365 Christian Men | 365 Christian Men

April 23. Sam Walton. Walton opened his first retail store in 1945. Not a Wal-Mart or a Sam’s Club. It was the first Ben Franklin, which grew to a 15-store franchise.

If Ben Franklin executives had agreed to Walton’s proposals to open big retail stores in small rural areas, the Wal-Mart chain would probably not exist. Walton left the Franklin chain and created his own empire, built on the managerial principle that retail prosperity requires close links among suppliers, shareholders, and employees. He opened his first Wal-Mart store in 1962 and on this date in 1977, Illinois became the tenth state to have a Wal-Mart store. Throughout this journey, Walton made a lot of choices. Today’s story is about Sam when all the choosing is about done.

The choices we make today yield the consequences we face tomorrow.

Seventy-four-year-old Sam Walton lay in bed fighting for his life. “I blew it,” he thought, and he sighed clear down to the footboard of his hospital bed. In the background, a cardiac monitor beeped mostly rhythmically.

It had only been weeks since President George W. Bush, Sr. flew to Walton’s home and presented him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Walton’s career accomplishments ranked high, but now, alone with his thoughts, Walton came face to face with his own mortality.

For more than a week, Sam had been in the hospital, surrounded by whirring machines and conscientious nurses. It mattered little to any of them that this titan of business had founded the Walmart retail chain and expanded it to become one of the largest companies and employers in history.

Without warning, illness had reduced Walton to the human-and-humble state of completely relying on others. Suddenly, the treasured moments his family and friends stopped in to offer a smile, a hug, or a prayer—these were more valuable than anything else he ever accomplished in life.

In the chilling stillness when he was alone, Walton thought about the steep price he’d paid to be one of the world’s wealthiest men.

He hardly knew his youngest son, had spent a lifetime neglecting his own family, and was privately in a marriage with a woman who’d stayed with him out of principle. How had he let this tragedy happen?

On April 5, 1992, medical staff called Sam’s family. It didn’t look like Sam was going to make it. This would be Walton’s last day in the hospital, and his final day on Earth.

As closest family filed solemnly into his room, Sam’s friends and business associates gathered prayerfully in the waiting room nearby. Hospital staff silently made their way in and out of the room, intently monitoring Sam’s declining condition. His family held hands and prayed, and the tempo of the beeping heart monitor slowed. Stuttered.

The room fell silent.

Everyone gathered around his hospital bed.

Sam struggled to whisper his last three words, “I blew it.”

“What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” (Mark 8: 36, NIV).

Take a moment to prayerfully check your calendar, and your schedule will tell you your priorities. The choices we make today yield the consequences we face tomorrow.

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

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April 22. David Mentzer. If you do an internet search for the name David Mentzer, you may or may not find the subject of today’s story. But there’s at least one young man in Colorado who knows the kind of man David Mentzer is. Here’s their story.

When we use our skills to do good for others, everyday work brings us joy.

There were two men:

In the mountain town Evergreen, Colorado, David Mentzer ran a Subaru Repair Shop. It was bright yellow, and he was in business to make money. That’s why they call it business.

And Stephen, a young intern, survived on a budget as threadbare as his socks.

Now Stephen’s sixteen-year-old Subaru Forester suffered a blown head gasket, a broken ozone sensor, and a bad catalytic converter. And that was just the big stuff.

He couldn’t afford a new car, but how was he supposed to pay for repairs? At 200,000 miles, was the car even worth it?

When Stephen called David and told him the car was burning oil, leaking coolant, and losing power, David said, “Bring it in.”

His confidence gave Stephen hope for an option besides a life of hoofing it to work.

Meanwhile, as David worked, he was thinking about—joy. Some Christian friends he’d met with had said happiness was different than joy, and David leaned over the engine and was thinking about what joy meant in everyday life.

Soon, Stephen pulled onto the asphalt lot in front of David’s shop, found him, and announced the patient had arrived.

David led Stephen outside and told him to drive his Subaru onto the blue lift. David mostly worked—year-round—in the open. A whiff of car fumes, oil, and grease mingled with the scents of pine, juniper, and fresh mountain air. When the old green Subaru was in position, David whipped out a flashlight and shined it on the Forester’s underbelly. Hmm. This was not good.

After a thorough diagnosis, David said if he fixed the most important stuff, the car could go another 100,000 miles. He quoted a reasonable price, and Stephen said he could manage that much. But there were a lot of issues that had to be left unattended. David knew it would be safer and the car would last longer if Stephen would tend to them all. But the young man just didn’t have the money.

Then David spent the better part of eleven days working on that Forester. As he worked, he thought about his own daughter and he thought about Stephen and he thought about what God wanted him to do. What if his daughter were on the road in that car? David repaired that car like he would for his own daughter. Gone were the weak hoses, corroded wiring, and worn belts.

