Episode | 365 Christian Men

November 20. Ron Sandison. Early on, Ron was diagnosed as autistic, but Ron is not disabled; he is differently abled. He never had it easy, but he had parents who loved him and knew enough to teach him to pray.

The day Ron was baptized, his pastor told him: “I feel this verse is for you: Joel 2:25, ‘I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten.’ Your blessings will begin today.”

Ron went to college on a track scholarship and then to graduate school on an academic scholarship. On this date in 2016, Ron taught a Michigan audience how to build self-esteem in their children with autism.

In the right hands, a challenge can show off God’s greatness.

Ron was still young when experts heaped a bunch of imaginary limits on him. One expert advised Ron’s mom, “He will never read beyond a seventh-grade level, he’ll never attend college, he’ll never have meaningful relationships, and he won’t excel in sports.”

But these dire predictions didn’t hold Ron back. “My mom was determined to prove the experts wrong,” said Ron. The relentless belief and committed support of his parents lit a fire in Ron that caused him to excel. And Ron saw the world through the belief: “God empowers us with grace to overcome every obstacle.”

At the 2002 Commencement at Oral Roberts University, thousands of attendees streamed in. As Ron stepped into the Mabee Center to be honored as a 4.0 Masters of Divinity graduate, his keen memory played a mini-movie of the lifetime of investment in him his parents had made, the many years of his own hard work, and the impossibilities that God had made possible for him.

He remembered: “Mom gave up her career as an art teacher to become a full-time ‘Ron teacher.’” She educated herself about autism while she taught him how to see his uniqueness as a gift, rather than a limitation. She inspired a valuable perspective in his uncommon mind, which caused him to conquer challenge after challenge. He wasn’t taught that he couldn’t; he was taught that he could.And he believed it.

He remembered the prairie-dog toy he had bonded with during his seventh Christmas, and he remembered learning how to read and write like his friends. Then, in the fifth grade, he had entered an art contest with one of his prairie-dog posters—and he won.

He remembered the rush of pride he had felt during his first brush with notoriety as he smiled for his photo with the captain of the Detroit Pistons basketball team and future Hall of Fame inductee, Isaiah Thomas.

In the theater of his mind, Ron heard the crowd cheering him on as an eighth-grade track star at Heart Middle School while he set his third school record.

As he sat down in his seat for the commencement, Ron took in the moment.

After the opening ceremony, rows of graduates made their way toward the stage to receive their diplomas. Ron watched in anticipation until it was time for his section to go forward. He stood and joined his peers in this extraordinary moment.

Ron stepped onto the stage and approached the podium with a wide smile. His Master of Divinity diploma was placed into his hands, and he held another confirmation of his belief that obstacles can be overcome by the grace of God. And a life that could have been defined by limits became an example of God’s strength made perfect in weakness.

“Thanks to the help of my parents and the grace of God, I am living my dream,” he said.

“He gives strength to the weary, And to him who lacks might He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary” (Isaiah 40:29–31 NASB).

A problem can become a turning point if it lands in the right hands. How’s your catch? In the right hands, a challenge can show off God’s greatness.

Sandison, Ron. “I Am Able.” Spectrum. Posted in 2015. https://www.spectruminclusion.com/videos/.

Sandison, Ron. “Value Everyone | Special Needs | Ron Sandison.” Posted February 11, 2018. https://vimeo.com/255271381.

Story read by: Joel Carpenter

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

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November 19. Bill McCartney. When Bill was hired as head coach for the University of Colorado’s Colorado Buffalos, he said, “I promise you we will have a program built on integrity, honesty, and character.”

That’s how Bill ran his whole life. As a coach, he won ninety-three games, three Big Eight championships, and a national championship.

In 1990. Bill founded Promise Keepers— one of the biggest movements of God in history. In 1997, more than a million men assembled to take a public stand for Christ. By 2020, Promise Keepers has influenced seven-million men. And it is still helping men “fulfill their destinies as godly husbands, fathers, and leaders.”

On this date in 1994, Bill resigned as Colorado University’s Buffalos head coach. Here’s what happened.

Climbing the ladder of success only works if there’s room for your family on the way up.

In 1994, at the pinnacle of his coaching career, Bill had an undefeated football team, a monumental men’s ministry, and a marriage scarcely fastened to reality. His next critical play was as a husband and father.

As if running the football program at the University of Colorado and taking the team to new heights in victory weren’t enough, Bill started an international men’s ministry, Promise Keepers.

