Archives: Episode

December 29. Jacob DeShazer. On December 7, 1941, in a surprise attack, hundreds of Japanese planes attacked Pearl Harbor and inflicted much damage, including 8 battleships and more than 300 airplanes. More than 2,400 Americans died, and another 1000 were wounded. 

Within a month, the United States had planned its own surprise attack on Tokyo and four other Japanese cities, and—in April—the attack was led by Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle. Sixteen bombers and eighty volunteer bombardiers were to attack and then fly to the safety of the east coast of China, which they did, but of the sixteen bombers, some landed in China and some crashed there. Some were helped by the Chinese people, but DeShazer and his team were captured by the Japanese. 

On this date in 1948, DeShazer returned to Japan as a missionary, and during his stay there, he established 23 new Christian churches throughout Japan. Listen to this.  

Hate can’t destroy a man who is determined to obey Christ. 

DeShazer was a bombardier—one of the eighty men in the famous Doolittle Raid over Japan shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. 

During the raid, DeShazer and his fellow crewmen bailed out of their B-25 Bomber over China and were taken captive by the Japanese as prisoners of war. 

The Japanese moved DeShazer from one prison camp to another, where he saw how the Japanese treated Chinese citizens. He wondered how humans could to that to others. “It was the first time that I had ever been in such a wicked environment,” he said. 

He soon realized they would treat him and his fellow air-crewman the same way. They spent most of their time in solitary confinement and faced beatings and the threat of execution nearly every day. They lived on meager rations and received no treatment for illnesses like dysentery and beriberi. 

As DeShazer endured the endless days with no news of the war or his release, his hatred for his captors deepened. Another prisoner, Lieutenant Robert Meder had shared the Good News of Jesus Christ with DeShazer. The Japanese allowed the prisoners a few privileges, so DeShazer asked for a Bible. He had been raised in a Christian home, but the Bible had no real significance for him. 

He sat in his cell under poor lighting and read the Scriptures over several weeks. He memorized as much of it as he could. In Romans, he read, “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9 ESV). 

Now DeShazer believed in Jesus, and became his apprentice. Salvation was in his heart, but his body remained locked in a cell. 

And the day after his conversion, one of the guards assaulted DeShazer. The day before, he would have reacted differently. But now, he remembered the words of Jesus: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:43–44 ESV). 

DeShazer chose to love the guard rather than hate him. He spoke to him kindly no matter the circumstance, and over time, the guard became friendlier. God healed the relationship between prisoner and guard. 

DeShazer spent more than a year after his conversion in captivity. On August 20, 1945, he was finally released, and only a few years later, he returned to Japan as a missionary preaching love and forgiveness to the Japanese people. 

Japanese citizen and former pilot Mitsuo Fuchida had led the attack on Pearl Harbor—the incident that had so deeply angered DeShazer. After the war, Fuchida read one of DeShazer’s pamphlets and became so persuaded that he gave his life to Christ. The pair connected and began to preach alongside one another. 

Is there someone who has hurt you that you could pray for today? Hate can’t destroy a man who is determined to obey Christ. 

DeShazer, Jacob. “Jacob DeShazer’s Personal Testimony.” ATS Digital Resources. Whitmore, KY: Marston Memorial Historical Center, 2012. Accessed August 21, 2020. https://​place.asburyseminary.edu/​ecommonsatsdigitalresources/38/. 

Goldstein, Dr. Donald M. and Carol Aiko DeShazer Dixon. “A Doolittle Raider’s Story of War and Forgiveness.” Return of the Raider. Accesses August 21, 2020. http://​www.jacobdeshazer.com/. 

“Doolittle Raid 18 April 1942.” Naval History and Heritage Command. Published May 10, 2019. https://​www.history.navy.mil/​browse-by-topic/​wars-conflicts-and-operations/​world-war-ii/​1942/​halsey-doolittle-raid.html. 

Story read by Blake Mattocks 

Story written by Darren Sapp, darrenlsapp@gmail.com 

December 28. Michael Faraday. Being from a poorish family, Faraday got a minimal formal education. But at fourteen, a local bookbinder took Faraday on as an apprentice—for seven years. During that time, he read a lot and covered a wide range of science. 

When he was twenty-one, Faraday attended four lectures by a famous chemist Humphry Davy at the Royal Institution and then wrote to the man and asked to be his assistant. 

The man turned him down, but within a year Davy appointed Faraday chemical assistant at the Royal Institution. 

Thirteen years later, Faraday founded the Royal Institution’s Friday Evening Discourses and the Christmas Lectures—“the UK’s flagship science series,” which is still broadcast on national TV every year. 

