Archives: Episode

February 1. Josh McDowell. For more than fifty years, Josh has brought instruction and encouragement to youth, families, churches, leaders, and individuals. He’s an everyday-language man, who helps prepare people for the life of faith and the work of the ministry. 

Josh has delivered about 27,200 talks to more than 25,200,000 people in 126 countries. On this date in 2016, Josh published The Beauty of Intolerance. In fact, he has also written or co-authored 151 books. World Magazine named Josh’s book Evidence That Demands a Verdict one of the twentieth century’s top 40 books. But Josh wasn’t always on the top. Here’s his story. 

A broken home isn’t the end of the story when we let God rewrite our futures. 

Josh stood facing the congregation. “Growing up, my father was the town drunk,” he said. “ … I’d go to school, and my friends would make jokes about my dad downtown in the gutter making a fool of himself.” Josh was telling how his father’s alcohol habit had wreaked havoc on his family throughout his entire childhood. 

“We lived on a farm, and I’d go out to the barn, and I’d see my mother whom I loved very much, lying in the manure in the gutter behind the cows, where my father had yanked the air-hose off of the pipelines and just beat my mother … until she was so weak and bloody that she couldn’t stand up.” 

Josh continued, describing the memory of his eight-year-old fists, balled up and pounding on his drunk father as hard as he could, as he shouted, “When I’m strong enough, I’ll kill you!” 

“All I ever wanted as a kid was for my father to quit hurting my mother, and I couldn’t stop it,” Josh said. 

He recalled arriving home one evening as a high school senior, whose graduation was just weeks away. As he stepped into the heaviness of their home, he could hear his mother weeping in her bedroom, and he ran to her bedside. 

She was lying in her bed, her head on a tear-stained pillow. “Son, your father has broken my heart.” Tears of despair rolled down her face. “I have lost the will to live. All I want to do is live until you graduate, and then I just want to die.” 

Sixty-one days later, Josh graduated from high school. And the following Friday his mother passed away. 

“My mother died of a broken heart, and my father broke it, and I hated him for it,” Josh told the congregation. After decades of tragedy, Josh slammed the door of his heart on God and hated his father for the indescribable pain he had caused. 

“Whether God existed or not, I couldn’t care less,” he said. 

But on December 19, 1959, God the Father broke into Josh’s bitter heart when a college friend told him about Jesus and what he was like. “It changed my life,” Josh said. “Within six months to a year, my entire life was transformed. 

Not long thereafter, Josh was in a serious car accident, and he had to stay with his father. The ambulance dropped him off and strapped him to his bed. His father walked into the room. 

“Every muscle in my body tightened,” Josh said. 

As Josh’s dad paced back and forth next to his bed, Josh noticed two things. His dad was sober, and he was crying. Two things Josh had never seen from his father his entire life. He leaned over Josh’s bed, tears of regret falling onto Josh’s face, and said, “Son, how can you love a father such as I?” 

“Dad, six months ago I hated you, I despised you. But I have come to know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, and I have learned one thing … that God became man, and his name is Jesus, and he is passionate about a personal relationship with you,” Josh replied. 

That night, at his son’s bedside, the town drunk became a fool for Christ. And over the remaining fourteen months of Josh’s father’s life, he introduced more than a hundred other people to Jesus. As Josh shared these words, the congregation erupted in applause. 

“Praise the LORD, my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion” (Psalms 103:2–4 NIV). 

Every family has an imperfect story. Is there anything in yours that God wants to heal? A broken home isn’t the end of the story when we let God rewrite our futures. 

McDowell, Josh. “Josh McDowell Testimony Part 1.” Published October 22, 2008. https://​www.youtube.com/​watch?v=d5O5nD0pyPc&t=107s. 

McDowell, Josh. “Josh McDowell’s Story Updated.” Published January 29, 2013. https://​www.youtube.com/​watch?v=WhJ9HkaR8Gg. 

“Why are Christians Leaving the Church – Josh McDowell interview.” Published August 1, 2018. https://​www.youtube.com/​watch?v=l4Em1sdCUyo. 

