Episode | 365 Christian Men

February 27. AR Bernard. Bernard left a 10-year career with a major New York bank and went into full-time ministry. After multiple adventures with God, Bernard and his wife Karen founded the Christian Cultural Center, which grew into a global platform for the gospel and is now the largest house of worship in New York City. It has more than 37,000 members.

On this date in 2017, Bernard was honored with a lifetime achievement award by the Consulate General of Israel.

If you value your family above your work, you won’t regret the price you pay for success.

“I found the secret. I know exactly what women want,” said Pastor Bernard, and the men in the meeting broke into applause. Then Bernard turned and wrote on the whiteboard: “They don’t know.” The men jumped to their feet, laughed and cheered louder.

“Hold it, guys,” Bernard interrupted. Then he wrote on the whiteboard: “They do know what they don’t want.” The women stood to their feet, applauding.

It was in this comical, honest moment of counseling married couples that the concept for Bernard’s second best-selling book, Four Things Women Want from a Man, was born.

Bernard’s comments turned personal as he reflected publicly on the 1980s, an incredibly difficult chapter of his marriage to Karen. He shared how when Mrs. Bernard needed him during a challenging pregnancy, he was on the road with ministry commitments.

She miscarried twins.

This deeply painful experience caused her to resent him over the next decade as he continued to put the needs of the ministry ahead of hers.

He then shared that whether he was a pastor or not, they were headed for divorce. For a spiritual leader, who had counseled tens of thousands of couples over his years in ministry, this moment was a wake-up call.

She had every reason to walk away, he explained. After a decade of Bernard putting work before family during his years as a banker, and another decade of her needs coming in second to ministry demands, Bernard realized that it was time to man up, to own his actions.

He vowed to do whatever it would take to turn things around, and she agreed to give their marriage the time it would need to heal. “She hung in there, and things began to change, and the church just began to explode.”

The people looked on as Bernard spoke, many in the congregation being married couples. Some gasped and were wide-eyed at his comments, and others found comfort in learning that even esteemed spiritual leaders like the Bernards had found their marriage relationship stretched to the breaking point too.

“I saw what was happening,” he continued. “I thought my wife began to resent the ministry, but she was really resenting me because I had made the ministry my mistress.”

Bernard recounted how shortly afterward, he was in a meeting at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Dallas, and Dr. David Yonggi Cho of South Korea was speaking.

As if the moment had been scripted just for Bernard, Dr. Cho shared with the congregation about a season of similar crisis in his marriage. Bernard was profoundly convicted. He cried out to God. And God answered.

Bernard looked out across his own congregation now seated before him and related the two corrections that God spoke to him that night:

First, that Jesus didn’t die for his ministry, that Jesus had died for him, and that if Bernard had allowed his calling to jeopardize his own walk with God, then he needed a priority check.

Second, that if he would deepen his relationship with his wife, God would broaden his ministry.

Over the years following their crisis, Pastor Bernard took those words to heart, diligently applying his workaholic focus to honoring his bride and making her top priority in his life, right after his relationship with God.

As a result of his repentance and correcting his priorities, the Bernards’s marriage blossomed into a mighty force for God rather than ending in divorce. They founded a ministry together, the Christian Cultural Center.

“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25 ESV).

What are the obvious priorities in your life? Does the order need to change? If you value your family above your work, you won’t regret the price you pay for success.

Thomasos, Christian. “Pastor A.R. Bernard Unlocks Key to What Women Want in New Book (Interview).” Published April 23, 2016. Christian Post. https://www.christianpost.com.

“Four Things Women Want from a Man by A. R. Bernard: About the book.” Accessed October 12, 2020. Simon & Schuster. https://www.simonandschuster.com.

Green, Penelope. “The Power Pastor: How A.R. Bernard Built a New York Megachurch.” Published October 15, 2016. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/16/style/reverend-ar-bernard-new-york-megachurch.html.

Blair, Leonardo. “Megachurch Pastor AR Bernard Reveals He and Wife Were Once Headed for Divorce.” Published May 6, 2016. Christian Post. https://www.christianpost.com/news/megachurch-pastor-ar-bernard-reveals-he-and-wife-were-once-headed-for-divorce-163491/.

Keener, Ronald E. “A.R. Bernard, Senior Pastor, Christian Cultural Center, Brooklyn, NY”. Published June 1, 2008. Church Executive. https://churchexecutive.com/.

Story read by Chuck Stecker

Story written by John Mandeville, https://www.johnmandeville.com/

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February 26. John Chrysostom. As a young man, John was severe in rejecting a life of luxury and ease. He spoke the truth plainly and in love, and people hungered for his leadership so much they virtually kidnaped him. A military escort took him to Constantinople, where he reluctantly agreed to be consecrated their bishop. On this date in 398, John was ordained the Bishop of Constantinople.

In that position, he continued speaking out against self-indulgence and sin in the clergy and within the government. He continued with the kind of talk that can make a man powerful enemies. But no enemy on earth is as powerful as God. Here’s John’s story.

Telling the truth may make a man enemies; holding onto the truth will make a man strong.

People loved John and crowded in to hear him speak. Wonderful, right? Good for the people, good for the kingdom of God, not so good for John’s jealous enemies.