And at Promise Keepers events, tens of thousands of men gathered to be encouraged, to become better husbands, fathers, and men of God. It became the largest men’s event of its kind in America.

Life’s back seat, a place to which Bill’s wife Lyndi had grown accustomed, was taking a toll on her emotionally and physically. Battling an eating disorder, she lost eighty pounds, rarely came out of her bedroom, and fought suicidal thoughts. “I just felt like I was getting smaller and smaller.”

Bill, unaware of his wife’s trauma, failed to practice at home what he had been teaching at those stadiums full of men. Lyndi said he was like a plumber. “A plumber never fixes anything at home,” she said. “He’s always out fixing everybody else’s plumbing.… I felt like God was the only one I could trust.”

But on most Sundays, Bill and Lyndi sat in their customary seats at their home church and worshiped together. This particular Sunday, a guest preacher stood in the pulpit.

He had a message that he said he considered the most important lesson he had learned in all his years of preaching. “Do you want to know whether a man has character or not? All you have to do is look at his wife’s countenance, and everything that he’s invested or withheld will be in her face.”

“She was sitting right next to me,” Bill said. “I turned and looked at my wife, and I didn’t see splendor, I saw torment. I didn’t see contentment, I saw anguish, and I tried to defend myself to myself, but I couldn’t. That’s really the reason I stepped out of coaching. I realized that before God I was a man without character.”

“Escorting my wounded wife out to the church parking lot, I began to pray about the timing of my resignation from the University of Colorado.”

On November 19, 1994, Bill called a news conference, and with Lyndi at his side, he announced his retirement from coaching to spend more time with his wife and family.

In that brave moment, their healing began.

“What a real man does is he lays down his life for his wife and that enables her to blossom and become everything she could be,” Bill said. “Whenever a man takes time to really listen and serve his wife, she blooms like a flower. I didn’t always understand that.”

“For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:23–25 NIV).

If life slaps you in the face, how will you respond? Ignore it, or change? Climbing the ladder of success only works if there’s room for your family on the way up.

Morley, Patrick. “The Next Christian Men’s Movement.” Christianity Today. Posted on September 15, 2000. https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2000/september4/6.84.html.

Lanferman, John. “Marriage Problems? Biblical Marriage (Part 1).” Posted March 7, 2011. http://johnlanferman.blogspot.com/2011/03/marriage-problems-biblical-marriage.html.

Goodstein, Laurie. “A Marriage Gone Bad Struggles for Redemption.” New York Times, October 29. 1997. https://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/29/us/a-marriage-gone-bad-struggles-for-redemption.html.

Story read by: Chuck Stecker

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

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November 18. Whaid Guscott Rose. For an abandoned baby who later had to sneak out of the house to hear a sermon, Whaid has done all right.

He has published a number of books about worship, books that church leaders rely on, and he served 18 years as Church of God (Seventh-Day) president and served the US Conference in some capacity for 30 years. He now speaks and consults. His special area of passion is helping the church worship Jesus Christ.

Sometimes life hurts, but God is still writing your story.

When Whaid was 5 months old, his mother took him to her mother’s one-room house in a Jamaican seaside village. His mother was 19, alone, and desperate.

Grandmother Guscott kept Whaid while his mother moved to the city. And the next time Whaid saw her, he was 7. She came to say goodbye before she emigrated to Canada.

In that eight-by-ten-foot house, Grandmother Guscott loved Whaid, took him to church, met his needs. But the week before his eighth birthday, Grandmother sat on a rock pile and fell backwards. She had had a massive stroke.

Seven days later, Whaid sat beneath a mango tree. He had just bitten into a yellow yam when the hospital porter arrived and told him, “Miss Bertha is gone.”

Whaid couldn’t swallow the bite. He couldn’t eat at all.

Whaid’s aunt was 19 when she took him in. She didn’t tolerate Grandmother’s religion. And as his aunt struggled to provide for them, she yelled a lot.

But Whaid tried to be good. He cleaned house, prepared food, and when his aunt had children, he became her live-in childcare. But she only got angrier.

When Whaid was 12, his aunt sent him to the store. On the way, Whaid saw a huge tent and heard a choir and a preacher, so he ducked under the tent.

That night, Whaid became an apprentice of Jesus. He felt free, brave, and confident. He told the church people he wanted to get baptized. And then he rushed to finish his errand.