Faraday went on to make many important discoveries about electricity and magnetism. He became Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Military Academy and scientific advisor to Trinity House—a charity that provides for the maritime community and the official authority for lighthouses and other navigational resources. 

On this date in 1848, Faraday delivered his famous Christmas Lecture: “The Chemical History of a Candle.” And that’s where today’s story begins. 

Honor God who created you by doing your duty with honor. 

Michael Faraday warmly began this year’s Christmas Lecture. “And now, my boys and girls, I must first tell you of what candles are made.” His smile immediately captured the evening’s crowd of several hundred people, who had gathered in the familiar lecture theatre. 

The people watched, as he described the qualities of various types of candles, which had been gifted to him for the lecture. He delightfully detailed how each type of candle had been created, and which types would burn with greatest efficiency. 

Observing two cosmetically beautiful candles, designed to cast shadows as they burned, as “a glowing sun above and bouquet of flowers beneath,” Faraday said, “All, however, that is fine and beautiful is not useful. These fluted candles, pretty as they are, are bad candles; they are bad because of their external shape.” 

Faraday then pulled an old, cracked candle from his collection and raised it in one hand for the room to see. He said the candle had been salvaged from a deep shipwreck after more than fifty years in unfavorable conditions. 

“I have here a candle that was taken out of the Royal George, it is said, by Colonel Charles Pasley. It has been sunk in the sea for many years, subject to the action of salt water. It shows you how well candles may be preserved; for, though it is cracked about and broken a great deal, yet when lighted, it goes on burning regularly, and the tallow resumes its natural condition as soon as it is fused.” Faraday then lit the wick of the shipwrecked candle and revealed a strong, golden flame. 

“There is not a law under which any part of this universe is governed which does not come into play and is touched upon in these phenomena. There is no better, there is no more open door by which you can enter into the study of natural philosophy than by considering the physical phenomena of a candle.” 

The crowd watched in fascination. 

As he lit several types of candles, Faraday made his way through the outline of his lecture and experiments, pointing out scientific observations as he went, from how candles burn without immediately being consumed, to how candles can remain a solid and a liquid simultaneously. 

He noted that light, heat, and flame occur without effort at first glance. Then he identified the vast array of chemical and physical interactions that made these simple aspects of a candle possible. A miraculous, complex harmony of natural laws at work. Natural laws which Faraday’s faith caused him to attribute to the reliability of God’s laws. 

“You would hardly think that all those substances which fly about London, in the form of soots and blacks, are the very beauty and life of the flame,” Faraday said. 

Members of the audience nodded silently in agreement. 

Faraday masterfully blended his observations of natural law with his principled faith in God, and closed this historic Christmas lecture with a compelling moral challenge: 

“Indeed, all I can say to you at the end of these lectures … is to express a wish that you may, in your generation, be fit to compare to a candle; that, in all your actions, you may justify the beauty of the taper by making your deeds honourable and effectual in the discharge of your duty to your fellow-men.” 

“‘You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house’” (Matthew 5:14–15 NIV). 

How can you better use your influence at work to bring glory to God? Honor God who created you by doing your duty with honor. 

BBC. “Michael Faraday (1791–1867).” History. Accessed August 21, 2020. http://​www.bbc.co.uk/​history/​historic_​figures/​faraday_​michael.shtml. 

Brigden, James. “Faraday and the Christmas Lectures: The Chemical History of a Candle.” Homerton College Library Weblog. December 7, 2018. https://​homlib.wordpress.com/​2018/​12/​07/​faraday-and-the-christmas-lectures-the-chemical-history-of-a-candle/. 

Ouellette, Jennifer. “Christmas with Faraday: The Chemical History of a Candle.” Scientific American. December 25, 2011. https://​blogs.scientificamerican.com/​cocktail-party-physics/​christmas-with-faraday-the-chemical-history-of-a-candle/. 

Story read by Daniel Carpenter 

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

December 26. George Washington. Washington represented the colony of Virginia at the Continental Congress, and in June, 1775, he became Commander of the Continental Army. 

On this date in 1776, he led his troops across the Delaware River, which is what today’s story is about. 

In 1781, General Washington and a French general defeated the British forces at Yorktown, and five days later, they surrendered, ending the Revolutionary War. 

From 1789 to 1797, Washington served as the first President of the United States. During that time, he established the Executive Branch of the government, the US Cabinet, a six-ship US Navy, and a treaty with Spain that empowered the US to travel on the Mississippi River. Today’s story begins in the dead of winter during the Revolutionary War. 