John preached bluntly and repeatedly against the self-indulgent lives of the people. And while the other bishops held themselves separate from and above “the people,” John did not.

Instead of repenting of their self-indulgent ways, the bishops mounted an insidious campaign against John. Bishop Theophilus liked the other clergy to be weak-minded men, so he could dominate them. But about John, there was nothing weak in body or mind.

Theophilus schemed with a group of Egyptian bishops, who brought twenty-nine false accusations of immorality and high treason against John. But he refused to appear before a packed court of his enemies, and he appealed to a general council.

His request was ignored.

Theophilus then sent a letter to the King stating, “Whereas John is accused of various offences, and in consciousness of his guilt has refused to appear, he is by the laws degraded from his bishopric, and this has been done. The memorials include a charge of treason. Your piety, therefore, will command, that whether he will or no, he be expelled from his office, and pay the penalty for his treason.”

So John was sentenced to life in exile.

As soon as John’s unfair sentence became public knowledge, the people got all riled up. A single word from John would have raised an insurrection. Instead, he refused to rebel or resist and surrendered himself freely to the imperial officers.

He then traveled in the dark to the harbor and climbed on board a ship destined for a city at the mouth of the Black Sea. He expected he would never return.

John believed all that had occurred was God’s doing, that he was “an oak of righteousness,” one the Lord had planted.

“To grant those who mourn in Zion, giving them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified” (Isaiah 61:3 NASB).

Whether he lived or died or was barred from his home country, John was determined to glorify the Lord.

He experienced peace and felt no anxiety. He said, “If the Empress Eudoxia wishes to banish me, let her do so; ‘the earth is the Lord’s.’”

He then told about how Isaiah had been sawn into pieces and said he was ready to endure the same. He went on, “If Eudoxia wants me to be drowned in the ocean, I think of Jonah. If I am to be thrown into the fire, the three men in the furnace suffered the same.”

He said, “If cast before wild beasts, I remember Daniel in the lion’s den. If Eudoxia wants me to be stoned, I have before me Stephen, the first martyr. If she demands my head, let her do so; John the Baptist shines before me. Naked I came from my mother’s womb, naked shall I leave this world. Paul reminds me, ‘If I still pleased men, I would not be the servant of Christ.’”

But the people who had converted to Christianity under John’s preaching took up weapons and surrounded the palace and demanded he be restored as their bishop.

The following night, an earthquake convulsed the whole city. Eudoxia’s bedroom shook violently. Fright consumed her, and she felt convicted over her part in John’s exile. She begged the Emperor to avert the wrath of God by recalling John from exile. Messengers were sent out with humble apologies to bring him back.

When John returned, throughout Constantinople the people rejoiced. As he entered the gates, the people swarmed him, lifted him up, and carried him to the church. They set him down in the official bishop’s chair.

John concluded, “For the providence of God is beyond understanding, his care is incomprehensible, his goodness is indescribable, and his love for humanity is unsearchable.”

Are there some heroes of faith in your life who can help you endure? Telling the truth may make a man enemies; holding onto the truth will make a man strong.

Moore, Herbert. “The Dialogue of Palladius concerning the Life of St. John Chrysostom (1921). Introduction by Herbert Moore. Pp. vii-xxv.” Accessed October 13, 2020. Christian Classics Ethereal Library. http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/palladius_dialogus_01_intro.htm.

Schaff, Philip. “NPNF1-09. St Chrysostom: On the Priesthood; Ascetic Treatises; Select Homilies and Letters; Homilies on the Statutes by Schaff, Philip (1819-1893).” Accessed October 14, 2020. Christian Classics Ethereal Library. https://ccel.org/‌ccel/‌schaff/‌npnf109/‌npnf109?queryID=5724518&resultID=978

Hall, Christopher A. “Letters From a Lonely Exile: John Chrysostom to Olympias the Deaconess.” Christian History. Published October 1, 1994. Mystagogy Resource Center. https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/‌2010/‌07/‌letters-from-lonely-exile-john.html.

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February 25. Brian Johnson. Brian writes award-winning music, speaks professionally, and is the co-founder of Bethel Music and WorshipU with his wife Jenn Johnson. (WorshipU offers courses in all aspects of worship ministry.)

Brian strives to combine expert musicianship and songwriting with prophetic worship. He and Jenn help worshippers take hold of their true identities and pursue intimacy with God above all else. This passion didn’t come without problems. Here’s a story about a milestone in Brian’s life.

When you’ve reached the end of yourself, you’re finally free to rely on God.

Standing near the Sacramento River, Brian watched his son turn over rocks in the search for lizards. Suddenly, he felt a heavy pressure on his chest, and his heart began to pound. The panic and anxiety set in. The air seemed thin.

Brian tilted his head up and tried to take a deep breath. But he couldn’t. His thoughts raced, and he tried to figure out what was happening to him. When he was a kid, he had had panic attacks, but this was different. This force was stronger.

Brian yelled to his son that they were out of time to look for lizards. They climbed into the car, and he drove towards home. If he could just get back home, he would feel better.

His son chatted about lizards, but Brian couldn’t focus. The air was being sucked out of him, and the weight on his chest increased.

The five-minute drive home seemed like it took an eternity.

At home, Brian told his son to go inside as he walked along the trail beside their home, trying to catch his breath. His wife ran out to him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

“Babe, I feel like I’m losing my mind,” he whispered. Then he knelt to stop his head from spinning.