When Stephen came back to pick up his car, David went over the repairs on the invoice—the head gasket, the water pump, the timing belt—and all the rest they’d talked about. But everything was fixed. Even the cracked windshield. “You can drive her anywhere now,” David said. “Take her to California if you want.”

But the bill was the amount Stephen had agreed to pay. Stunned, Stephen tried to express appreciation, but David interrupted.

“When I worked on your car, I wasn’t doing anything differently than I do every day,” David said, “but I felt the joy of the Lord.”

“Don’t be misled; remember that you can’t ignore God and get away with it: a man will always reap just the kind of crop he sows!” (Galatians 6: 7, NLB).

David coached the young man through proper maintenance of his vehicle—just as he would with his own daughter.

“Whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith,” (Galatians 6: 10, NIV).

What skill could you use to do good for someone in your circle of influence? When we use our skills to do good for others, everyday work brings us joy.

David Mentzer is a generous auto mechanic, who lives 365.

“What Happened on April 22.” On This Day. Onthisday.com. Accessed August 2, 2020. https://www.onthisday.com/day/april/22

Story based on information in an interview with Stephen Moldenhauer, on-line reviews of Intec Automotive, and a conversation with David.

Story read by Nathan Walker

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April 21. Chuck Norris. That Chuck is competitive might be the understatement of a couple of centuries. From powerboat competitions to famous fights on television, Chuck and his martial arts expertise are legendary.

But Chuck has a contemplative side, too. He writes screenplays and books, and he supports charities such as Make-A-Wish Foundation and the United Way.

Norris describes himself as a shy kid in school who never excelled at anything. Just goes to show what God can do with a man who trusts Him. On this date in 1993, the first episode of Walker, Texas Ranger aired on CBS. The show followed a number of Chuck’s box-office movie hits and lasted for 8 years.

When we put our faith on the line, God shows up.

It’s been said, “Before the boogie man goes to sleep, he checks his closet for Chuck Norris,” and “the only time Chuck Norris uses a stunt double is in crying scenes.”

The real Norris is strong and powerful—because he believes God.

Norris served in the Air Force, was a World Champion in Karate, and has starred in several films and TV. And of course, he and Bruce Lee have a legendary fight in The Way of the Dragon. Throughout all his success, he has consistently stuck to his faith—even when it could cost him a lot.

Chuck Norris is best known for the TV show, Walker, Texas Ranger which ran from 1993 to 2001. It was a highly-rated and much-loved show. Chuck played a Texas Ranger, who used his martial arts skills and peaceful demeanor on the screen to fight for justice.

“When I started the show,” Chuck said, “the producers wanted the plot to be a bit more risqué. I told them I didn’t do that in the movies, and I don’t want to do it now. Let’s keep the show family friendly.” Chuck took a risk, and it paid off. Walker, Texas Ranger became a show that families could watch together, and it had a long run.

“Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe,” (Proverbs 29: 25, NIV).

In the fifth season, when Chuck’s wife Gena asked him, “Why don’t you do a faith-based episode?” he called the CBS higher-ups and asked.

The answer was a resounding NO. “We have Touched by an Angel and Highway to Heaven. We don’t need to have that kind of stuff on an episode of Walker, Texas Ranger.”

Norris challenged them. “Guys, let me do one faith-based episode, and if it’s not the highest rated show of the year, I will never ask again.”

The executive producers allowed Chuck to make an episode in which faith was emphasized. It was called The Neighborhood—the 100th episode of the show. And it was about forgiveness and redemption. The Texas Ranger helped a little girl bring peace to her neighborhood.

As Chuck predicted, it turned out to be the highest rated show of their year.

They say, “Chuck Norris uses pepper spray to spice up his steaks,” and throughout his career, Norris has never taken offense at the jokes. But someone once said, “Chuck Norris’s tears can cure cancer. Too bad he never cries. Ever.”

And Chuck did respond. He said, “There was a man whose tears could cure cancer or any other disease, including the real cause of all diseases—sin. His blood did. His name was Jesus, not Chuck Norris. If your soul needs healing, the prescription you need is not Chuck Norris’s tears; it’s Jesus’ blood.”

What kind of risks do you take to help people get to know Jesus? When we put our faith on the line, God shows up.

Biography.com Editors. “Chuck Norris Biography.” The Biography.com website. A&E Television Networks. Updated August 7, 2019. https://www.biography.com/actor/chuck-norris

https://chuck-norris-jokes.com/

Norris, Chuck, and Abraham, Ken, Against All Odds (Nashville, TN, B and H Books, 2006)

Video interview at Comicpalooza, Houston, TX, May 13, 2017,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhNCLNc0IDg

Norris, Chuck, and Abraham, Ken, Against All Odds (Nashville, TN, B and H Books, 2006)

Story read by Nathan Walker

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April 20. Karl Barth. Karl, like his father before him, was a theologian, and he was serving as a pastor in a small Swiss village when the commentary he had written on the book of Romans attracted international notice.