Circumstances can tear men down, but well-chosen words can turn them into heroes. 

Christmastime 1776 was anything but merry for General Washington and his troops. Washington wrote, “I am wearied almost to death.” 

Ill-fed, ill-dressed and hundreds just plain ill, the Continental Army’s hope of winning the war was fading fast. Washington figured he needed a win now, that without it—by the new year—he may have no army. So, he orchestrated a bizarrely difficult plan. 

About 1400 Hessian mercenaries held Trenton New Jersey across the Delaware River from Washington and his men. The plan: 3 groups of soldiers would cross the nearly frozen Delaware River and sneak-attack the Hessians. “Washington set the date for the river crossing for Christmas night 1776.” 

“By the time that most of the soldiers had reached the launching point for the boats, … drizzle had turned into a driving rain.” 

Washington and his 2,400 soldiers crammed into high-sided Durham boats—cargo vessels, 40-to-60 feet long. Soldiers loaded horses and heavy artillery onto wire-guided ferries. The river wasn’t frozen enough to walk across, but too clogged with frozen chunks for boats to pass through without brutal effort. 

By 11 PM “… a howling nor’easter made the miserable crossing even worse. One soldier recorded that ‘it blew a perfect hurricane’ as snow and sleet lashed Washington’s army.” 

They crossed where the river was about 300-yards wide, but once across, the men had to march through the dark, 9 miles on roads slick with ice and snow. The Continental Army didn’t have enough boots, so some of the men tied rags around their feet. Others were barefoot. Clothes and weapons were soaked, and the guns wouldn’t fire. Washington ordered the men to attach their bayonets. Tired, sodden, and frostbitten, the men pounded forward. And Washington rode up and down alongside the marching troops and buoyed his men with praise and encouragement. 

By the time the bedraggled army reached Trenton, three hours late—the sun was risen. Washington had lost the advantage of attacking in the dark. But he refused to turn back. “Follow me.” He led his men into battle. 

The Hessian garrison didn’t expect an attack on Christmas; their commander had been injured early in the battle, and without him, they seemed disoriented. The Continental Army surrounded Trenton and defeated the Hessians, and history and artists celebrate Washington crossing the Delaware. 

But he didn’t see it as his big triumph. The next day, in a letter to John Hancock, Washington wrote about his men, “… their Behaviour upon this Occasion, reflects the highest honor upon them. The difficulty of passing the River in a very severe Night, and their March thro’ a violent Storm of Snow and Hail, did not in the least abate their Ardour.” 

“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds” (Hebrews 10:24 NIV). 

Are you facing a tough job? Does your team need a win now? Consider how you could encourage someone—before, during, or after the fact. Circumstances can tear men down, but well-chosen words can turn them into heroes.  

“10 Facts about Washington’s Crossing of the Delaware River.” George Wahington’s Mount Vernon. Accessed August 20, 2020. https://​www.mountvernon.org/​george-washington/​the-revolutionary-war/​the-trenton-princeton-campaign/​10-facts-about-washingtons-crossing-of-the-delaware-river/. 

“History.” Washington Crossing Historic Park. Accessed August 20, 2020. https://​www.washingtoncrossingpark.org/​history/. 

Story read by Chuck Stecker 

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

December 22. Hugh McKail. When Hugh was 20 years old, he was ordained a pastor. When he was 21, the government ousted him from his church and called his preaching illegal. When he was 26, on this date in 1666, Hugh was executed because he refused to name the King of England the head of the Christian Church. This is how it happened. 

Fear God, and you won’t need to fear men. 

Excruciating pain overwhelmed Hugh, and he passed out. As he came to, he realized his abusers continued to hammer metal rods into his bone. His leg had been encased in the vice commonly known as the “boot” and was crushed between heavy slabs of wood. 

Still, he wouldn’t give in. He gritted his teeth and refused to divulge the names of his brothers and sisters, who stood their ground in their belief that Christ—not the government—was the head of the church. Hugh would never make an oath to the king, calling him the head of the church. He answered to God, not man. Hugh would remain true to the Lord and to his brethren, who outsiders called “the Covenanters.” 

Not long after being tortured, Hugh stood trial and was condemned to die by hanging. He said, “Fear of my neck makes me forget my leg. I am not so cumbered about dying as I have often been about preaching a sermon.”  

It had been a hard journey to reach the age of twenty-six, but not nearly as difficult as this journey to the scaffold. He crawled up the stairs, dragging his crushed leg, agony ripping through him. That first step reminded him of what had brought him to this place in time. 