“Slow down. Just breathe. It will be okay. You’re alright,” she said.

But it wasn’t okay. This was hell. He got to his feet again, and they walked back into the house. Worship music was playing in every room. But the peace it usually brought was missing. The verses, music, and words he used to say in moments of panic were not working. He was still flooded with a hopeless, alone, and overwhelming feeling that made him feel trapped in his own mind, unable to escape. He was convinced he was sliding into insanity.

He couldn’t connect with anyone. Or focus on anything. The darkness was closing in on him, and he didn’t know how to stop it. He tried to sing.

“This has to stop. I can’t breathe. I’m suffocating.”

Time passed. Suddenly, the air in the room seemed electric, and something pulled him deeper into the blackness, and he tried to fight it. But his strength was failing.

His wife dialed 911 and called his parents.

Still pacing, a moment of clarity pierced through. He had to decide whether to fight this or let it drag him down. He walked to his wife and kids and said, “This is when God becomes real.”

He knew his battle had just begun. Freedom would come, but it would take the next six months and not just the next six hours.

It was a grueling process. The stress of life bore down on him, and even with the help of medication, there was no relief. Brian decided enough was enough.

He uncovered the root of his anxiety. Unforgiveness and pain from ignoring conflict and pushing through complexities of life had caused him to pop like a balloon. Recognizing that we were not made to carry the stress alone, he finally understood why his body turned on him: it was telling him to stop and take a look inside.

“Our culture often teaches us to man up … Instead of admitting that we’re hurting or feeling any pain. We were designed to feel the pain and bring it to the Father. That’s what Jesus did. He felt the pain and laid it at the Father’s feet.”

“I thought I would never escape the anxiety and panic that consumed my life. But God did what only he can do.” God became Brian’s only option.

“For God is not a God of confusion, but of peace” (1 Corinthians 14:33 ESV.)

Is there a place in your life where you need to be real with God? When you’ve reached the end of yourself, you’re finally free to rely on God.

Johnson, Brian. When God Becomes Real. Elkhart, IN: Bethel Book Publishing, 2019.

Parke, Caleb. “‘When God Becomes Real’: Bethel Pastor Opens Up After Being Hospitalized For Nervous Breakdown.” Published February 1, 2019. Fox News. https://www.foxnews.com.

Story read by Nathan Walker

Story written by Abigail Schultz, https://www.instagram.com/abigail_faith65

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February 24. Francis of Assisi. Before Francis became a Catholic friar, deacon, and preacher, he was a rebellious teenager. His parents were wealthy, and he was raised in luxury. He was so well known for drinking and partying, his pals called him “King of Revels.”

Francis’s first dream was to become a war hero, a knight in battle. But in his first war, he was captured, imprisoned in an underground cell, and held for ransom. He was there a year, and while he waited, he contracted a serious illness.

Soon, Jesus Christ got Francis’s attention, and the young man began to respond, at first a little at a time. Francis heard Jesus tell him to repair the church, so Francis took what belonged to his dad and sold it to get money to repair the church building.

Fighting mad, Dad dragged Francis before the bishop and demanded his property back. And here was a real turning point. Now Francis got it.

He returned the goods to his father and gave him all his money and his clothes. This was the beginning of change that would sweep through the Catholic Church. On this date in 1209, Francis established a religious order of monks called the Franciscans.

God can change what you loathe to who you love.

Do you freak out at web-weaving, back-biting spiders? Do you loathe little lizards? How about boils breaking out on your body? If so, you’re not alone.

During Francis’s childhood, whenever he saw a leper, his skin crawled. He hated them; he avoided them; he wouldn’t go to a place a leper had been.

He was born in Assisi, Italy, to wealthy parents who spoiled him. And like a lot of spoiled kids, as he got older, he enjoyed rebellion. In arrogance, he drunkenly mocked lepers.

He hated them so much that when he heard the ringing of the bells every leper was forced to wear, he ran and warned everyone. To him, those who struggled with leprosy were not humans; they were walking infections.

Francis imagined himself as a knight in battle, adored for his victories. However, when he really entered the war, he was captured and held for ransom.

During the year he was in prison, waiting for his father to pay the ransom, Francis began having visions from God.

He came to believe in God and slowly learned the Father’s ways.Especially, His way of love. God lavished His love on Francis, forgiving everything Francis had done and been. God unconditionally accepted him. In prison, God transformed Francis.

After prison, Francis decided to live in stark poverty as Christ had done. Francis left Assisi and began “rebuilding the church” as God had told him in a vision.

While travelling, he heard God give him simple instructions. “O Francis, if you want to know my will, hate and despise all that which hitherto your body has loved and desired to possess. Once you begin to do this, all that formerly seemed sweet and pleasant to you will become bitter and unbearable, and instead, the things that formerly made you shudder will bring you great sweetness and content.”

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me’” (Matthew 25:40 NIV).

Soon after, Francis was riding a horse through a forest when he heard the tiny tinkling of a bell. A leper was near. Francis didn’t run or mock. He was looking at Jesus incognito. Francis rode up to the leper, got off the horse, and approached him. Francis embraced the man and kissed him. Later he would say as he kissed the leper he had had a “feeling of sweetness in his mouth.”