Even though Whaid kept his plan a secret, his aunt found out. And she said if he got baptized, she would throw his things onto the grass.

“I have one life to live,” Whaid said. “If that is what it takes, I’m going to follow Jesus.”

Early the day of the baptism, Whaid crept across the dark village. From the church, the Christians walked to the river. They sang, “I will follow Thee, my Savior …” Others walked with family, but Whaid walked alone.

When he got home, Whaid gathered his few belongings into a small bag. That night he slept in an abandoned house.

After a few days, Whaid’s aunt told him to come home. But she opposed his faith. On church days, she left the children—and a grocery list—with him. Whaid got up early. He shopped, dressed the children, and took them to church.

As a teenager, Whaid lived two lives. At church, he taught—and even preached. At school, he was the top boy in his class. Because he won speech and drama awards, his picture was often in the newspaper.

But at home, he was the domestic help—alone, abused, and rejected. At night, he cried into his pillow. To calm himself, he sang hymns inside his head. Whenever he could, Whaid slipped away to read by the ocean. As he read the Bible, poetry, and biographies, a window opened to a world Whaid dreamed of joining.

Whaid’s life became shaped by but God. Rejection could’ve brought shame, but God called him “son.” Circumstances could’ve made him feel unworthy, but God gave him worth. Disappointments happened, but God had a good future planned.

“I could go after what I wanted,” Whaid said. “In Christ I belong here, and I can do this.”

After Whaid graduated secondary school, his mother sponsored him as an immigrant to the US. Over the years, Whaid shared Jesus with his aunt, her children, and his biological father. Faith changed them.

Today, Whaid helps others find a vision for their lives. He shows them the power of two words: “but God.”

“But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, ‘You are my God.’ My times are in your hand; rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors!” (Psalm 31:14–15 ESV).

Here’s an idea: write the words BUT GOD. Snap a picture with your cell phone. Next time life seems too hard, make it your screen saver. Sometimes life hurts, but God is still writing your story.

Based on an interview with Whaid Guscott Rose, September 11, 2019.

Story read by: Blake Mattocks

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November 17. Samuel Caldwell. At a time when racial tension threatened to cripple the city, only a brief line in an 1842 newspaper marks Caldwell’s act of wisdom and compassion, but what he did saved a man’s life, established his family, helped secure peace in Boston, and strengthened the abolitionist movement. On this date in 1842, Caldwell handed over the money collected to secure George Latimer’s freedom.

Even if you never make headlines, doing good can pay lasting dividends.

When this story started, Caldwell didn’t know a man named George Latimer, who lived in Boston. But the man was a fugitive slave, and his former abusive “owner,” James Gray, intended to get his “property” back. So Gray arranged with his crooked cronies to have Latimer accused of a crime he didn’t commit.

But when George Latimer was thrown into jail on the trumped-up charges, Boston surged with emotion. And James Gray arrived to take his property—a human being named George Latimer—back to Virginia—back to slavery.

Abolitionists held a charged town meeting and demanded Latimer’s freedom. Three-hundred free black men surrounded the Boston courthouse to make sure Latimer wasn’t taken from the city without due process of law.

Local men of influence established The Latimer Journal and North Star, an abolitionist paper, and distributed it to 20,000 readers. In its November 16 issue, the Journal published Rescue the Slave, a six-stanza call to arms.

Sadly the fugitive weeps in his cell.…

Praying for liberty, dearer than life,

Torn from his little one, torn from his wife,

Flying from slavery, hear him and save….

Christian men! Christian men! help the poor slave!

Boston responded with outrage. Passionate men pledged to ensure Latimer’s freedom. And if necessary, to use force.

While Boston raged, Pastor Caldwell and the parishioners of Tremont Temple responded with wisdom and compassion. They worked tirelessly to raise money to buy Latimer’s freedom. The people gave sacrificially—from compassion, not abundance. In a city of swirling emotion, Caldwell offered a peaceful solution. He purchased Latimer’s freedom for $400.

Caldwell played a key role in calming Boston’s explosive passions. Instead of violence, Bostonians then focused on work that became a game-changer in the fight to end slavery in America. More than 65,000 people petitioned the state for legislation to protect former slaves who had sought refuge in Massachusetts.

Caldwell also rescued a man and freed his family to thrive. Latimer’s wife Rebecca birthed three sons, and one of them, Lewis, grew to be a brilliant drafter and inventor, who collaborated with such geniuses as Alexander Graham Bell.