McDowell, Josh. “Josh McDowell Testimony Part 3.” Published October 22, 2008. https://​www.youtube.com/​watch?v=ZLmLoCiIyJM. 

Story read by Chuck Stecker 

Story written by Shelli Mandeville, https://worthy.life/ 

January 31. John Bradford. Bradford worked hard and rose fast. He started in service to Sir John Harrington and became responsible for handling King Henry VIII’s money and went on to become Deputy Paymaster of Henry VIII’s forces when they besieged a city on the French coast of the English Channel. 

When Bradford became a Christian, he was ordained to be a travelling preacher. He sold all ‘his chains, rings, brooches, and jewels of gold” which he used to wear, so he could give the money to the poor and the ill. When he heard a sermon preached by Hugh Latimer teaching that if you’ve stolen, you must pay back what you’ve taken, he felt terrible about a fraud someone had committed and Bradford had covered up. He would not rest until the man confessed and paid the money back. Unfortunately, the man was Sir John Harrington. Nobody said doing what’s right would be easy. 

Soon Bradford faced a radical political change—Bloody Mary took the throne. But Bradford kept on speaking out about Jesus and injustice. No matter the injustice, Bradford continued until this date in 1555, when he was condemned to death for illegal preaching. Here’s his story. 

Some men have a way with words, but God’s Word has a way with men. 

Bradford had always been smart and talented and hard-working. And he was young when he had already worked his way up to the position of clerk to the King’s Treasurer. 

But God made Himself and His goodness known to Bradford. 

And everything changed. Bradford gave up his career and went to learn more about Jesus—who He is, what He does, and what’s required of men. Soon Bradford was prepared and began to tell people that a life with God was available to them now. 

Even the hardest of hearts softened from what Bradford said. 

Next he became King Edward’s chaplain and travelled throughout England and preached that the grace of God and faith in Jesus were the keys to authentic Christian living. 

He was a man at war against lies that held people captive and kept them from knowing the true God and how much He loved them. 

“The sacrifice God desires is a humble spirit—O God, a humble and repentant heart you will not reject” (Psalm 51:17 NET). 

This was a dream job—to present truth and fight evil everywhere he found it—but it didn’t last long. 

Fifteen-year-old King Edward fell ill, died, and was succeeded by his older half-sister Mary Tudor—who wanted to restore the supremacy of the Roman Catholic Church. Mary Tudor called the Reformers “heretics” and strove to wipe them out. The heretics called her Bloody Mary. 

At a huge gathering of the public outside Old St. Paul’s Cathedral, Queen Mary’s chaplain was preaching from an outdoor pulpit. The audience—many of whom had come to know the love of God through the Reformers—got more and more agitated. 

Bradford and another man had been assigned to guard the chaplain, which they did. But someone in the crowd threw a dagger and narrowly missed the chaplain’s head. 

Of course, he ducked. But the crowd got more aggressive, so Bradford stepped up to the pulpit, rebuked the angry crowd, and managed to calm the uproar. When they did calm down, Bradford and the other men struggled to get the chaplain safely away. 

Then the bizarre happened. Queen Mary had Bradford arrested for illegal preaching and stirring up the rebellion. He had to stand before a council and defend himself. 

The accusers explained their reasoning—someone had thrown a dagger at the chaplain’s head, and the crowd was about to overrun and trample him. Bradford had the audacity to stand at the pulpit and calm them down—saving the chaplain’s life. He had no permission to do that. And since he had the power to calm them, that was proof he had started the riot. 

He refused to denounce his beliefs, so they condemned him and locked him up. 

As always Bradford took the setback in stride—and saw what happened as something God had allowed. To Bradford it was an opportunity to serve. 

In prison, he regularly held religious meetings and preached twice a day unless he was sick, and nobody stopped him. He was so trusted by the guards that in the evenings, he would leave the jail to minister to the sick—with only the promise he would return. The jailers knew he would come back, and he always did. 