Francis wrote a famous prayer, which is commonly prayed today. It’s a recipe for love.

Lord make me an instrument of your peace:

Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

And where there is sadness, joy.

O divine Master grant that I may

not so much seek to be consoled as to console,

to be understood as to understand,

To be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive,

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen

Are there people in your life it’s hard to love? Is it possible you’ve judged them? It’s your move. God can change what you loathe to who you love.

“Seeing the Divine in the Other: Saint Francis and the Leper.” Accessed October 9, 2020. Taming the Wolf Institute. https://tamingthewolf.com/‌seeing-the-divine-in-the-other-saint-francis-and-the-leper.

“Snapshots of a Saint: Stories that reveal Francis’s intense, complex personality.” Christian History. Accessed October 9, 2020. Christianity Today. https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/issues/issue-42/snapshots-of-saint.html.

Saint Francis of Assisi. The Writings of Saint Francis of Assisi. Translated by Father Paschal Robinson. Accessed October 9, 2020. Online Library of Liberty. https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/assisi-the-writings-of-saint-francis-of-assisi.

“Saint Francis of Assisi.” Updated October 2, 2020. Biography. https://www.biography.com/people/st-francis-of-assisi-21152679.

Story read by Peter R Warren, https://www.peterwarrenministries.com/

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February 23. Justin Martyr. About 100 AD, Martyr was born in Samaria, the capital of the northern kingdom of ancient Israel, a city of Gentiles and mixed marriages.

Even as a boy, he wanted answers for life’s big questions, and he wasn’t finding them among the Stoics and other philosophers.

But one day he met a man who knew Jesus. Martyr listened. He questioned. He believed. And he became a traveling teacher and the second century’s foremost defender of the faith. Martyr wrote, “I fell in love with the prophets and these men who had loved Christ; I reflected on all their words and found that this philosophy alone was true and profitable.” Here’s the story.

When the unrighteous rule, a righteous man acts.

In the late second century, Martyr stood in the middle of a firestorm. Christians all around him were being imprisoned and executed simply for naming themselves Christian. Martyr had a chance to escape from Rome and save himself, but he decided to stay and take a stand with the other Christians.

The leaders of the Roman Empire considered Christianity to be a dangerous, rapidly-spreading political cult, and they launched “bitter attacks against the Christians.”

Roman Christians were beheaded, crucified, or torn apart by lions in colosseums packed with bloodthirsty spectators. Martyr and the surviving members of the early church grieved bitterly for spouses, friends, and relatives who had been stolen from them during this time. Everybody lost someone.

But of all the losses, none affected Martyr more than the execution of Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna. A spiritual father to many and a man who had known the Apostle John personally, at the age of eighty-six, Polycarp had been burned at the stake. He had refused to recant his faith in Jesus.

Polycarp’s death ignited a holy fire within Martyr. Counting himself among the believers was no longer enough. He had to do something.

So Martyr wrote a powerful and explosive letter to the Roman Emperor himself, Antoninus Pius—a risky thing to do. Offending the Emperor would certainly result in Martyr’s execution.

But in his letter to Antoninus, Martyr didn’t hold back. The Roman state had accused Christians of atheism and punished Christians for rejecting the Roman gods.

In response, Martyr denounced all of the Roman gods and called them “demons that men call gods.” He declared that as far as the Roman gods were concerned, the Christians were indeed atheists. For they had a higher calling: to worship “the most true God, the Father of righteousness.”

The second serious charge against the Christians was that their “cult” inspired rebellion against the Emperor and, if left unchecked, would soon throw the Empire itself into chaos.

Martyr smashed that accusation by testifying to what had actually happened. Christ’s mighty power worked in the church and transformed them into a people of radical peace: “We who hated and destroyed one another, who would not live with men of a different tribe, now, since the coming of Christ, live familiarly with them and pray for our enemies, and endeavor to persuade those who hate us to become partakers of the same joyful hope.”

After writing this letter, Martyr, a man in his late sixties, still could have escaped Rome for the safety of a friendlier nation. Instead, he chose to remain, and he worked tirelessly to legalize Christianity in the Roman Empire. At the same time, he preached the Gospel to all who would hear it. Every day he remained in Rome put his life in great jeopardy, but he continued to act on his faith and stand against injustice.

Several years later, after a new and equally unjust emperor, Marcus Aurelius, was named Caesar, the time came for Martyr to take his final stand. And on that glorious day he found himself in the same position Polycarp had once been: standing before a Roman proconsul, who demanded he recant his faith. Martyr would not recant and was executed alongside his students.

“So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin” (James 4:17 ESV).

What injustice is God calling you to take a stand against? When the unrighteous rule, a righteous man acts.

“Polycarp: Martyrdom.” Accessed October 8, 2020. All About Religion. https://www.polycarp.net/.

“The First Apology of Justin.” Accessed October 8, 2020. Bible Study Tools. https://www.biblestudytools.com/history/early-church-fathers/ante-nicene/vol-1-apostolic-with-justin-martyr-irenaeus/justin-martyr/first-apology-of-justin.html.

Parvis, Paul. “Justin Martyr.” The Expository Times 120, no. 2 (November 1, 2008): 53-61.

Martyr, Justin. Dialog with Trypho. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press; Revised Edition, July 1, 2002.

