\u201d I answered, \u201cas well as another man can.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen I\u2019ll prove what Christ can do.\u201d<\/p>\n
We then fell to considering whether it would be advisable to write at once to his wife and tell her the news.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo! Not yet. Please God we\u2019ll try and improve matters before we do that. I must find out more about the position there first. There are the girls to think about. I must not spoil their careers. About now they must be in the midst of their exams. No! Please wait a while until by God\u2019s help I am a little more like a father they need not be ashamed of\u2014then!\u201d<\/p>\n
So we planned. With the aid of a friend who had influence in a certain large, well-known company, he was found a berth in the warehouse, packing drugs and chemicals..In a few weeks, the results were surprising. He was found to be so useful that a better paid job was offered him. Soon it was discovered that he knew a great deal about the contents of the packets he was handling, and when he admitted that the work of a dispenser was not strange to him, he was again promoted.<\/p>\n
It was then that he agreed to my suggestions to write to his wife and inform her that he was alive and well. Very carefully I wrote, telling her something of the events above recorded and suggesting that if she would like to see me on the matter I would gladly arrange to meet her.<\/p>\n
A letter came back, breathing deep gratitude to God for His wonderful answer to prayer and for His mercy. An expression of appreciation for the human agency He had provided, and an explanation that the two daughters were facing some difficult hospital examinations. It would therefore, she thought, be best to defer any meeting until they were through. But would I please keep her informed of his progress. It was a wonderfully understanding and gracious letter considering all the circumstances.<\/p>\n
I showed him the letter. He was deeply moved as he carefully and eagerly read it, then returning it to me he said quietly, \u201cI must ask you to honor her wishes. Painful as delay is to me, I must submit. I deserve it and much more. Will you now pray with me that I may prove worthy of her confidence and their love?\u201d<\/p>\n
Six months passed, each day bringing continuous evidence of the \u201cnew birth\u201d and of his loyalty to Christ. There was no wavering or falling back. Whatever struggles he had with the enemy, no one saw the least evidence of any weakness. In every way he was proving that he was \u201ca new creature,\u201d that \u201cold things had passed away.<\/p>\n
Two brief notes had come from the wife asking more details than my letters conveyed. I gladly told her all she desire to learn. Then one day there came a letter asking me to arrange a time for her to visit me. This was soon done, and without telling either of them what I had planned, I made my own arrangements. He was not informed of the impending visit but patiently awaited developments.<\/p>\n
In due time the day arrived, and the wife kept her appointment. I instantly recognized the lady of the photograph, and to my intense delight she had brought her elder daughter with her. Both were much affected as I told them as much as I deemed needful of the facts. I felt it would be wise to leave the husband to give his own version of affairs.<\/p>\n
Then, at a suitable moment, I said, \u201cWould you like to see him at once?\u201d I had not revealed to them that I had him in an adjoining room. But when the wife and daughter said eagerly together \u201cYes, please,\u201d I opened the door and led them in to him. The lady had approached her husband with a smile of welcome and had kissed him; the daughter had put her arms about her father\u2019s neck, and I heard just two words, \u201cDad, darling.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was no place for an outsider, so I made for my study and there lay the whole case again before the Father, asking that His will should be done. He heard and answered. For an hour I left them alone. Then he came to fetch me. His eyes were very red, and I thought he walked with a new and firmer step. No word was said, but he looked his deep gratitude as he beckoned me to return with him.<\/p>\n
As I entered the room, the wife approached me with an eager look which spoke eloquently of the tense feelings she had. When, after a few moments, she found voice, it was to tell me that it had been arranged to await the second daughter\u2019s examinations, which were just pending. This girl did not yet know the purport of her mother\u2019s visit to London that day with the sister, who now told me on top of her own success in the exams, she was overjoyed at finding her father.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo dare not tell Margery yet. She is rather highly strung, and as Dad says, it might interfere with her progress. But won\u2019t she be just delighted. You know she has never ceased praying for this.\u201d So spake the daughter, still holding her father\u2019s hand, as if unwilling to part again. It was a most affecting scene, and one felt that there was Another present, rejoicing with us. \u201cIf all goes well we shall, please God, make home again when Margery is through, and oh what a day that will be.\u201d<\/p>\n
The mother was now feeling the stress of it all and needed rest and refreshment. A happy little meal was prepared, and thanks were given to Him Who had thus brought His promises to fulfillment. But the best was yet to be. A happy home was restored.<\/p>\n
In a certain south coast town, a place famous for its exhilarating air and for many of its citizens who have made history, there is held every Sunday afternoon a Bible class for young men. Sixty or more of the finest young fellows in that district meet week by week. It has been the birthplace of many splendid young Christians. Some of them have entered the Civil Service and today hold important positions at Whitehall, where I have had the joy of meeting them.<\/p>\n
Coming one day along one of the corridors in the colonial office, I met a friend who said, \u201cI\u2019m very glad to see you today, because I promised that the next time you came this way I would ask you to come along with me and meet a man who wants to see you. He has another friend in the home office who also wants to meet you. Have you the time to do so?\u201d<\/p>\n