Imprisoned for two years, Bradford briefly shared a cell with three other well-known Reformers. As it got close to the time he would be executed, he wrote to them, “Oh! dear fathers … I am about to leave my flesh in a world where I received it; but I go to a better world.… God grant it may make my persecutors better men.” 

He told them good-bye, “trusting shortly to see you where, having finished our warfare, we shall associate with all those who have faithfully followed the banner of the Captain of our salvation, made perfect through suffering, and never again be called to the field.” 

When the day of Bradford’s execution came, he was chained to the stake with another young Reformer. Publicly, Bradford asked forgiveness of anyone he had wronged, and he freely forgave all who had wronged him. Then before they lit the fire, he said to the young man, “Be of good comfort brother; for we shall have a merry supper with the Lord this night!” 

Who could you talk to today? Some men have a way with words, but God’s Word has a way with men. 

Mayhew, Richard A. “John Bradford (1510—1555): ‘O England, England, Repent!’” Crich Baptist Church – Derbyshire, UK. Accessed September 19, 2020. https://​www.crichbaptist.org/​articles/​john-bradford/. [intro] 

Tracy Borman, The Private Lives of the Tudors. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2016. p. 240. 

Andrews, William. “St. Paul’s Cross.” from Old Church Lore. London: The Hull Press, 1891. pp.120–127. http://​elfinspell.com/​AndrewsCross.html.  

Story written by: Paula Moldenhauer, http://paulamoldenhauer.com/ 

January 28. Segaran Tan. Segaran is a missionary, a mechanic, and a family man—a man in a country far from his home. On this date in 1997, Segaran moved his family to Malaysia. 

He grew up in a culture that treasured family connections, and the younger brother’s respect for the older brother became a driving force in Segaran’s life. 

Today’s story is about a time in Segaran’s life when the troubles piled high, and Segaran had to find a way to hang onto his self-respect. Here’s how it happened. 

It is not ours to fix every problem, but it is ours to surrender every problem to God. 

In Malaysia, Segaran’s older brother Vela was the general manager of an enormous oil-palm production business, and he managed about a dozen oil-palm plantations, which comprised 75,000 acres. When the company needed two new 45-foot cruisers, and revenue depended on it, Vela couldn’t saunter over to the yacht dealership and pick out a couple of boats. 

They had to be built there in Borneo. And fortunately for Vela, a friend recommended a likable European named Marcus to build the boats. 

This Marcus had let it be known that he was a “master boat builder,” and he lived on a boat moored at a local yacht club with a female companion. They were “sailing around the world,” Marcus said, which is how they happened to be in Malaysia. 

Vela asked his brother, 43-year-old Segaran, to help in the boat-building project, and Seg agreed. He would donate his labor. He loved the Lord, and he loved his brother, and he had a host of practical skills. He would be happy to give his time and talent. 

Somehow, the boat project expanded to include the construction of three boats, including one for a lawyer 300 miles away and two for the oil-palm plantations. Vela arranged with Seg to work out of an auto shop on Vela’s land. 

As sudden as the flu sweeps through a tight family, problems appeared. Marcus and his skills did not live up to expectations, and the description “master boat builder” turned out to be quite an exaggeration—at best. And Segaran was left feeling obligated to learn how to build the boats himself. 

Though Segaran was willing to follow through with the project, he realized that his older brother’s powerful influence over him made him feel duty-bound. 

Vela grew more and more impatient. Because of the business, he felt pressured to get boats into the water. And that pressure cascaded onto Segaran’s shoulders. 

Then, the friend who had introduced Marcus called to say his boat had vanished from its mooring at the yacht club—along with Marcus. Worse, the next day when Seg inventoried the building materials, he discovered they were missing. Gone too was the project’s money—about $100,000. 

These funds belonged to the lawyer and the oil-palm plantations, which meant Vela had to replace the money, and that did little to restore Segaran’s peace of mind. 

He paced the floor at night and muttered, “I have got to get some boats in the water,” and then he stared at his manuals in a daze. He appeared to be taking on the burden of completing the entire project alone, a project he would not even be paid for—all because he felt driven to follow through and be the hero for his older brother. 