It started with one particular sermon when he was twenty-one. After studying at Edinburgh, he learned about the conflict between the church and government. After all, Hugh’s own father had been forced out of the pulpit for not obeying King Charles’s unholy demands. 

In 1661, Hugh got his license to preach and gained many followers. In that first year, he spoke out eloquently against the tyrannical government. He said, “The Church is persecuted by a Pharaoh on the throne, a Haman in the State, and a Judas in the Church.” 

Everyone in the community understood the Bible references: Pharaoh had enslaved and persecuted the Jews, Haman plotted to wipe them out, and Judas had betrayed Jesus with a kiss. 

Not long after that sermon, Hugh escaped to Holland. He stayed for three years until, longing for home, he finally returned to his beloved Scotland. Sadly, nothing had changed. Men, women, and even worse, the elderly and children suffered the cruelty of the British army. 

Because of this, Hugh joined the rebellion, but illness weakened him on his trek to battle, so he turned back and made his way to Edinburgh, where he was captured. Not for joining the rebellion, but for preaching that one sermon. 

Finally, he had reached the top of the scaffold and crawled to the wooden pole from which swung his noose. As he pulled himself up onto his good leg, he spoke his final words: “Now I leave off to speak any more with created beings and begin my communion with God, which shall never be broken off. Farewell, father and mothers, friends and relations! Farewell, the world and all delights! Farewell meat and drink! Farewell, sun, moon and stars! Welcome, God and Father! Welcome, sweet Lord Jesus, the mediator of the New Covenant! Welcome, blessed Spirit of grace, God of all consolation! Welcome glory! Welcome eternal life! Welcome death!” 

“Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28 NASB). 

Has fear ever kept you from speaking truth? What step can you take this week to prepare for such a moment? Fear God, and you won’t need to fear men. 

Archivist. “December 22: Hugh McKail Martyred (1666).” This Day in Presbyterian History. December 22, 2015. http://​www.thisday.pcahistory.org/​2015/​12/​december-22–2/. 

Stephen, Leslie and Sidney Lee. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 1885–1900, Volume 35. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press, 2004. 

The Newsroom. “A Heart of Darkness.” The Scotsman. February 18, 2008. https://www.scotsman.com/news/heart-darkness-2452322. 

Story read by Nathan Walker 

Story written by Sandi Rog, http://www.sandirog.com/ 

December 21. Stefano “Verbo” Disalvo. Verbo left school to go all-in on Blizzard Entertainment’s popular team-based first-person shooter game named Overwatch.

And he had multiple, multiple first-place wins in online gaming—along with the fame and money that came with. Here’s a 2017 tweet from Verbo: “It is not confidence from within myself, but confidence in him who will strengthen me and provide the skills needed to perform his will.” On this date in 2016, Verbo joined the Immortals, a massive gaming organization.

Success is not defined by your status, but by who you are as a person.

It started with a Game Boy and a computer he had gotten from his mom, but when he saw competitive online gaming, Verbo knew that’s where he wanted to be.

What started as a hobby turned into a professional e-sports career. And—for the popular video game Overwatch—Verbo became known as one of the best support players in the world. Disalvo’s gamer name is “Verbo” and means “word of God.”

Verbo’s career took off. Wins and championship titles in the Overwatch League added to his already impressive resume. His testimony and story spread through interviews and articles on an international level.

Despite his youth, Verbo was at the top of his game. He was climbing up the mountain and going higher and higher in his status as a gamer.

But after a year and a half, things started to change. Wins started to become losses. Championships were lost. Fame began to wane. And as new, talented players joined the league, Verbo found himself struggling to keep up.

The losses shook Verbo’s confidence. When he won, he felt happy. When he did his best and inspired other players, he saw his life as successful. But when he lost, he found his joy weakened. When his performance wasn’t the best, his confidence turned into insecurity.

Verbo’s desire in Overwatch was to shine in the spotlight for God. He wanted to use his talents and gifts for a good cause, so why was he no longer finding success?

The inner turmoil weighed heavy on his heart, and the mountains he used to climb so high now led him down into a valley. Verbo wondered if he had made a mistake in placing such a high priority on his stats and performance as a gamer.

In the end, the world’s definition of success didn’t bring him joy. It didn’t allow him to see himself as a valuable person. It didn’t give him anything he could count on.

Verbo’s career proved that the world’s version of success was always changing. Wins and high scores were never guaranteed, and talent could be found in plenty of places.

Things like career, material possessions, appearance, even the people in his life—all of those could change. If success was based on something that could be taken away, was the foundation he had built his identity on really that stable?

Verbo realized he needed to re-define success and find his identity in something more stable.

Success had to be tied to who he was as a man.