Story read by Chuck Stecker

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February 22. Scott Schwinn. Scott is like many men. He cares about his wife. He cares about his children. And he cares about being a man he can admire. These strong values rarely go untested, and Scott is no exception there either. When the test came, Scott had a choice to make. Here’s what happened.

It’s not what happens to you, but what happens in you that truly matters.

Scott moaned. Intense abdominal pain curled him tighter on the bed. This was the fourth episode of acute liver-related disease in three months. This time, it resulted in infection, and Scott became septic—a life-threatening infection spread by means of the bloodstream.

Scott’s wife Cinnamon rushed him to the hospital, where doctors gave him IV antibiotics and cleaned him out. But no one knew how many more times they could successfully do this.

Scott’s body was developing a resistance to antibiotics. “Next time could be the last time,” the doctor said. He put Scott on a liver-transplant list, but the wait could take years.

A year later, time was running out. Scott was bumped higher on the list, and his six children—ages two to nineteen—were scared.

Then tragedy struck the family—again. On May 8, 2015, Scott’s oldest child Autumn was in a near-fatal car accident. Traumatic brain injury kept Autumn in the ICU for weeks, a specialty hospital for a month, and then in outpatient therapy.

The family focused on Autumn—but in the background, Scott’s life clock ticked off minute by minute, time running out.

That fall—when no deceased donor had become available—the doctor suggested they look for a live donor. But that procedure was risky. Two years before, a donor had died.

Now, discouragement hounded Scott. Even if someone were willing to take the risk, it had to be someone healthy of the right size and blood type. Scott and Cinnamon discussed his possible death. Though she homeschooled their children, Cinnamon returned to her previous career. If Scott died, she could support the children.

They battled fear, anger, and bitterness. Scott pondered James’s words in the Bible. James said when trials came, consider it joy. Trials developed maturity. A friend said Scott could let life happen to him or for him. Scott had a choice. He could be angry and let life happen to him, or he could allow life to work for him. It was all about mindset.

The trials could mature him or leave him bitter. Scott determined to be faithful to God until his last day. He prayed for maturity to face his struggle head on and grow from it.

As Scott faced the “valley of the shadow of death,” Psalm 23 became precious. He asked Jesus to help him “lie down in green pastures” and to lead him “beside quiet waters.” And God comforted him.

Scott believed God wanted him to live and raise his children, but he surrendered an unknown future into God’s hands.

“The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake” (Psalm 23:1-3 NASB).

Then Scott’s friend Chris realized he had Scott’s blood type. He offered his liver. “If I’m able to help you, why wouldn’t I?”

Scott was beyond grateful. Chris went through testing. Hope grew. In February of 2016, after a two-year wait for a liver, doctors declared a match. It felt miraculous. They scheduled the surgery for May 17, still hoping for a cadaver liver.

On May 4, Scott was in the hospital for the second time in a month. The surgeon entered his room. “I have good news. We have a cadaver liver available.” They discussed risks of surgery so close to an episode of infection, but the opportunity outweighed the risks.

Then the doctor surprised Scott with a new twist. He drew a liver on the whiteboard. It had two blood supplies. He drew a line. It could be cut right there—and a little girl in Children’s Hospital could receive a liver too. Would Scott share?

Echoing Chris’s words to him, Scott said, “Why wouldn’t I?”

Twenty-four hours later, Scott—and a child across town—had new livers.

The Schwinns celebrated. But they knew another family’s loss had given Scott life. All six children wrote the parents of the twenty-one-year-old donor. They said “thank you” for their dad’s life.

Which do you choose—passive bitterness or a determination to face your circumstances, trust God, and grow? It’s not what happens to you, but what happens in you that truly matters.

Based on an interview with Scott Schwinn on September 30, 2019.

Story read by Joel Carpenter

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February 21. George Latimer. Around 1820 in Virginia, a stonemason named Latimer and a young woman, who was owned by his brother, had a son named George. George Latimer. And though his father was white, and George had his name, he was considered mere property. And he was treated like property.

He was a house servant until he was sixteen. After that, he was rented out like we might rent a power washer or a generator.

In the next couple of years, George was arrested and jailed—because his master had reneged on his debts. When he wasn’t jailed, the work days could be long and hard and the masters brutal. Today’s story starts in Virginia in September 1842.

There’s a time to wait, a time to pray, and a time to take a risk.

George hoofed it to work at his current master’s store. About half an hour before sunrise, George reached the market area. Suddenly his master’s angry gait became visible in the twilight. James Gray was headed for George, and he was carrying a thick stick.

The second Gray was within striking distance, he drew back and smashed the stick across George’s jaw and chided him for being late—though it wasn’t yet light and the stores weren’t open.

Gray hustled George to the store, and when they arrived, he ordered George upstairs. Gray brought the stick down on George’s back and arms—again and again. Fifteen times. Eighteen. Twenty.

Gray threw the stick. Said it wasn’t enough; he needed a rawhide. He ordered George to meet him at Roanoke Square, where Gray could get his hands on a cowhide to beat George with.

But when Gray left, George stayed. He refused to go to Roanoke for the beating. He just didn’t go. Later, when Gray called for help hoisting the meal, George did go, and Gray acted as if nothing had happened.