I assented and was led to the room indicated. Here was a man holding a responsible position who, upon being introduced, said, \u201cI\u2019m glad to meet you, sir, because I have an idea that you must be the gentleman of whom a very dear friend of mine often spoke. May I ask if you were acquainted with Dr. ______?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes indeed, I know him very well.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen I guess you are the one of whom he spoke. I owe everything in life after my own parents to Dr. ______. He was a wonderful factor in the shaping of my career and that of many others. How did you come to know him, sir, if I may so question? And do you know his gifted family?\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course I could not tell him under what circumstances I had first met the doctor, the beloved physician who had sat in the leader\u2019s chair of that Bible class Sunday by Sunday teaching youths the Way of Life, nor that it was he who had helped me out of the river that day when I had my involuntary mud bath.<\/p>\n
Slightly altered from Finding Men for Christ by George Dempster, (London: Hodder & Stroughton, 1935). quoted in Prodigals and Those Who Love Them, Ruth Bell Graham, 1991, Focus on the Family Publishing, pp. 85-94<\/p>\n
Resource<\/b><\/p>\n
\u2022 Between Two Truths, Klyne Snodgrass, Zondervan, 1990, p.141<\/p>\n
Two Ropes<\/b><\/p>\n
During his days as guest lecturer at Calvin Seminary, R. B. Kuiper once used the following illustration of God\u2019s sovereignty and human responsibility.<\/p>\n
\u201cI liken them to two ropes going through two holes in the ceiling and over a pulley above. If I wish to support myself by them, I must cling to them both. If I cling only to one and not the other, I go down.<\/p>\n
\u201cI read the many teachings of the Bible regarding God\u2019s election, predestination, his chosen, and so on. I read also the many teachings regarding \u2018whosoever will may come\u2019 and urging people to exercise their responsibility as human beings. These seeming contradictions cannot be reconciled by the puny human mind. With childlike faith, I cling to both ropes, fully confident that in eternity I will see that both strands of truth are, after all, of one piece.\u201d<\/p>\n
John Morren, Lake City, Michigan<\/p>\n
Flight 191<\/b><\/p>\n
In the June, 1980 issue of Our Daily Bread, I told how a Christian providentially escaped death. An unexpected delay in New York kept him from catching Flight 191 in Chicago, which crashed with all 254 aboard. That article brought this note from a reader: \u201cI just had to let you know about one of God\u2019s great saints who ran to make Flight 191\u2014and made it!\u201d His name was Edwards E. Elliott, beloved pastor of the Garden Grove Orthodox Presbyterian Church in California. His plane from Pennsylvania was late, and a friend who had accompanied him to Chicago said he last saw him \u201cdashing forward\u201d in the terminal to make his connection. As I read about Pastor Elliott\u2019s fruitful ministry, the question I raised in that June devotional challenged me with new urgency: \u201cWas Divine providence operating only in New York and not in Chicago?\u201d Immediately the words of my correspondent came alive: \u201cAt the time, Reverend Elliott didn\u2019t know he was indeed running to Heaven…Mrs. Elliott and her four married children comforted the entire church. Their Christian faith and testimony in sorrow was most extraordinary.\u201d – D.J.D.<\/p>\n
Quoted by Charles Swindoll, Growing Strong, p. 268<\/p>\n
World War II Prisoners<\/b><\/p>\n
Newscaster Paul Harvey told a remarkable story of God\u2019s providential care over thousands of allied prisoners during World War II, many of whom were Christians. One of America\u2019s mighty bombers took off from the island of Guam headed for Kokura, Japan, with a deadly cargo. Because clouds covered the target area, the sleek B-29 circled for nearly an hour until its fuel supply reached the danger point. The captain and his crew, frustrated because they were right over the primary target yet not able to fulfill their mission, finally decided they had better go for the secondary target. Changing course, they found that the sky was clear. The command was given, \u201cBombs away!\u201d and the B-29 headed for its home base. Some time later an officer received some startling information from military intelligence. Just one week before that bombing mission, the Japanese had transferred one of their largest concentrations of captured Americans to the city of Kokura. Upon reading this, the officer exclaimed, \u201cThank God for that protecting cloud! If the city hadn\u2019t been hidden from the bomber, it would have been destroyed and thousands of American boys would have died.\u201d<\/p>\n
God\u2019s ways are behind the scenes; but He moves all the scenes which He is behind. We have to learn this, and let Him work. – John Nelson Darby<\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n
Icebergs<\/b><\/p>\n
In the frigid waters around Greenland are countless icebergs, some little and some gigantic. If you\u2019d observe them carefully, you\u2019d notice that sometimes the small ice floes move in one direction while their massive counterparts flow in another. The explanation is simple. Surface winds drive the little ones, whereas the huge masses of ice are carried along by deep ocean currents. When we face trials and tragedies, it\u2019s helpful to see our lives as being subject to two forces\u2014surface winds and ocean currents. The winds represent everything changeable, unpredictable, and distressing. But operating simultaneously with these gusts and gales is another force that\u2019s even more powerful. It is the sure movement of God\u2019s wise and sovereign purposes, the deep flow of His unchanging love.<\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n
Molding a Man<\/b><\/p>\n
When God wants to drill a man, And thrill a man, And skill a man, When God wants to mold a man To play the noblest part; When He yearns with all His heart. To create so great and bold a man That all the world shall be amazed, Watch His methods, watch His ways!<\/p>\n
How He ruthlessly perfects Whom He royally elects! How He hammers him and hurts him, And with mighty blows converts him Into trial shapes of clay which Only God understands; While his tortured heart is crying And he lifts beseeching hands!<\/p>\n
How He bends but never breaks When his good He undertakes; How He uses whom He chooses, And with every purpose fuses him; By every act induces him To try His splendor out\u2014 God knows what He\u2019s about!<\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It Happened on the Brooklyn Subway Marcel Sternberger was a methodical man of nearly 50, with bushy white hair, guileless brown eyes, and the bouncing enthusiasm of a czardas dancer of his native Hungary. He always took the 9:09 Long Island Railroad train from his suburban home to Woodside, N.Y.., where he caught a subway … Continue reading “God, sovereignty”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}