Character—he had plenty of that. Hard work. Integrity. Motivation. And most importantly, Christ.

Verbo didn’t find the change easy, especially after he had been used to so much winning. He had to be consistent in his decision and focus. He had to ask himself what was really important to him. Why he was competing?

He also found a new way to cope with the losses: they weren’t obstacles any more. They were his new stepping stones to growth. They could be accepted, even welcomed.

“A firm understanding of who I am is what keeps me grounded and content,” he said. “Navigating through ups and downs of my career is knowing to enjoy and cherish the ups, but also to be humble enough to ride the process of the lows, and to grow as much as possible.”

Verbo decided to stay in the Overwatch League, working as a team general manager. And now he can take the lessons he’s learned and help the men on his team grow, too. “Success for me is using what I’ve learned in the highs and lows of my past experiences to push the guys on the team I’m managing forward.”

“My performance doesn’t define who I am,” he said. Instead, it became about who he was as a person, how he loved others, and the God who loved him—whether he won or lost. And with his confidence more secure than ever, Verbo knew he had finally found true success.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew NIV 21–:196).

Many struggles are the result of the wrong definition of success. Success is not defined by your status but by who you are as a person. Where do you need a new definition?

Based on an interview with Stefano “Verbo” Disalvo, August 8, 2019.

Disalvo, Stefano “Verbo”. “Where Do We Place Identity?” YouTube. July 31, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7zHvu_I1jQ.

Story read by Joel Carpenter

Would You Like to Learn More About This Man?

Verbo credits his success in gaming and in life to his faith. He says that through what he learned at church, he was able to succeed during a tough period in his life.

“Verbo” in Latin or Italian or Spanish means “word” and Verbo thinks of it as “The Word of God.”

December 20. AJ Freeman. After Freeman became totally blind, he heard the gospel from a nurse where he was hospitalized. He grabbed onto that word of truth and climbed out of a severe depression. 

From there, Freeman went to the School of the Blind and learned a craft—how to make brooms. Before long, he opened a factory and employed 15 men, who made 600 brooms a day for him. In his spare time, he preached the gospel. 

Freeman longed to preach the gospel, but he had to support his family, and—after all—he was blind.  

One day, he came home and found his 10-year-old daughter teaching a group of children about Jesus, and the children were responding. Freeman took this as confirmation of his calling, and he took his little daughter as his preaching partner and guide. On this date in 1903, Freeman was ordained in the Swedish Free Church of Moline, Illinois. Here’s his story. 

Challenges in a man’s life are resources in God’s hands. 

Many people consider blindness a hurdle, but on Freeman’s first day as a preacher, it was clear nothing was going to slow him down. Freeman’s preaching always drew a crowd, and he was grateful they showed up, even if it was only out of sympathy or fascination. 

Freeman didn’t preach in front of stained-glass windows or before a pulpit. He worked from a “church on wheels,” called Palmquist’s Memorial, and the mobile church was powered by two horses. 

It’s hard to imagine a blind minister traveling around the state of Illinois with nothing but his young daughter to guide him, but God went before Freeman and provided everything he needed to answer his calling. 

On that first day, as Freeman prepared to share Jesus with the local townspeople, there was some confusion as people mistook Palmquist’s Memorial for a fish cart, since the two looked remarkably similar. 

With money in hand, a man approached the cart. “What kinds of fish are you selling?” 

“I am not a fisherman, but a fisher of men!” Freeman told the visitor. 

Soon another local approached, believing that Freeman was selling medicine. 

Freeman explained that the only medicine he had to offer was the Good News of the Gospel. 

The blind minister and his horse-drawn church on wheels proved to be an irresistible oddity for many, but Freeman didn’t mind. Children came from all over town to climb the mobile church and inspect its underside. 

“Mister,” a little one said, “My mother gave me bread to feed the horses. May I?” 

Every question and conversation made an opportunity for Freeman to scope out the hearts of those he spoke with and share the Good News of God’s saving grace. Blindness was an asset, not an obstacle. 

“There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good” (1 Corinthians 12:4–7 NIV). 

The obstacle before you may be difficult; take the first step to overcome it. Challenges in a man’s life are resources in God’s hands. 

“The Blind Swedish Evangel.” American Foundation for the Blind. 1917. https://​archive.org/​stream/​blindswedishevan00alfr/​blindswedishevan00alfr_​djvu.txt. 

Rusten, E. Michael and Sharon. “The Blind Evangelist.” The One Year Christian History. Michigan: Tyndale House Publishers, 2003. Pp. 710–711. 

Story read by Daniel Carpenter