For weeks, Segaran wrestled with the problem himself, but he made no headway—until one day he remembered how that when he had been the mechanic for a missionary organization years before, God had answered prayers in miraculous ways. 

This gave him courage to surrender the whole boat mess to the Lord. If God could answer prayer yesterday, God could certainly answer prayer today. Segaran threw himself upon the Lord and pleaded for help and mercy. 

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8 CSB). 

After that, Segaran was able to negotiate with the lawyer; he took his boat half-finished. Then Segaran contacted the boat company in Australia for advice. Incredibly, they had a boat builder familiar with the same model. He was between jobs and happy to come to Borneo to help finish the boats! 

What is your style of handling troubles? Do you jump in and try to solve the problem? Or do you go to God for help first? It is not ours to fix every problem, but it is ours to surrender every problem to God. 

This story is based on a written interview with Nancy Tan.  

Story written by: Toni M Babcock, https://www.facebook.com/toni.babcock.1 

January 27. Andy McQuitty. Andy earned a Doctor of Ministry Degree from Dallas Theological Seminary and received awards in personal evangelism, outstanding scholarship, and effective ministry. For more than thirty years, he pastored the believers at Irving Bible Church in Texas. On this date in 2019, he retired. 

But well before he ever retired, Andy faced a severe challenge. It hit him by surprise between doing his job and time to tee off. You know, a challenge could surprise any one of us at any time. Let’s see how Andy handled it. 

Sometimes we fight fierce battles of faith, not for the outcome, but for the journey. 

One typical Tuesday afternoon, Pastor Andy McQuitty sat at his desk, minding his church business and looking forward to his Saturday golf game, when the phone rang. 

It was his doctor. 

“Andy, you have a massive tumor that has broken through the wall of your colon. It’s cancer. It’s serious. Get in here now.” 

“The next moment, my business had changed from leading a church to battling cancer, and I wound up not playing golf, but donating twelve inches of my colon to medical science,” said Andy. “That was a triple bogey I had not anticipated.” 

At first, “Why me?” was at the top of the long list of questions Andy had for the Almighty. “Why this? Why now? Was it something I did? Something I failed to do …?” 

As Andy faced the reality of an eight-percent chance of survival—uncertainty, anger, and misery became his familiar acquaintances. “My prayers were brutally honest.” Andy said, “They contained a whole lot less about what I knew—‘God is great, God is good’—and a whole lot more of what I felt—‘God is deaf, God is gone.’” Wrestling with fear and his questions, Andy learned how important it was for a man to lament. That’s to lament—verb—to mourn, to express grief or sorrow. Like Job. 

Andy discovered that honesty-with-pain and honesty-with-God were vital parts of his journey. 

He discovered that we can allow ourselves to ask the tough questions. God doesn’t mind our honesty. In fact, this kind of honesty leads us to trust God’s purposes for our lives. Andy said, “When we ask the question honestly and authentically, I believe we are given the grace to be able to change the question from ‘Why me?’ to ‘Why not me?’” 

Andy began to understand his unfolding story: that a walk with Christ is not ultimately about our happiness and comfort. “The purpose of life for a Christ follower is ultimately not to never die but rather to fulfill completely His purposes for us,” Andy said. 

As he discovered that God was still with him in the journey, that God hadn’t abandoned him in this crisis, Andy was able to see beyond his own feelings about his suffering. He was able to embrace the reality that God had a greater purpose for this unexpected disaster. 

Every word he had preached from the pulpit for years was suddenly on trial. And as a temporary resident of the Valley of the Shadow of Death, he found what he had preached to be as true as ever. God hadn’t changed. Truth hadn’t changed. Only Andy’s circumstances had changed. 

“So, since Christ suffered in the flesh, you also arm yourselves with the same attitude, because the one who has suffered in the flesh has finished with sin, in that he spends the rest of his time on earth concerned about the will of God and not human desires” (1 Peter 4:1–2 NET). 

On the other side of the battle, Andy could say, “Suffering in and of itself is a gnarly unattractive business. But dedicated to God, it produces good and beautiful things.” 