Even though he did not have a doctoral degree, a university in Germany offered him a teaching position. He accepted and taught in Münster and in Bonn, but was forced to leave Bonn, and all of Germany, because he would not swear an oath of allegiance to Hitler. He returned to Switzerland and took a position at the University of Basel, where he remained until he retired.

Barth was far more than an ivory-tower theologian; he was an activist who championed the cause of oppressed people everywhere. After the end of WWII, he advocated for reconciliation between the German church and churches abroad. He stood in “solidarity” with Christians behind the iron curtain, rejecting the arms race that engulfed the Soviet Union and much of the western world.

At the age of 75, Barth embarked on a speaking tour across America. On this date in 1962, Time magazine featured Barth on their cover, a sure sign that his religious influence had extended into mainstream American culture.

God does not call the world to us; He tells us to go to the world.

In the fall of 1939, an unusually small class of students gathered in a lecture room in Basel, Switzerland. A middle-aged man in spectacles took his regular post at the front of the class and began his lecture—a kind of service, as he called it—on the doctrines of Scripture. But a familiar roar thundered overhead, and all at once the classroom contrasted starkly with the war raging outside.

Without so much as a glance upward, the speaker continued his lecture, outwardly carrying on as if nothing had happened. Inwardly, though, he wrestled. Speaking to the young people in front of him was safe, but they formed only a fraction of the people his words could impact. Karl Barth would not let his reach be contained to a classroom. Jesus ate with sinners and washed the feet of fishermen. Should the saints hide in stained-glass churches or go out and rescue those in need?

“Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.… Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you’” (Luke 10: 3, 8–9, ESV).

Barth took hold of this truth, and it drove him to seek opportunities to meet needy people wherever they were.

The days of war reminded him of his early days of pastoring: on Sundays he had stood in the pulpit preaching to a crowd that watched him, he felt, through a pane of glass, but on Mondays he ran to the aid of oppressed millworkers, arming them with practical support based in God’s Word, rejoicing to see the light of recognition dawn on their faces.

Now, again, the time had come to go to war for the souls of men, men who would hardly understand the significance of Jerusalem or the meaning of sanctification, but who thirsted for wisdom and right direction.

Barth “could no longer remain suspended in the clouds above the present evil world,” like many of his disapproving colleagues, when demonstrating faith required him to work and suffer in the imperfection of war. God had provided His living Word that could speak to all men, and Barth, in obedience to conviction, carried that Word into the darkest corners.

In April 1940, at 54 years old, he reported for armed military service, joining fellow soldiers for weeks at a time to keep watch over the city. “I was very, very happy to preach occasionally to these comrades of mine, 95% of whom were non-church-goers.… I learned once again how to write a sermon which is really aimed at a man.”

The friends he made outside of the church were not incapable of understanding truth, but simply craved it in the form of answers to the “real problems of real life.”

Is there a way you can use God’s truth to liberate someone lost in the problems of life? God does not call the world to us; He tells us to go to the world.

Intro:

Zellweger, Barbara. “Biography.” The Center for Barth Studies at Princeton Theological Seminary. Accessed August 2, 2020. http://barth.ptsem.edu/karl-barth/biography.

Story:

Busch, Eberhard. Karl Barth: His life from letters and autobiographical texts. Translated by John Bowden, Fortress Press, 1976.

Zellweger, Barbara. “Biography.” The Center for Barth Studies at Princeton Theological Seminary,http://barth.ptsem.edu/karl-barth/biography

Story read by Chuck Stecker

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April 19. Dwight Lyman Moody. Moody’s first job—in a retail shoe store—required him to attend church. He dutifully attended and soon committed his life to the Lord Jesus. Soon, he was on his way to Chicago and owning his own shoe business. His shoe business grew, and so did his interest in providing a Sunday school for the local YMCA.

On this date in 1860, Moody gave up his shoe business to spend more time serving the YMCA. Meanwhile his Sunday school flourished and eventually grew into a church—with Moody as its pastor.

During the Civil War years, as Union troops mobilized at Camp Douglas, Moody ministered to them. From 1861–1865, he served thousands of soldiers, Union and Confederate, on and off the battlefield.

After the war, Moody established schools for men and women, traveled to England and Ireland to hold revival meetings, and completed numerous American tours, always compelled to preach the message of Christ.

In 1879, he founded a seminary for girls, and in 1889, he founded the Chicago Bible Institute, which is now the Moody Bible Institute.