Caldwell’s actions mirror God’s character.

“Who executes justice for the oppressed; Who gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets the prisoners free” (Psalm 146:7 NASB).

What is one wise, compassionate response you can offer to a situation of tension in your life? You never know what current of good can come out of the quiet ripple you create. Even if you never make headlines, doing good can pay lasting dividends.

Boston Atlas. November 11, 1842.

The Latimer Journal and North Star (Boston, MA). November 16, 1842.

Mac, Toby, and Michael Tait. “Chapter 47.” In Under God. Minneapolis: Bethany House Publishers, 2004.

Davis, Asa J. “The George Latimer Case: A Benchmark in the Struggle for Freedom.” Last modified November 21, 2005. http://edison.rutgers.edu/latimer/glatcase.htm.

Story read by: Nathan Walker

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November 16. Oswald Chambers. Under the preaching of Charles Spurgeon, Chambers became a Christian. He ministered in the United Kingdom, in the United States, and in Japan. For six years, he was principal of a Bible school in London, and during World War I, he served as chaplain to the military in Egypt. He had a passion for shepherding his people.

While he was still in college, Chambers shepherded four-footed, wool-bearing sheep. He said, “I did not like it at the time, but I am thankful now I had to do shepherding in the Highlands of Scotland. When you have to carry across your shoulders a dirty old [ram] and bring it down the mountainside, you will soon know whether it is not the most taxing, the most exhausting, and the most exasperating work; and Jesus uses this as an illustration of a passion for souls.”

Chambers loved his people, and they loved him.

On this date in 1917, 100 soldiers escorted Chambers’s body to the military cemetery in Cairo.

Christianity is not about the work we do, but the relationships we make.

Chambers wrote that the most important part of being Christians is “… the relationships we maintain and the surrounding influence and qualities produced by that relationship. That is all God asks us to give our attention to, and it is the one thing that is continually under attack.”

It was November 1917, and World War I had dragged on into the fourth long year. The ugly war left death everywhere it touched.

On Cairo’s crowded streets, funeral processions had become commonplace. But this was not a regular funeral. Vegetable carts and tinkers on bicycles stopped in the dusty road to watch them pass. An escort of 100 soldiers followed behind a gun carriage drawn by four black horses. Atop it lay a coffin draped with a British flag and crowned with white chrysanthemums. Six officers marched beside.

Every element indicated the death of a high-ranking military or government official. But the death that reverberated through the streets of old Cairo and brought corporals to tears on the front lines at Beersheba was not that of an officer.

Chambers, the 43-year-old Scotsman, who had died the day before of complications following an appendectomy, had been the chaplain at the nearby YMCA.

To this day My Utmost for His Highest has never been out of print. It has been translated into thirty-nine languages with millions of copies sold. But at the time of Chambers’s death, it had not even been written. It would later be compiled by his wife from sermons he had given during his lifetime.

Chambers was one man among hundreds of thousands who died in the war. In no worldly way was his life exceptional for that of a traveling preacher. But he was given a general’s escort into glory because of the way he had lived the ordinary moments of his life, the sincerity with which he had preached, and the way he had loved his fellow man.

“We are not made for the mountains,” he said, “for sunrises, or for the other beautiful attractions in life—those are simply intended to be moments of inspiration. We are made for the valley and the ordinary things of life, and that is where we have to prove our mettle.”

The Reverend David Lambert, speaking at the memorial service in London, called the life of Chambers “the finest commentary on the Sermon on the Mount I know.… The most precious thing that has come to many of us through the message of God’s beloved servant, Oswald Chambers, is that for the lowliest, least promising, and most insignificant person the Great Life is possible.”

“Make certain you do not perform your religious duties in public so that people will see what you do. If you do these things publicly, you will not have any reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give something to a needy person, do not make a big show of it, as the hypocrites do in the houses of worship and on the streets. They do it so that people will praise them. I assure you, they have already been paid in full. But when you help a needy person, do it in such a way that even your closest friend will not know about it. Then it will be a private matter. And your Father, who sees what you do in private, will reward you” (Matthew 6:1–4 GNT).

What little thing do you need to be faithful in today? Christianity is not about the work we do, but the relationships we make.

McCasland, David. Oswald Chambers: Abandoned to God. Grand Rapids: Discovery House, 1993.

Chambers, Oswald. My Utmost for His Highest. Grand Rapids: Discovery House, 1963.

Ule, Michelle. Mrs. Oswald Chambers. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2017.