How can you reframe your crisis that would help you to think more like Jesus and pursue His purposes for your life? Sometimes we fight fierce battles of faith, not for the outcome, but for the journey. 

McQuitty, Andy. Notes from the Valley: A Spiritual Travelogue through Cancer. Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2015, p.14. 

McQuitty, E. Andrew. “Point of View Radio Talk Show.” YouTube video, 1:51:16. Published April 16, 2015. https://​www.youtube.com/​watch? v=WwrO2BHNkfw. 

Story written by: Shelli Mandeville, https://worthy.life/ 

January 26. Edward Law. Ed had had a hard life, and it kept getting worse. The day came when Ed got desperate for his life to change. He found a way out. Here’s his story. 

Be brave enough to ask for help and caring enough to give it. 

Ed sat with a loaded rifle pointed at himself. His finger was on the trigger. His self-described “crazy, stupid, wild” life was about to end. He was finally going to escape. This was the only way—right? 

He felt out of breath, as if he had been running—not just slumped in a chair drinking. Running … running away like a scared kid. 

He had been scared all his childhood. He called it “growing up hard,” but really it was growing up scared. 

Now he was scared again—scared and embarrassed and ashamed. Asking anyone for help with his stupid life would expose him for the failure he was. 

But he was starting to wonder if giving up on his life hurt his pride just as much as admitting he needed help. What if there was a better way than running away from the shame and the problems his wild life had caused? What if there was a better way he was missing out on? 

The words “a better way” still running through his mind, Ed reached for another drink. The words seemed familiar. He tried to think of what the rest of the words were. Something about Jesus having a better way of life. 

An old lady used to take Ed to church and give him Bible verses to memorize in exchange for prizes. Ed suddenly remembered that the man he was buying a house from was some sort of Bible preacher. A guy like that might be able to help him. Ed took a deep breath and put the gun aside. He stood up shakily. He was going to give this a try. 

It was a little past three in the morning when Ed pounded on Joe Thomas’s front door. (Joe had met Ed a few days earlier when Ed submitted an offer to buy Joe’s house. Joe had accepted Ed’s offer.) 

Now, Joe peeked out the door, and he looked a little bit scared. “Mr. Law?” Joe said. 

“Yeah. You know me; I’m buying this house!” Ed knew his words were slurred. “You gotta help me. What’s the rest of the verse?” Ed leaned in. “You must know; you’re a preacher!” 

Joe said, “Well, I’m not exactly—” 

Ed kept talking, “It’s something like ‘ … a better way. … He is the life. … ’ I’m done with my life! I’m gonna end it, or I’m getting a new one.” 

Now Joe heard the panic in the man’s voice. Despite his own nervousness, Joe opened the door and asked Ed to sit at the kitchen table. Joe opened a Bible to John 14:6. “I’m pretty sure you’re talking about this verse, ‘Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’”” (NIV). 

Joe read some other verses to help explain the new life that Jesus offers. 

Completely sober, Ed looked at Joe. “I want this. I’m ready for the life Jesus can give me.” 

Years later, Ed told that story and shook his head. He had almost missed out on that better way. But he had found hope, forgiveness, and new life because he had made the decision to go find Joe. 

Ed’s new life is not free of problems, but now he has God’s strength and the support of other believers to help him face the problems. 

And Ed has helped many other strugglers just like Joe helped him. Ed’s advice is always the same: “Stop running. Get help! Talk to somebody, and get Jesus in your life! He is the better way.” 

“O LORD, I have come to you for protection; don’t let me be disgraced. Save me and rescue me, for you do what is right. Turn your ear to listen to me, and set me free. … My life is an example to many, because you have been my strength and protection” (Psalm 71:1–2, 7 NLT). 

What problems or habits are overwhelming your life? Talk to someone. Is someone asking you for help? How can you be available to them? Be brave enough to ask for help and caring enough to give it. 

This story is based on an interview with Edward Law on June 25, 2019. 

January 25. Jim Shoemaker. Jim is a plumber. A man with a skill. 