When the Bible Institute was still in the dream stage, Moody shared his vision with his friends. “I tell you what I want, and what I have on my heart,” he said. “I believe we have got to have gap-men to stand between the laity and the ministers; men who are trained to do city mission work. Take men that have the gifts and train them for the work of reaching the people.”

Model Jesus boldly and jumpstart God’s plan.

Night had fallen over the city of Chicago, and DL Moody should have been home hours ago. The streets, usually crowded and noisy with the rumble-clatter of horse-and-carriage traffic, were now eerily quiet. Empty.

Moody picked up his pace. He wanted to get home and sit in front of a fire. So he strode, lost in his thoughts.

Suddenly, a dark figure appeared, and Moody stopped abruptly. The stranger leaned against a near lamppost, and Moody was glad he hadn’t run into the man.

The fellow was long and thin, and Moody reached out and laid a hand on the man’s bony shoulder. “Excuse me, sir, are you a Christian?” Moody asked, as calmly as if he had been asking for directions to Union Station.

The man startled and threw off Moody’s hand and pulled back a fist, ready to let it fly.

Quickly, Moody apologized. “I’m sorry, sir, I thought it was a proper question.”

“Mind your own business!” The man snarled like a bully of a dog.

“Oh! This is my business,” said Moody, again with that same unusual confidence.

The man—obviously puzzled—shrugged, shook his head, and stormed off.

Years before, Moody himself had been on the receiving end of this “business.” When he’d been young and a stranger in a new town, an old gentleman had approached him right out on the street. Out of the Chicago blue.

The calm, confident gentleman told Moody that God loved him. He gave young Moody a coin to buy a sweet and went on to explain the good news of the Gospel. Moody was so captivated, he forgot all about buying the candy.

Moody gave his life to the Lord several years later. But he never forgot the words and actions of love from an old gentleman stranger right out on the street. Moody called him his “good Samaritan.”

And then Moody went into that same “business”—reaching people—whether friends or family or strangers—for Christ.

DL Moody became one of the most famous evangelists in the English-speaking world, and he ended up preaching to thousands. He even started schools to train young people in evangelism and missions.

“I think how that old man lifted a load from me, and I want to lift a load from someone else.”

It was dawn in Chicago. The early morning fog was starting to lift. Already, the streets were starting their bustle of business. DL Moody and his household were also beginning preparations for the day.

When Moody heard a soft knocking at his front door, he supposed it to be the milkman with his dawn delivery and opened the door. But a man stood there—not the milkman—but a man vaguely familiar to Moody stood on the steps.

“It’s me, sir. I met you on the street one night. From what you said to me, I thought it would be alright for me to come to see you.”

It was the leaner on the lamppost! In the daylight, Moody hardly recognized the long-and-thin man.

“Your question has troubled me so much, I haven’t been able to sleep,” the man said. “I wonder if you could pray for me.”

Moody quickly invited the man in, and he let the Lord Jesus take hold of his life that day. A few years, that old man died. Civil War. In those years, the long-and-thin man was busy in the same business as Moody, winning people to Christ. All who were willing to come.

“Imitate me, just as I imitate Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1 NKJV).

“Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” (Luke 2:49 NKJV).

Who is your business? Ask God to point out someone—a stranger on the street, a co-worker, a family member? Who needs to experience God’s love through you?

In the words of DL Moody, “So let me say, find some work…When you have won one soul to Christ, you will want to win two, and when you get into the luxury of winning souls, it will be a new world to you, and you will not think of going back to the world at all.”

Model Jesus boldly, and jumpstart God’s plan.

Johnson, Ruth I. Christians You Should Know. Chicago: Moody Press, 1960

Moody, Dwight Lyman, edited by McClure, James Baird. D.L. Moody’s Child Stories. Chicago: Rhodes & McClure, 1877

https://bibletruthpublishers.com/d-l-moody/moodys-stories/dwight-l-moody/lub253-41523

https://www.moody.edu/about/our-bold-legacy/d-l-moody/

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April 18. Francis Chan. For the first five years of his life, Chan was raised in Hong Kong in a Buddhist home. By sixth grade, he’d lost his mother, his step-mother, and his father. In his high-school years, his uncle killed Chan’s aunt and then himself. But Chan had been taught about Jesus, and he never let go.

Chan became a pastor, founded and grew a church, and attained fame. With Danae Yankoski,

Chan wrote Crazy Love and became a NY Times best-selling author. But on this day in 2010, Chan resigned from the church he and his wife Lisa had started in 1994—so he could do more work, reach more people, love the least-loved among us.

He co-founded Multiply—a nationwide discipleship movement, and he serves on the board for Children’s Hunger Fund, which—since 1991—has distributed more than 1 billion dollars in food and other aid to more than 20 million children across America and around the world. Chan also serves on the board of World Impact—a ministry that “empowers urban leaders and partners with local churches to reach their cities with the Gospel.”