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

Do You Want to Learn More About this Man?

Chambers wrote: “I was in Dunoon College as tutor of Philosophy when Dr. F. B. Meyer came and spoke about the Holy Spirit. I determined to have all that was going and went to my room and asked God simply and definitely for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, whatever that meant. From that day on for four years nothing but the overruling grace of God and the kindness of friends kept me out of an asylum.” After a long internal struggle, Chambers lit on the verse: “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” (Luke 11:13).

Muckley, Paul. Oswald Chambers: A Life in Pictures. Grand Rapids: Our Daily Bread Publishing, 2017.

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November 15. Jared Emerson. Jared is a star performer and artist, and he presents regularly at business and corporate gatherings—and for faith-based groups. He says, “My journey across my canvas is one of faith and love—and above all, an expression of my love of God. Whether it’s a live performance or a personal, intimate sitting, my goal is to paint what my heart sees—and to share it. …”

On this day in 2014, Jared uploaded to YouTube a live speed-painting of Jesus. Today’s story is about how Jared got started sharing his painting—as it was being created.

Pushing through our fears can release the power of God.

Jared throws paint. And throwing paint on canvas, he captures the essence of the subject he’s painting.

During a time when his art-career prospects were looking dim, his pastor asked him to do a painting in front of an audience. That was a jarring request. Performing in front of people seemed out of the question for Jared, and risky.

He rebelled at the idea and thought, Ridiculous! He had never considered turning his art into a performance. He worried he would make a fool of himself and wanted to give his pastor a resounding “No.”

But it was hard for Jared to say no to his pastor, so he said he would do it.

Then a week before the scheduled performance, Jared re-tore a major ligament in a knee he had injured five years before. It opened a convenient door for Jared to back out of the performance. He could tell his pastor he couldn’t paint in front of the whole church.

After all, he would have to hobble onto the stage with crutches and then balance and hop on one leg while throwing paint on a canvas.

Still, Jared decided he wouldn’t back out. He wasn’t a backer-outer. And who knew? This could be the opportunity he needed to take his craft to a new level. Besides, he believed God wanted him to do it. So he just needed to get out there and make it happen.

Unfortunately, the stage crew stretched and fixed a large piece of black cloth on a frame for Jared to paint on during his performance, and it wasn’t primed like a real canvas, so the paint was doomed to soak through, degrading the effects—an artist’s nightmare. What else could go wrong?

When Jared did make his appearance, old fears crept in. He had around nine minutes to come up with a painting of Jesus that wouldn’t mock his credibility as a speed painter. All eyes would be on him while he fumbled and stumbled around on one leg on the stage.

Negative thoughts rushed through his mind like rapids over a craggy boulder, and he felt as if he were about to crash into it. I’m hopping out here on crutches.… I’m going to fall and hurt myself.… I’ll have to leave before I’m finished.… It’s going to be embarrassing, he bemoaned silently.

Then Jared prayed.

And God showed up.

On stage, Jared threw his paint on the black background as usual. Using his fingers as brushes, he began to fill in the form and colors, all the while praying, “God, please show up for me and make it all work out. I feel lost right now … please help me. …”

When Jared finished his painting, he stepped back.

A soft gasp rose from the audience. God had allowed him to paint a beautiful picture of Christ on the cross—in spite of his injury and the inferior canvas—a painting that surprised even him.

It was then Jared realized the arm of the Lord was painting right along with him.

“Oh Lord GOD! You yourself made the heavens and earth by your great power and with your outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for you!” (Jeremiah 32:17 CSB).

Allow God to instill a passion and a purpose for serving Him as you let go of your fear and believe. Pushing through our fears can release the power of God.

Emerson, Jared. “Interactive Artist.” Game Plan for Life. Accessed August 11, 2020. https://www.gameplanforlife.com/jared-emerson.

Emerson, Jared. Jared Emerson: Art Reaches Everyone. Accessed August 11, 2020. https://jaredemerson.com/.

Emerson, Jared. “Ridiculous.” TEDx Oaks Christian School YouTube video, 12:13. March 16, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AW9rYYUXGVE.

Story read by: Nathan Walker

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

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November 14. Michael Franzese. Back when Michael was a notorious mob boss, he was earning about $5 to $8 million a week from businesses—legal and illegal. Who would have guessed that he would spend the best years of his life speaking to people all over, encouraging them, and telling them about Jesus Christ? Here’s how it happened.