The official line is that plumbers typically work a regular eight-to-ten-hour shift, but there are always emergencies and urgencies that make weekend and evening work necessary. Jim is a busy plumber, but he has a skill, and he knows how to use it to serve Christ. Listen to this. 

When opportunity knocks, step up. 

Jim was one of two plumbers in the area, and as usual, he was swamped with work. But when he heard an elderly couple were hauling water from the church, he decided it was time for a visit. 

Jim had met the couple; the man had severe COPD, and his wife spent her days taking care of him. Their only income was a small disability check. 

When he sat with them in their living room, Jim said, “We’ve missed you at Sunday services. I wanted to come by and check on you and let you know you’ve been missed.” Jim continued, “I couldn’t help but see water jugs on the counter. Are you having water problems?” 

The man explained that a winter storm had frozen their water pipes. They burst, and the water-heater elements had burned out. 

The elderly man told Jim they had hired a plumber to do the work, and he promised a good deal on the labor, but he had asked for the money in advance. They gave him their last penny, but he skipped town the same day. The elderly man said he knew better than to pay the repair man in advance, but they were in such a desperate situation, he had ignored his better judgment. 

Jim’s anger burned. How could anyone be so heartless as to take advantage of an elderly couple struggling to make ends meet? Jim said, “I would like to check out the pipes and see exactly what’s needed to make the repairs. I already know where I can get a good deal on a water heater.” 

The man began to shake his head. 

But Jim said, “I’ll not take no for an answer. The Lord has blessed me so I can be a blessing to others.” 

“What will your wife say? We don’t want to cause you all any trouble.” 

Jim knew from similar situations his wife Pat would support whatever they needed to do to help the couple. Jim was so adamant the man and his wife realized it was pointless to argue with him. 

Jim worked four twelve-hour days and finished the job. He salvaged what he could of the old pipes and was able to get a used water heater for three-hundred dollars. 

When Jim was done, he praised God for giving him the ability and financial means to help others who weren’t as fortunate as he. He then told the man’s wife the job was finished, and she could turn the water on. 

Her eyes filled with tears, but this time they were tears of joy. As Jim got into his car to leave, the man hollered, “Brother Jim, we will see you in church this Sunday.” 

Jim waved and drove off. 

Later, the pastor phoned and said the church would pay the bill. 

That didn’t sit right. The bill would have to go to some committee and be voted on by the congregation. The whole church would know Jim’s friends’ business. Jim let the pastor know he wouldn’t be delivering a bill. This was a private matter, and it was done. 

“If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?” (1 John 3:17 NIV). 

Your skill is a God-given resource; be ready to use it. When opportunity knocks, step up. 

Story based on an interview with Jim Shoemaker, 2019. 

January 24. Patrick Morley. In 1973, Patrick founded Morley Properties, which for several years was one of Florida’s 100 largest privately held companies. At the same time, he was the president or managing partner of 59 other companies and partnerships. 

In 1986, Patrick started The Man in the Mirror Bible Study, which has grown to include approximately 10,000 men, and Man in the Mirror Ministries has helped 35,000 churches impact the lives of 12 million men worldwide. 

In the middle of all this work, Patrick came to believe “that 90 percent of Christian men lead lukewarm, stagnant, defeated lives—and they hate it.” So he wrote a book for them: Man Alive, which shows men how they can “experience a powerful life transformed by Christ.” On this date in 2012, Patrick released the audio version of his book Man Alive. 

“The ministry of Man in the Mirror exists,” says Patrick, “in answer to the prayers of all those wives, mothers, and grandmothers who have for decades been praying for the men in their lives.” Today’s story is partly about one of those wives. 

A man’s life can only be satisfied by the Giver of life. 

Patrick didn’t know he had a problem until the day his wife Patsy—tears flowing down her face—asked him if there was anything he liked about her. Unable to put what he was feeling into words, he just left the house and went to work. 

As far as things like success and money went, Patrick had it all. But he was as miserable as he had been in high school. And now he was taking it out on his beautiful wife. Her tears made him feel like a selfish fool. 

The truth was for years Patrick had been waging a personal battle against meaninglessness. Though he didn’t know how to spell it out, truth was that school, work, and life in general had left him feeling hollow. 