Success may draw people to us; laying it aside may draw people to God.

Francis Chan shuffled behind the stage as he readied himself to speak to the crowded ballroom. A man standing nearby asked him how he prepared to speak to such large crowds.

With a smile, Francis said, “I’ve got a series of seven questions that I ask myself, but … one I ask is, ‘Do I really love these people?’” Francis knew that he had made a name for himself, but he also knew that sometimes success must be sacrificed to serve God.

In fact, love led Francis to leave the mega church he’d founded. He wanted to pursue an image of the church where the members equally loved and edified one another.

Francis told the audience about times he’d deeply felt love for his fellow staff members at his church, but he admitted there were also times the same people were difficult to love.

One night, he went to dinner with one of those men and his wife. Francis enjoyed himself and thought the couple was doing fine, that is he assumed they were doing fine.

However, a few days later that couple’s serious marital issues became public knowledge. Francis had spent a whole evening with them and didn’t have a hint of what they were really suffering.

Instead of actively loving his staff and congregation, Francis found that he “was just getting the message across.” What if he had loved that couple enough to ask the right questions? Francis knew the love that Jesus expected from his church was active and engaging, not just people delivering and listening to a sermon.

As Francis continued to study the Scriptures, he could not escape how many times the Bible said that Christians should love one another. One passage he returned to over and over read, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another,” (John 13: 34, NIV).

This inspired Francis to leave the mega church to pursue a new, smaller church structure, where members were intimately involved with each other’s lives. With this form of church, there was simply no way for him to avoid asking the question of whether he loved the people he saw face to face. Their success was defined by the degree of love they shared.

The standard God expects of us is that we love one another as Jesus loves us—an impossible standard by natural means. But Francis pointed out that our love was “not supposed to be natural—it’s supernatural,” empowered through Christ himself.

For the next twenty-four hours, challenge yourself: when others talk to you, put down your phone and give them the attention that love requires. Success may draw people to us; laying it aside may draw people to God.

“Francis Chan.” Christianity Today. Accessed August 2, 2020. https://www.christianitytoday.com/pastors/contributors/francis-chan.html

“Francis Chan Bio.” Just Stop and Think. Accessed August 2, 2020 http://www.juststopandthink.com/francis-chan-bio.

Klett, Leah MarieAnn. “Francis Chan Discovers Link between Birth Mother, Move to Hong Kong: ‘It’s Confirmation of God’s Goodness.’” Christian Post Reporter. March 11, 2020. https://www.christianpost.com/news/francis-chan-discovers-link-between-birth-mother-move-to-hong-kong-its-confirmation-of-gods-goodness.html

Chan, Francis. “How Deep The Father’s Love For Us (Alliance Council). Crazy Love Ministries, http://crazylove.org/podcasts/57 Accessed 15 December 2018

Thompson, Keith. “Francis Chan | Why I Left The Megachurch I Created.” YouTube. Published 4 July 2017. Accessed 16 December 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ9Yeq-t

Chan, Francis. Letters to the Church, Colorado Springs: David C Cook, 2018, 72.

Story read by Chuck Stecker

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April 17. Bob Goff. Bob is a lawyer, professor, and a NY Times best-selling author. In 2003, Bob founded Restore International, a non-profit human rights organization, to “find daring, productive, and effective ways to fight the injustices committed against children.” His goal is to restore justice to those without a voice—children and poor people. He provides legal assistance, education, and food.

His books encourage others to live extraordinary lives, too. On this date in 2018, Bob released his second book, Everybody Always.

In spite of his busy schedule, Bob makes himself more available, not less, to those who want to talk to him, which means almost a million readers have his cell-phone number. He says that living with constant interruptions is what Jesus did.

Taking a bigger step may be the seed that grows the impossible.

Bob Goff calls himself “a recovering lawyer.” With a passion to spread love everywhere he goes and to encourage others to do the same, he lives out the Gospel at every opportunity. Whether helping a dying widow cross off bucket-list items or defending helpless children from witch doctors, Bob’s life is defined by love in action.

In Uganda, witch doctors have an unofficial immunity. They can torment anyone they want for their own gain. Young boys are of particular interest to them because the boys’ body parts are believed to give them added power. Children are disappearing every week, and the government’s efforts to stop this do little good. This practice has been going on for centuries, and in the last decade, it’s been getting worse.

Kabi, the leader of the witch doctors in the north, was on the move, and eight-year-old Charlie was his next victim. This case was different from a thousand others only because this time Charlie lived to talk about what the witch doctors did to him. Now Bob had a case.

With a deep love for children, and 25 years as a lawyer, Bob stepped in to get Kabi prosecuted and bring this evil system to justice. Kabi went to prison for life. This was the first time in Ugandan history this had happened.