Your darkest night is no match for God’s light. In any prison, He can reach you.

Michael wanted to go to medical school, but when he was just 22, his father—a notorious mobster—invited him to join the Mafia.

Two years later, Michael and five others took a blood oath and heard: “Tonight you are born again into a new life.”

By age 35, Michael was earning money on par with Al Capone and was the youngest person on Fortune magazine’s survey of “The 50 Biggest Mafia Bosses.” But his life took an unexpected turn when he fell in love with a young woman who was a follower of Jesus.

Seeing the contrast between the two of them, Michael started making changes. He knew the only way to leave the mob was in a coffin. But more than anything, he wanted to start a new life with this beautiful girl.

To clear his name, Michael made a deal with the Feds. He spent five years locked up, and for one of those years, he was transported from prison to prison in an attempt to break him down and make him a cooperating witness. Michael held his ground while his young bride and newborn child waited for his release.

Finally, he got out on parole. He started to rebuild his life while literally dodging bullets; whenever the FBI informed him his life was in danger, he had to move his family.

Thirteen months later, he made a mistake. A costly one. Failing to file an income tax return landed him back in prison. The Feds told him: “It’s over.” They were locking him up for life, indicting him on another racketeering case. He was 39. Without hope. “It was the worst night of my life,” he said.

That night, a prison guard brought Michael a Bible. The angry prisoner slammed it against the wall but picked it up a moment later and asked God to help him. The book fell open to Proverbs, and Michael started reading. A proverb made everything clear to him:

“When a man’s ways are pleasing to the LORD, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him” (Proverbs 16:7 NASB).

Michael kept reading, devouring the Word of God and other Christian books his wife sent him. When he was formally released on parole in 1997, he was not only a free man as far as the law was concerned, but he was also a free man in Christ, truly born again into a new life.

Does your life seem hopeless? Your darkest night is no match for God’s light. In any prison, He can reach you.

Dannen, Fredric. “The Born-Again Don.” Hive, Vanity Fair, April 5, 2012. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/1991/02/john-gotti-joe-columbo-fbi-investigation-witness.

St Clair, Josh. “Fear City’s Michael Franzese Was a Member of One of America’s Most Legendary Crime Families.” Men’s Health, July 22, 2020. https://www.menshealth.com/entertainment/a33391559/who-is-michael-franzese-fear-city-netflix/.

Story read by: Daniel Carpenter

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November 13. Brian Luoma. Brian holds a bachelor’s degree in forestry and has completed the University of Tennessee’s Executive Development Program. Since 2017, he has been the President and CEO of Westervelt Company, which provides high-quality products and services while striving to protect and preserve the natural resources.

On this date in 2010, Brian was baptized.

It’s not what life gives you; it’s what you do with the life you’ve been given that counts.

Like a million other days, Brian strolled into his office, but the more time went by, the more he wondered if he would be strolling in like this for much longer.

His muscles were weakening. He felt it. He had even adapted his house when he had built it as if it would need to be wheelchair accessible one day. He knew it was coming. But when?

For now, he focused on the business he had started in 1989 after quitting his job at Montgomery Wards—the last job he had ever worked for someone else.

After being his own boss for eight years, his business proved him a success. Didn’t matter what kind of physical ailments he had—it didn’t affect his smarts, his entrepreneurial spirit, or his relationship with Christ. Brian could accomplish anything as long as he trusted Christ to lead him. Without that, life had very little meaning.

Brian had been born with Muscular Dystrophy. Diagnosed when he was in the fourth grade, he never noticed any real physical symptoms until he was about eighteen years old. But now, an adult owning his own business, he could feel his muscles getting weaker. Sometimes his footing was unstable, and the reality that he could fall and seriously hurt himself was a great concern.

Finally, in 2001, the thing he had dreaded got real—in a hurry. In his office, he did fall. It didn’t injure him too much, but everything changed after that. He could no longer walk. The strength to do so was gone. And Brian became forever connected to his scooter. But the scooter gave him a sense of relief because he had no more fear of falling.

And it didn’t affect his ability to trust Jesus. Christ managed every aspect of Brian’s life like a shepherd manages his sheep.

Brian could have given up on his business, but he didn’t. He didn’t give in to despair; he kept talking to Christ, listening to him, trusting him. And Brian kept working hard to grow his business.

Even when things didn’t go the way Brian wanted, Jesus was in charge and looked after Brian’s best interests. His disability made him stronger. Not physically, but mentally and spiritually.