But George was planning to get away. He and his wife had been saving money, and now she was expecting a baby. She had told George she would never raise a child as a slave, so the pressure was on him to do something soon. He wrote, “I have thought frequently of running away even when I was a little boy. I have frequently rolled up my sleeve, and asked—‘Can this flesh belong to any man as horses do?’”

Within a month, George led Rebecca toward a ship bound for Baltimore. They boarded, and for nine hours, they lay—in the ship’s deepest storage compartment—on the stone used to stabilize the ship. George said, “As we lay concealed in the darkness, we could peek through the cracks of the partition into the bar-room of the vessel, where men who would have gladly captured us were drinking.”

At Baltimore, they slipped off the ship. George had purchased a first-class ticket for the rest of the trip. He posed as a gentleman, and Rebecca pretended to be his servant. As they crossed the gangway, George saw a liquor wholesaler, who had sold to Gray. George pulled his Quaker hat low, and he thought he and his wife had gone unnoticed. They hid in their cabin the rest of the way.

The next stop was Philadelphia—where slavery was banned. So from then on, George and Rebecca traveled freely as man and wife.

On October 7, the ship docked in Boston. Here a man could make his own way. Here their baby would be born free. They entered the city with real hope. But George saw another familiar man, and this time it was too late to hide. The man had worked at Gray’s store.

Thirteen days later, George was arrested. He stood accused of stealing himself.

Gray demanded the state of Massachusetts return his “property,” and the Fugitive Slave Act, required free states to return runaway slaves.

But abolitionists, journalists, and preachers—Black and white—visited George and fought for his freedom. Through them, George asked Bostonians to pray for his release.

Preachers shared George’s request. Abolitionists printed “Prayers for Deliverance” as the Liberator’s headline.

The people of Boston prayed for George and for the deliverance of all who were enslaved.

Then James Gray showed up.

“You just come on back peacefully,” Gray said.

George turned his back on Gray. George reported it: “He said if I would go back peacefully there would be no more trouble—he would like me out of jail and serve me well. I then turned toward him and said, ‘Mr. Gray when you get me back to Norfolk you may kill me.’”

Free Black men surrounded the jail. Abolitionists created The Latimer Journal, and urged citizens to take a freedom stand. George and the people prayed.

And God answered.

Legislation to protect human beings who had escaped from slavery was making its way through the system. But before it was passed, on November 18, Doctor Caldwell, a Black pastor from a local church, purchased George’s freedom with $400 raised by parishioners.

Soon Massachusetts did pass the legislation. The news reached all who dared flee to freedom. For forty-five years he went on working as a wallpaper hanger.

“Is any one of you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise” (James 5:13 NIV).

For the trouble you’re facing now, what time is it? There’s a time to wait, a time to pray, and a time to take a risk.

Schneider, Janet, and Bayla Singer, eds. Blueprint for Change: The Life and Times of Lewis H. Latimer. Jamaica, NY: Queens Borough Public Library, 1995.

Gac, Scott. “Slave or Free? White or Black? The Representation of George Latimer.” Published March, 2015. Trinity College Digital Repository. https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/facpub/131/.

Story read by Daniel Carpenter

Story written by Teresa Crumpton, https://authorspark.org/

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February 20. Jake Peavy. In June 2002, Jake played his first professional baseball game with the San Diego Padres. During his career, he played for the Chicago White Sox, the Boston Red Sox, and the San Francisco Giants.

When he was seven years old, Jake devoted his life to God. He once said: “[God is] the reason that I believe I’m able to do what I do. There’s no way I can tell you that on my own I can go out and be able to perform in some of these stadiums and some of these atmospheres. But for some reason I believe that I am here, that He has a calling on my life and has allowed me to have the talent.”

Here’s today’s story.

Sometimes a curve ball knocks you down; let it teach you how to get back up.

San Francisco Giants Spring Training 2016 opened with Jake leading the charge. Jake was the team’s three-time All Star, two-time World Champion, and winner of the 2007 Cy Young Award for the best pitcher in the National League.

As the smell of newly mown grass and the crack of the bat filled the air, Jake got the news that someone—a friend—had used his retirement account to fund a Ponzi scheme.

He reeled from the broken trust and the loss of the friendship. His 2016 season became an avalanche of depositions, lawyers, and numbers he didn’t fully understand.

Jake had to take part in conference calls, sometimes hours before taking the mound. He frequently had to leave the team between his scheduled pitching days to give depositions and meet with lawyers, FBI agents, and investigators from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

All he could do was compartmentalize things, take his turn on the mound, and focus on the Scripture he had written under the bill of his cap: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

When the baseball season finally ended, Jake headed home to get away from it all, and find divorce papers.

Papers that shattered what he treasured most—family life with his four boys. “It rips your soul out,” Jake said.

Jake looked back and made a choice. “The last year of my life presented challenges I didn’t foresee. It’s something I’ve embraced. It’s been refreshing in a lot of ways … it was time to be more involved where I was gonna spend the rest of my life.”

Jake left baseball behind with a new focus on his sons, his family, his love of music, and his generosity to others through the Jake Peavy Foundation, helping underprivileged youngsters and veterans. To the world, Jake may be a two-time World Series champion, but to disadvantaged youths, military veterans, and his family, he’s a world-class hero.