But Charlie’s family abandoned him because of the atrocity, and Bob became Charlie’s legal guardian.

“The minute he attacked Charlie, Kabi became my enemy,” Bob said. “It’s easy to talk a good game about loving your enemies until you have one. I realized if I wanted big things to happen in my life, I’d need to take bigger steps and risk more than I had before, so I decided to visit Kabi in prison.”

With the same love that compelled Bob to love Charlie, Bob walked in to Luzira Maximum Security Prison, where Kabi had been incarcerated, one of the scariest places on the planet, and asked to see Kabi.

“Kabi entered the dark room where I was waiting,” Bob said. “He had no shoes and was wearing a torn, dirty prison uniform.” He seemed remorseful.

He told Bob, “I know I am going to die in this place; what I need is forgiveness.” Kabi came to Christ in that dark room and began to learn about Jesus.

During his next prison visit, Bob asked the warden if they could share Jesus with the men in Luzira. “At first he waved me off, but then, as if I’d done a Jedi move, he said he’d let Kabi talk to them.” Bob and Kabi soon found themselves standing before the 3,000 death-row prisoners.

Not as enemies, but as brothers, Bob held Kabi’s hand as Kabi shared what Jesus had done in him. “Every guy in that place knew who Kabi was and what he had done, and more than a few knew I was the guy who put him there.” When Kabi finished speaking, hundreds of men walked toward them. The men on death row wanted to know about this Jesus who could reconcile such obvious enemies. <.p>

“But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you,” (Luke 6: 27–28, NIV).

Are there enemies in your life God is asking you to forgive? Taking a bigger step may be the seed that grows the impossible.

“Bob Goff Author Profile.” New Release Today. June 30, 2012. https://www.newreleasetoday.com/authordetail.php?aut_id=1018

Rogers, Joshua. “Five Questions With Bob Goff.” Boundless. Focus on the Family. October 13, 2014.

https://www.boundless.org/blog/five-questions-with-a-new-york-times-best-selling-author/

Seither, Marci. “Bob Goff’s Audacious Parenting Adventure.” Focus on the Family. November 1, 2017.

https://www.focusonthefamily.com/Bparenting/Bbob-goffs-audacious-parenting-adventure/

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/09/26/witch-doctors-sacrificing-children-drought-stricken-african-country-uganda/703756001/

https://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2011/s3344511.htm

Everyone Always, Bob Goff, Nashville, Tennessee, Nelson Books, 2018

http://www.100huntley.com/watch?id=227620 Exclusive interview with Bob Goff

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

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April 16. Richard Baxter. On this date in 1641, Baxter began his 17-year-long pastorate at Kidderminster.

He was a man full of contrasts. In church matters, he was a non-conformist (not an Anglican), but he always urged the church to be united. In theological matters, he adopted positions that suited neither the Calvinists nor the Armenians. In political matters, he supported the monarchy, but he served as chaplain to the Parliamentary Army.

Baxter was a simple parish pastor, yet he was the most prominent English churchman of the 1600s. Although he was largely self-taught, he wrote more than 200 works.

More than 400 years after his death, pastors urge other pastors to read and reflect on this model shepherd whose motto was, “In necessary things, unity; in doubtful things, liberty; in all things, charity.”

Affliction can prepare ordinary men for extraordinary tasks.

His whole life, Richard Baxter suffered from chronic illness that left him weak and uncertain if he’d breathe a next breath.

But when he was 23, he so badly wanted to help people know Jesus that he decided to go into the ministry. He said, “Expecting to be so quickly in another world, the great concernments of miserable souls, did prevail with me against all these impediments …” Baxter believed that if God used him to win one or two souls to Christ, it would be worth all his suffering.

He wanted to minister to an area where people hadn’t already heard the gospel, and this led him to the people of Kidderminster—a town of 800 families made up of crude-handloom workers. The place was infamous for its ignorance and depravity.

After Baxter preached his first sermon with scarcely one family from each street in attendance, he was unanimously elected minister. He spoke on the importance of church discipline and taking the Lord’s Supper. Though he had little education, he was a compelling speaker. His immense knowledge was evident. He could readily quote from any of the hundreds of books that lined his shelves.

Baxter went from house to house. The families he visited seriously thought about the things Baxter shared, and many of them cried.

Baxter said, “Some ignorant persons, who have been so long unprofitable hearers, have got more knowledge and remorse of conscience in half an hour’s close disclosure, than they did from ten year’s public preaching.” He’d leave a chosen book or two from his library for each family to read.

Soon, great crowds flocked to hear Baxter, even though his sermons were an hour long, and he read straight from a manuscript. The building held 1,000, and it was soon full. The crowds grew so much that five galleries had to be built to accommodate all of the people. On any given day, hundreds of families were singing psalms or repeating Sunday sermons in their homes.