He started having pool therapy, and it was a great help to him. And then he thought: maybe I can have my own therapy pool in my house someday. And if I do, I want to be baptized in it.

Being baptized anywhere else would be difficult for him. He would have to be lifted in and out, and the thought of getting hurt was always on his mind. Plus he was self-conscious about it. Who wouldn’t be? But this didn’t stop him from wanting to be baptized. So his own pool in his house became his goal, and he talked with God about it.

He continued working hard and grew his business into even more of a success. It took about six years, and he was able to have an indoor pool built. It’s been used by Brian regularly and has also been used by other family members and friends—some who’ve needed it for recovery, and some who also cannot walk. Eventually, Brian was baptized in it.

“There is always something we can be thankful for,” Brian says. “Even during tough times.”

“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 NIV).

What has life dealt you? Positive or negative, how can you adjust your attitude to make the most of it? It’s not what life gives you; it’s what you do with the life you’ve been given that counts.

Based on an interview with Brian Luoma, 2019.

Story read by: Nathan Walker

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November 12. Reinhard Bonnke. On this date in 2017, 77-year-old evangelist Bonnke preached his last crusade. In his lifetime, he had led more than 78 million people to Christ.

He preached across the African continent with week-long rallies, droves of people, big tents, effective PA systems, and local-language translators. Sometimes, at the end of a talk, he asked for anyone in the crowd who was hearing from God to come up and take the microphone.

“His message of redemptive hope became important, particularly in African nations affected by drought, civil strife, and other tragedies.”

“His pioneering, militant approach of open-air crusades was informed by our context. Like the biblical St Paul, he was aware that he was confronting strong evil forces,” says Mr. Mamboleo, a Kenyan pastor who organized Bonnke’s crusades in East Africa.

And every time Bonnke preached, he told how God broke into his family. Here’s how it happened.

God does impossible things in impossible situations with men who are willing to obey.

Back in Germany in 1922, a retired American named Luis Graf was returning to his German roots. And this man had a fire in his belly for his people to encounter the power of God—the same power Graf had encountered at the Azusa Street Revival just a few years earlier.

His Mercedes rolled through the winter landscape of the East Prussian forest. He spotted a bakery in a small village and stopped.

The baker—shiny bald with a handle-bar mustache—emerged from the storefront.

“Good day to you, sir,” the Mercedes-driving businessman said. “I am Luis Graf, a servant of God.… I was on my way to Konigsberg.… Can you tell me what village I have found?”

With a suspicious smirk, the baker said, “This is Trunz.”

“Trunz. I’m not sure I’ve heard of it.” He chuckled good-naturedly. “I’m more lost than I knew. But that’s not a problem. I am sure the Lord has led me here to preach the gospel. Hallelujah!” Graf was excited at the possibilities of what God had in mind, but the people were not ready to hear him preach yet. “Tell me, is anyone sick in your village?”

A boy on a bicycle stopped to admire the car. “As a matter of fact, there is someone sick here, someone very sick,” the baker said.

The baker and Graf talked about religion a bit, and Graf looked for a way in, a way to help this town be ready to hear the gospel. Just then, Graf heard a scream from a nearby house. “Who is that?”

“That is August Bonnke, the owner of the town mill and this bakery,” the baker said. “He cries out in pain day and night.”

“May I pray for him?” Graf pleaded.

“Hermann,” the baker shouted to the 17-year-old boy admiring the car. “Tell your father that a preacher is here to pray for him.”

Graf followed the boy and—as if he had a mandate from heaven—stepped into the Bonnke household

Graf “announced that the Holy Spirit had been sent for a demonstration of the power of God that could make all things new. He took the sick man by the hand and commanded that he rise and be made whole in the name of Jesus.

“August felt a jolt of heaven’s power surge through his body. He leapt from his sickbed and stood trembling like a criminal around whom the walls of a prison had just fallen.” August Bonnke gave his life to Jesus that day.

That was eighteen years before Reinhard Bonnke [son of Hermann] was born, but the Holy Spirit continues the work that began in that sickroom—that day in 1922.

“I could not stand ablaze with the Holy Spirit today if this forgotten brother had not carried the flame to the Bonnke family so long ago. It is the debt … I owe to a man named Luis Graf.”

“And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power” (1 Corinthians 2:4 NASB).

The smallest act of obedience is better than the greatest intention. Pray for an opportunity to be God’s spokesman and expect an opportunity. God does impossible things in impossible situations with men who are willing to obey.