After Patrick quit high school as a senior, his dad sensed the lack of direction in his son’s life and pushed him to join the army. 

And the army was a perfect fit. It gave Patrick a sense of purpose and identity, and he thrived in the disciplined atmosphere. He also obtained his GED and later graduated from college and earned a PhD. 

But the thrill of being in the army didn’t last forever, and soon the gnawing sense of dissatisfaction returned. After his discharge, Patrick was back to staring at himself in the mirror and wondering: what’s the point? 

Patrick had to find something new—some new purpose that could ward off the meaninglessness he felt—and he wouldn’t settle for mediocre. It had to be something big. 

Financial success would solve all his problems—he told himself. 

So, Patrick got into the real-estate business. He set big goals and achieved them. In six years, money was piling up faster than he knew how to spend it. He accumulated everything a man of stature could want: beautiful wife, lovely home, luxury car, tailored-for-him suits, and a Rolex watch. 

But Patrick felt empty. Every goal conquered brought a temporary fix, but then he needed an even grander goal to accomplish. After all this, he was sitting at his fancy desk with beautiful Patsy in his lovely home—and she was wondering if there was even one thing that he liked about her. 

Driving home from church, with all the grace of a charging grizzly, Patrick had complained to Patsy about something she had done that had embarrassed him. 

Patsy cried. 

The Spirit of God touched Patrick’s heart, and the mean grizzly cried, too. 

Patrick waved his white handkerchief before the Lord. He surrendered. A broken man, he prayed that God would make his life worthwhile. He couldn’t manage anymore without Jesus. 

“‘Meaningless! Meaningless!’ says the Teacher. ‘Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless. What do people gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun?’” (Ecclesiastes 1:2–3 NIV). 

What purpose does the Lord have for your life? A man’s life can only be satisfied by the Giver of life. 

Morley, Patrick. Man Alive. Colorado Springs: Multnomah Books, 2012. 

Morley, Patrick. Seven Seasons of the Man in the Mirror. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002. 

Story written by: Toni M Babcock, https://www.facebook.com/toni.babcock.1 

January 23. Telemachus. By the year 404, bloody gladiatorial battles had been going on for 140 years. 

On this date in 393, Honorius became Emperor of Rome. Five years before today’s story starts, the Emperor had decreed the violent games should stop, but they went right on—until Telemachus showed up. 

Sizewise, he was a little man, but he has an important story. In 1984, President Ronald Reagan “told the story of ‘the little monk’” at the Annual National Prayer Breakfast. Here it is for you now. 

When a godly man stands, evil falls. 

In shiny armor and distinctive helmets crowned with ostrich and peacock feathers, the gladiators strode into the packed arena, some carrying swords and others holding spears or nets. They were professional warriors who fought to the death—supposedly for the glory of Caesar. 

Some gladiators were slaves, and some were criminals condemned to the arena. They marched around the arena crowded with 87,000 spectators, who—anticipating the carnage to come—cheered. 

These spectators loved to see bloodshed. 

In front of the Emperor’s box, the combatants stopped, raised their arms in salute, and in one voice they shouted, “Hail, Caesar, those who are about to die salute thee!” 

The crowd cheered again. 

On the first day of January in 404, a monk named Telemachus happened to be walking past the coliseum. He was from Asia and on a pilgrimage to visit the churches and encourage the Christians in Rome. Dressed in his simple monk’s mantle, which reflected his holy life of prayer and self-denial, Telemachus stood in sharp contrast to all the spectators flocking into the coliseum. What he saw overwhelmed him. 

Drawn by the noise, Telemachus got sucked into a crowd, and the crowd pressed him forward into the coliseum. There before him were the gladiators, engaged in combat. 

The crowd loved long and skillful battles, but when one fighter was obviously overmatched, the spectators voted on whether the loser would live or die. 

With each thumbs-down, the superior fighter thrust his weapon into the loser, and another person entered the arena and clubbed him on the head with a mallet. His corpse was dragged away, and Rome’s death-roar intensified. They called it entertainment and paid heavy purses to the winners. 