Concerning the rapid growth Baxter said, “When I first entered on my labors, I took special notice of every one that was humbled, reformed, or converted; when I had labored long it pleased God that the converts were so many … families and considerable numbers at once came in and grew up I scarce knew how.”

“[Jacob] named the second Ephraim, ‘For,’ he said, ‘God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction,’” (Genesis 41: 52, ASV).

Baxter continued to have pain, but instead of growing bitter, he saw his pains as blessings God used to mold him for greater ministry. He said, “I humbly bless his gracious providence, who gave me his treasure in an earthen vessel and trained me up in the school of affliction.…” This he said allowed him to preach with compassion “as a dying man, to dying men.”

How are you allowing God to use the tool of affliction in your life to prepare you for the extraordinary tasks that lie ahead? Affliction can prepare ordinary men for extraordinary tasks.

Beeke, Joel, and Randall J. Pederson. “Richard Baxter.” Meet the Puritans. Reformation Heritage Books. Monergism.com. Accessed August 1, 2020.

https://www.monergism.com

Belli, Andrew. “Richard Baxter: 400 Years Later, Still a Model Pastor.” The Gospel Coalition. November 12, 2015.

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/richard-baxter-400-years-later-still-model-pastor/

“Richard Baxter: Moderate in an Age of Extremes.” Christianity Today. Accessed August 1, 2020.

C. Syndney Carter, Great Churchmen: Richard Baxter, (London: Church Book Room Press, Ltd. , n.d. ), p.6

Brister, Tim. Who Is Richard Baxter? 4 November 2008. 1 January 2019.

http://timmybrister.com/2008/11/who-is-richard-baxter

Hulse, Erroll. Banner of Truth. 18 January 2005. 29 December 2018.

https://banneroftruth.org/us/resources/articles/2005/the-zeal-of-richard-baxter

Hulse, Erroll. 2005. Banner of Truth. January 18. Accessed December 29, 2018 https://banneroftruth.org/us/resources/articles/2005/the-zeal-of-richard-baxter/

Bacon, L. (1931). Select Practical Writings of Richard Baxter with a Life of The Author. New Haven: Durrie & Peck. Accessed 9 Dec. 2018.

https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=ldkOAAAAIAAJ&hl=en&pg=GBS.PA

Story read by Daniel Carpenter

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April 15. Jackie Robinson. Jackie was playing in an all-Black league, when someone was man enough to ask the uber-star-athlete Jackie Robinson to come in for an interview with the Dodgers. The agent Clyde Sukeforth was sent to see Jackie play. Unfortunately, Jackie was recovering from a shoulder injury and didn’t play.

Sukeforth brought Jackie back to New York anyway, and people commented that they were scouting a man’s character more than baseball skills. To get Jackie to the meeting, Sukeforth had to pay $2 to an operator to allow Jackie to use the whites-only elevator. They took a train overnight, and the fact that the two men—one Black and one white—shared the Pullman car turned heads. It was the start of change that was long over-due.

On this date in 1947, at significant personal risk, Jackie Robinson became the first African American to play Major League Baseball. It was the Dodgers against the Boston Braves, and Jackie played first base. More than 25,000 spectators at Ebbets Field watched 28-year-old Jackie make his Major League Baseball debut.

Opportunity and trouble can have a common denominator: Risk.

In America, in 1945, we had the Jim Crow laws—a collection of state and local laws that made racial segregation legal. While many Americans wanted to end the shameful practice of segregation, others fought to keep things the same. And baseball was one of the most segregated sports. Talented black athletes didn’t even dream of playing in the majors.

But when Dodgers’ scout Clyde Sukeforth leaned over the dugout, introduced himself to Jackie, and said he represented the Dodgers, Jackie had to risk dreaming.

At first Jackie, who played in the professional Negro league, blew-off Sukeforth. He told his teammates about the encounter, and they all had a good laugh.

After the game, Jackie dressed with one thought in mind: dinner. But Sukeforth waited outside the dressing room. Jackie tried to ignore him, but the man was so respectful that Jackie had to listen to him.

“Sukeforth … was ready to take me on the most important journey I’d ever taken,” Jackie later wrote. “ … to [Branch Rickey] … who could grant me an opportunity in a field never before opened to my people.”

But the decision was shrouded in risk. Jackie would have to walk away from his present success—and steady paycheck. If he went with Sukeforth and failed, he’d be the laughing stock of baseball. The guy dumb enough to believe a Negro might get a chance to play in the Majors.

But what if he could?

In the night sky, a brilliant star drew his gaze. “Maybe that star is especially bright for you tonight,” thought Jackie. “Maybe Someone is trying to lead you. Maybe He is up there trying to tell you to go see Mr. Rickey.” Jackie risked a new dream, and the sparkling star seemed to shine right on him.