Sitting on a bench with a bunch of kids, he coaches them: “There’s gonna be times when you get hurt and get knocked down, but you got to get back up. There’s gonna be times in life when you’re gonna want to quit. What are we gonna do? We’re gonna keep going.”

Jake knows whereof he speaks—firsthand experience.

“We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:8–9 ESV).

What message will you put under the bill of your cap? Sometimes a curve ball knocks you down; let it teach you how to get back up.

Elman, Jake. “Jake Peavy Didn’t Win the Cy Young Award With His Talent Alone.” Published August 4, 2020. Sportscasting. https://www.sportscasting.com/jake-peavy-didnt-win-the-cy-young-award-with-his-talent-alone/.

“Jake Peavy #44.” Accessed October 6, 2020. MLB. https://www.mlb.com/player/jake-peavy-408241.

“Jake Peavy: Biography.” Accessed October 6, 2020. JockBio.com. https://www.jockbio.com/Bios/Peavy/Peavy_bio.html.

Friend, Tom. “Country Rock.” Published June 6, 2005. ESPN. https://www.espn.com/‌espnmag/‌story?id=3745264.

Miller, Scott. “I Need a Miracle Every Day: Jake Peavy Picks Up Pieces of a Shattered Life.” MLB. Published February 14, 2018. Bleacher Report. https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2756799-i-need-a-miracle-every-day-jake-peavy-picks-up-pieces-of-a-shattered-life.

“Peavy, Jake.” Last updated May 9, 2019. Player Profiles http://baseball.playerprofiles.com/sampleplayerprofile.asp? playerid=5502.

“Jake Peavy Foundation 2017” Published September 27, 2017. YouTube video. https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=4W_sHo0sOrA&t=41s.

Story read by Nathan Walker

Story written by Thomas Mitchell, http://www.walkwithgod.org/

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February 19. Fred Rogers. Rogers was a puppeteer, writer, producer, and ordained minister. At his ordination, the Presbyterian Church asked him to use television to minister to children and families. On this date in 1968, the premiere episode of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood aired, and it ran on PBS from 1968 to 2001.

Rogers produced, wrote, and hosted the TV program Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. He had a degree in music composition and wrote 200 songs for the show, including the theme song, “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”

Among several Emmy Awards and other awards, in 2002 Rogers was awarded the nation’s highest civilian award: The Presidential Medal of Freedom. Here’s a story about Rogers being neighborly.

There’s always time for encouragement.

Rogers was a busy man. As the host of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, he was constantly on the go, running an internationally-acclaimed television show and raising a family of his own. Still, no matter how busy he was, Mr. Rogers always took time out for others. He knew there was always time for encouragement.

A young college student named Anthony was having a hard time—feeling hopeless, lonely, and angry. Discouragement overwhelmed him. In the middle of all that, he suffered a devastating loss. How could the future get better?

Upon leaving his dorm room, he walked down the hallway but heard a familiar song and stopped to listen: “Won’t you be my neighbor …” He turned to find an empty room playing Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, and the host was asking what to do when you feel angry. Anthony watched the show without sitting down, and he suddenly started to feel a little bit better. It was the magic of Rogers’s kind words.

Several days passed, and Anthony got onto the elevator at the college to ride down to the lobby. When the doors opened, a familiar face appeared. It was Mr. Rogers himself, wearing a big coat and scarf and carrying a small case in front of him.

Rogers nodded at him in greeting, and they rode the elevator together in silence. When the doors opened, Rogers allowed Anthony to go out first. But as they stepped into the lobby, Anthony spoke. “Mr. Rogers … I don’t mean to bother you. But I just wanted to say thanks.”

Rogers smiled and asked, “Did you grow up as one of my television neighbors?” Anthony said he had, and Rogers opened his arms for a hug. “It’s good to see you again, neighbor.”

They hugged and walked through the lobby together, engaging in small talk. As they made it to the door, Anthony mentioned that he had watched the show some days before, and that it really helped him through a hard time. He thanked Rogers again.

But instead of leaving to go about his business, Rogers paused and let the door close. He unraveled his scarf, made a motion toward the window, and sat on the ledge. He turned to Anthony in concern. “Do you want to tell me what was upsetting you?”

Anthony was shocked. Most people wouldn’t take the time to hear about his life. But Mr. Rogers was different.

Anthony sat at the window and told Rogers what was bothering him, but this time he went deeper. He shared that his grandfather had died, and how losing one of the few good things left in his life made him feel broken.

Rogers listened intently and then shared how losing his own grandfather had hurt him too. “You’ll never stop missing the people you love,” he said. He even shared how his grandfather got him a rowboat when he was younger, for his hard work. The rowboat was gone, but he still had the work ethic his grandfather taught him. “Those things never go away.”

The conversation ended, and Anthony thanked him again and apologized if he made him late for an appointment. Mr. Rogers just smiled, answering, “Sometimes you’re right where you need to be.”

“Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing” (1 Thessalonians 5:11 NASB).

Think of a person you know who may be going through a hard time. Find some time today to say a kind word, send a text, or call. There’s always time for encouragement.

Burke, Daniel. “Mr. Rogers was a televangelist to toddlers.” Entertainment. Updated November 23, 2019. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/23/entertainment/mister-rogers-faith-religion/index.html.