“Reinhold Bonnke: Biography.” Christ for All Nations. Accessed August 8, 2020. https://cfan.org/reinhard-bonnke.

Bonne, Reinhold. Interview by Pat Robertson. “Reinhold Bonnke: A Life on Fire.” CNN. Accessed August 8, 2020. https://www1.cbn.com/700club/reinhard-bonnke-life-fire.

Masai, Jesse. “Reinhard Bonnke: The man who changed the face of Christianity in Africa.” BBC News. Published December 18, 2019. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-50781193.

Story read by: Chuck Stecker

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

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November 11. Charles Stanley. Stanley is the senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Atlanta and founder of In Touch Ministries. His popular radio and television broadcast, “In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley,” can literally be heard around the globe in every nation and in more than 50 languages.

Twice, he has been president of the Southern Baptist Convention. His mission is “to lead people worldwide into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ and to strengthen the local church.”

Stanley has written more than 100 books. On this date in 2014, Stanley released his book Every Day in His Presence.

Now, Stanley’s television program airs on 204 channels and 7 satellite networks. His radio show is on 458 stations and shortwave radio. His church membership now numbers more than 15,000.

In his biography, Stanley writes that he models his efforts after Paul and this passage from the letter to the Ephesians: “Life is worth nothing unless I use it for doing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about God’s mighty kindness and love” (Acts 20:24 TLB).

If God is for you, who can be against you?

Stanley and his family were still adjusting to their move from Florida to Atlanta when the senior pastor of their new church got fed up with the people’s coldness to the Word of God. He threw his microphone to the floor and stomped out of the building, leaving the congregation stunned—and pastorless.

By default, Stanley became the acting pastor of the church. Seemed like it was by default, but in reality, it was by God’s design.

The seven men on the church’s executive committee invited Stanley to join them for their regular business meetings, and he began attending. In the middle of one meeting, a point of contention arose. Stanley suggested that everyone stop and pray about it.

One of the leaders replied, “This is business; leave God out of this.”

“Well, they drew the battle line right there,” Stanley said.

The more Stanley talked about prayer, the more uncomfortable the executive committee became. “For 18 months, they did their best to get rid of me,” Stanley said.

During those agonizing months, Stanley continued to pray over the state of the church, and God reassured him that he had been called to this troubled congregation. “Deep in my spirit I knew the Lord wanted His church back, and that’s why He’d brought me here,” Stanley said.

One particular day, a series of personal attacks took a toll on Stanley, and he got discouraged. From slander to outright lies to printed materials about his incompetence, the divisive leaders stopped at nothing to discredit his ministry. But Stanley continued to ask the Lord how he should carry on.

The Lord spoke to Stanley, “You want to win this battle; this is the way you win it. Just see everything as coming from me … Trust me, listen to me, and watch me work.” So, Stanley did exactly that, and he prayed for God to somehow remove this venomous group.

Sitting at home on a Saturday night, Stanley had no idea what he was going to speak the next morning. He had nothing. “Not even a passage of Scripture to anchor the message to,” he said. On Sunday morning, he still had no message or word from the Lord.

When he arrived at church, he jotted down some notes. But as the service time approached, he tossed his notes in the trash and told himself, “No, I’ve trusted God all these years, and I’m not going to start relying on myself now.”

As he stood before the church that morning, his Bible fell open to Proverbs 3:5, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” And he preached from this passage for the next forty-five minutes, from the heart, without a manuscript. When he finished, he gave an invitation. “It was like a bomb went off; God sent people sprinting in two distinct directions,” Stanley said.

One group rushed to the exits, but they were met by an even larger group of people, who were making their way to the altar. “It was as if God had thrown down the gauntlet, and each person was making his or her allegiance known. I had not said the first word about the battle against me … All I did was pray and preach the Word. And God did the rest,” he said.

“The LORD will fight for you while you keep silent” (Exodus 14:14 NASB).

Is there a situation in your life that could best be resolved by quietly praying and letting God work? If God is for you, who can be against you?

Stanley, Charles. Courageous Faith: My Story From a Life of Obedience. Brentwood TN: Howard Books, 2017, p. 9.

Stanley, Charles. “Charles Stanley on the Greatest Lesson He’s Ever Learned.” YouTube. Filmed May 17, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=0KG36LKW5TI.

Story read by: Daniel Carpenter

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

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