The brutality of the crowd stunned Telemachus. The greedy acceptance of violence and death opposed the vow he had taken as a monk. His life was about structure that allowed him to live a life of prayer and work. The sight and sound of tens of thousands of screaming people rejoicing in this slaughter grieved his spirit. 

He raced down to the arena floor and pushed his way through the rabid crowd until he reached the wall, jumped over it, and strode out onto the field of battle. He went unnoticed by the crowd until he got close to two gladiators engaged in a life-and-death struggle. Telemachus stepped between the two battling gladiators and cried out, “In the name of Christ, stop. In the name of Christ, stop.” 

Enraged, the gladiators turned their anger on Telemachus. They stabbed him to death. The crowd joined in and rained rocks down upon him, and his lifeless body lay at the gladiators’ feet. 

When the news of what Telemachus had done reached Emperor Honorius, who had been taught by the Church, he was so affected that he immediately counted Telemachus among the victorious martyrs. Within three days, he proclaimed an end to the gladiator games that had been going on in Rome since 264 BC There was never another battle between gladiators. 

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21 ESV). 

What ongoing evil has God shown you that calls for you to speak out in love and overcome it with good? When a godly man stands, evil falls. 

Cartwright, Mark. “Roman Gladiator.” Published May 3, 2018. ANCIENT HISTORY ENCYCLOPEDIA. https://​www.ancient.eu/​gladiator/. 

Foxe, John. “The Last Roman Triumph.” Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. New Kensington, PA: Whitaker House, 1981. 

Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrrhus, “Honorius the Emperor, and the Monk Telemachus” Ecclesiastical History: A history of the church in 5 books from A.D.322 to the death of Theodore of Mopsuestia, A.D.427. Book 5. London: Samuel Bagster and Sons, 1843. 

Matthews, Rupert. “The end of the gladiators.” From The Age of the Gladiators by Rupert Matthews. Accessed September 10, 2020. The History Notes. http://​www.historynotes.info/​the-end-of-the-gladiators-3180/? __cf_​chl_​jschl_​tk__=6f957a7c75faa6c7a815f848f0432137cc1553a2–1582664923–0-AQbYgcqFAIMmFJFf14hPExlDRxB_​lyiu0C4D6GZmMIx1lfK7K3rkmY61q_​6ktapxvaViZAdMUqzQMt1P_​ht1a04m4xiJQMEve_​MuyWNTH4vx-e41M_​nEinsQMkoE0Pdptej3JBW3eItbf9ei8UCIsUgnyoqWTWqqgHgRXKaBlxXHPgZDaYzsFEqfwZFlJXmIuai1NeBMUCpHxnefGAFOIRT10Xij0F-WExNXD43WVUg-I7dvfEht9WBdmUPcug6I5–6YVaKjzoxN6G6WPK9XDeku3ZfnQyjsOknEoIJ6XvQMc9UUFrhxKXr-fzewXJZWUA. 

Preston, Monk. “Favorite Monks: Telemachus: The Monk Who Ended the Coliseum Games.” Prayer Foundation. Published 2002. https://​www.prayerfoundation.org/​favoritemonks/​favorite_​monks_​telemachus_​coliseum.htm. 

Would You Like to Learn More About This Man? 

First century philosopher and lawyer Seneca wrote about the gladiatorial games: “Man is a thing which is sacred to humanity, but nowadays he is killed in play or for fun. It was once a sin to teach how to inflict wounds, but now a man is led out naked and defenseless and provides a good show by his death.” 

At another time, Seneca wrote: “It is pure murder. The men have no armour. They are exposed to blows at all points, and no one ever strikes in vain. Many prefer this event to the usual pairs (of gladiators) and to the bouts by request. Of course they do, there is no helmet or shield to deflect the weapon. What is the need of defensive armour or of skill? All these mean delaying death. In the morning they throw men to the lions and the bears: at noon they throw them to the spectators. The crowd demands that the slayer shall face the man who is to slay him in his turn; and they always reserve the latest killer for another killing.”  

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