Biography.com Editors. “Fred Rogers: Biography.” Last updated September 17, 2020. Biography.com. https://www.biography.com/performer/fred-rogers.

Keane, James T. “Review: The faith that made Mr. Rogers a great evangelist.” Published November 25, 2019. America: The Jesuit Review. https://www.americamagazine.org/arts-culture/2019/11/25/review-faith-made-mr-rogers-great-evangelist.

Breznican, Anthony. “Remembering Mr. Rogers, A True-Life ‘Helper’ When the World Still Needs One.” Published May 23, 2017. Entertainment Weekly. https://ew.com/tv/2017/05/23/remembering-mr-rogers/.

King, Maxwell. The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers. New York, NY: Abrams Press, 2018.

Story read by Peter R Warren, https://www.peterwarrenministries.com/

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’”

~Fred Rogers

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February 18. John Bunyan. John was a 17^th Century Englishman—a preacher and an author. He wrote more than sixty books, mostly about preaching, the Christian life, and the struggles Christians encounter.

He felt compelled to preach about Jesus Christ at a time when men were not allowed to preach without a license from the government. And John went on preaching.

It led to repeated imprisonments—one during which he wrote the still-read The Pilgrim’s Progress. The Pilgrim’s Progress is a Christian allegory which—within the first 10 years after it was published—went through 11 editions and sold as many as 100,000 copies.

On this date in 1674, John led a church meeting at Gamlingay. And today’s story starts on the way to the church.

A good reputation is hard to build. Guard it.

The path to Gamlingay was slippery with slush. And Pastor John Bunyan gripped the reins tightly, spoke to his horse gently. On the road, John saw familiar faces from his church. A husband and wife were already on their horse. But the husband’s sister, young Agnes, didn’t have a ride.

John paused to chat with the family.

The man her father had chosen to escort Agnes to the church hadn’t shown up. Though John hated that she was without a ride, there were certainly other family members who could help. John was a minister—a married one at that—and if he rode into town with a single woman hanging onto him, the talk would fly.

He couldn’t offer to take her.

But it was getting late, and the bad roads only threatened to slow them down. The brother asked John to let his sister ride behind him. Surely the minister wanted her to be at the service.

He did. But John knew it wouldn’t look right, and he answered no.

Agnes urged her brother to ask again. And the young man went back to John, his voice a little firmer. He told John that saying no would break Agnes’s heart. Surely, he couldn’t do that to the poor girl. He couldn’t ride off and leave her behind!

But John answered with his own firm voice. No. He would not let Agnes ride with him. With him being a married man, it would not look right.

If the brother wouldn’t listen, then surely, Agnes would. John turned to her and reminded her just how angry her father would be that she was riding with someone she wasn’t supposed to.

But Agnes wasn’t thinking. She was too excited with being able to ride with the famous preacher. Her brother joined in as they continued to pester him.

Soon, all the begging, all the urging, all the insistence that she just had to ride with him to church wore him down. He gave in, and Agnes climbed up onto his horse, snug against him.

Down the path they went, off to the church.

At first nothing seemed out of the ordinary. No one stared. No one gossiped. It didn’t really seem like anyone noticed.

Until they reached the end of the town.

A local minister, who knew both Agnes and John, suddenly stopped. His eyes widened in disbelief; he stared and watched them ride by. Wasn’t that John Bunyan, a married minister, riding with a single woman to church?

The big-eyed minister told others that the two were having an affair—a lie that was greedily passed from person to person throughout the entire area. There were looks and smirks and whispers.

Not many days later, Agnes’s father happened to die, and one of the men who had admired Agnes, but she had rejected, plotted to use that fact to get revenge for being dumped. He spread the rumor that John had provided poison, and Agnes had killed her father. Got the old man out of the way, so she and John could pursue their affair.

The authorities called for an investigation, and soon the rumors spiraled out of control. How could a simple ride to church turn into such a fiasco? It wasn’t as if John had done anything wrong. He didn’t have an affair with Agnes, and he hadn’t poisoned anyone. This had become ludicrous.

It caused tremendous stress, and John’s and Agnes’s reputations were trashed.

They both denied any wrongdoing and tried to clear their names by telling what really had happened. In the end, the authorities discovered Mr. Beaumont died naturally, and poison wasn’t used.

But the damage was already done.

To clear both their names and prevent further scandal, Agnes wrote her side of the story and published it. John wrote as well. In a new edition of his book, Grace Abounding, he brought up how rumors had swirled that he had mistresses, and he swiftly denied them. In his life, he made sure to abstain from a typical kiss of greeting and rarely allowed himself to touch a woman’s hand.

Never again would John let his reputation go unguarded.

“Keep away from every kind of evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:22 TLB).

What are some things that may seem innocent but could possibly be used against you? How could you guard your reputation by keeping up a good appearance? A good reputation is hard to build. Guard it.

“John Bunyan.” Accessed October 5, 2020. Banner of Truth. https://banneroftruth.org/us/about/banner-authors/john-bunyan/.

“John Bunyan: Pilgrim who made progress in prison.” Christian History. Accessed October 5, 2020. Christianity Today. https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/musiciansartistsandwriters/john-bunyan.html.

Story read by Blake Mattocks

Would You Like to Learn More About This Man?

The title page from The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan in 1678.

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