Branch Rickey, Dodger’s President, offered Jackie a straight path to the majors. But first he was brutally candid about Jackie’s future, acting out scenarios of racial hatred with such fervor that Jackie found himself chain-gripping his fingers behind his back.

Rickey asked Jackie if he was man enough to turn the other check. “We can only win if we can convince the world … you’re a great ballplayer and a fine gentleman. You will symbolize a crucial cause. One incident, just one incident, can set it back twenty years.”

Robinson risked another life-altering decision, “If you want to take this gamble, I will promise you there will be no incident.” And there wasn’t.

God saw beyond society’s limitations to the future He’d planned for Jackie. God sees more for you than your circumstances dictate, too.

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end,” (Jeremiah 29: 11, ASV).

How can you cooperate with God’s plans for your future? Opportunity and trouble can have a common denominator: Risk.

Jackie Robinson: My Own Story. http://www.historynet.com/jackie-robinson

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

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April 14. Chad Robichaux. Chad has been a Force Recon Marine—eight deployments in Afghanistan. He has been a detective—that is a Surveillance Detection Senior Program Manager with the US State Department and a Special Agent with the US Federal Air Marshal Service—and received the Medal of Valor. He has been a professional Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) World Champion, and he is a third-degree black belt.

Chad is president and founder of Mighty Oaks Foundation, a nonprofit organizations that serves military and first-responder communities. The Foundation offers faith-based combat trauma and resiliency programs, and they see lives healed.

Chad has spoken to more than 150,000 active-duty troops and led life-saving programs for more than 3,300 active military and veterans.

He has written five best-selling books related to veteran care. Is it any wonder his life-story is being made into a feature-length movie?

Things could have gone differently. That could have been a terribly short movie. Here’s how it went.

Success isn’t final. Failure’s not fatal. What counts is the guts to keep going.

Chad Robichaux, the golden-boy Force Recon Marine, sat in a dark closet with his gun, and he could only think of one way out. Eight tours in Afghanistan had trashed his life.

Chad thought about all the evil he’d seen day after day, what one man can do to another, what hatred can do to a culture, what the constant violence had done to him.

Chad couldn’t make sense of it, couldn’t process it, couldn’t live with it. He’d gone to Afghanistan to do something right. So how had he come back so filled with evil?

He couldn’t be that man full of pain and hate in Afghanistan and then come home to his family and suddenly be someone different.

The man who came home said and did hateful things, and he didn’t care that he said and did hateful things. Here, in the dark, in the closet, alone with his gun, Chad wondered why he didn’t care.

At the end of his last tour of duty, he’d lost control, and his life crashed down around him. Repeatedly he felt numb in his face, hands, and feet. He felt like his airway was swelling shut, and he had full-blown panic attacks. He couldn’t remember things. ““I was a runaway train looking for a place to crash.”

Chad morphed from the really ugly person Afghanistan had made him to a weak-and-broken man. He was removed from the task force—like going from the star player to being kicked out of the game. They sent him home to face a new enemy … Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Chad’s pride was shattered. Being sent home left a big void in his life that he had to fill.

He thought mastering Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) was an answer. And for a while it worked. It didn’t give him time to think about Afghanistan. He did become a world champion, but it didn’t solve his problem.

Chad’s failure to deal with the issues that brought on PTSD resulted in separating from Kathy, selling their home, and planning for divorce. Their children were devastated.

While he sat in the closet, thinking how could he take his life and make it look like an accident to spare his children, Kathy turned to her relationship with God. She prayed for Him to let her see Chad the way He did, to help her to forgive him as God forgave him.

And God answered.

Holding divorce papers, Kathy knocked on the closet door. When Chad opened it, she asked him, “How could you do all the things you have done in the military, in Afghanistan, and as an MMA fighter and never quit, but when it came to our family you quit?”

Chad had never been called a quitter. But she was right; he’d quit being a husband and a father. PTSD had stranded him on the edge of a cliff, and he was the one responsible.

At that moment Chad decided he wanted to live again. There was a fight to win, and it was the biggest of his life. “My wife had fought for me when I was weak, and now it was my turn to fight for her.” When Chad submitted his life to Christ and walked in relationship with Him, he discovered that PTSD no longer controlled his life.

Now, Chad and Kathy help veterans and their families get victory over PTSD through their Mighty Oaks Warrior Program. They share their story of hope to end the tragedy of 22 veterans committing suicide every day and the failure of 80 percent of marriages in the military.

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh,” (Ezekiel 36: 26, NIV).

Are you trying to survive on your own? Success isn’t final. Failure’s not fatal. What counts is the guts to keep going.

This story is based on an interview with Craig Garland.

Story read by Blake Mattocks
Story written by: Thomas Mitchellhttp://www.walkwithgod.org/

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