Love

Joni Erickson Tada had a terrible accident that left her a quadriplegic. In spite of her physical limitations she became an accomplished author and artist. Over 25 years ago she married her husband, Ken. For her wedding she had planned to come down the center aisle in her motorized wheel chair. Just before her grand entrance she noticed two distressing problems. First, she had rolled over her beautiful gown and made a big grease spot and tear in it. Then, the flowers in her lap had slipped and had lodged between her leg and the chair.

When John Adams, our second president, was living in Philadelphia he and Abigail befriended a boy of African descent named James Prince. The local school refused to allow him to attend. Mrs. Adams demanded that the boy be allowed to attend. She said, “Is this the Christian principle of doing unto others as we would have others do to us? I hope that we shall all go to Heaven together!”

Source: John Adams, David McCullough

A thirty-six year old mother was discovered to be in the advanced stages of terminal cancer. One doctor advised her to spend her remaining days on vacation. A second physician offered her the hope of living two more years with the grueling side effects of radiation. She penned the following words to her three small children:

Madalyn Murray O’Hair vanished in 1995. When her diaries were found she often cried, “Somebody, somewhere please love me.”

Source: Unknown

Corrie Ten Boom and her family resisted the Nazis by hiding Jews in their home. They were ultimately discovered and sent to a concentration camp. Corrie barely survived until the end of the war; her family members died in captivity. Seared by this terrible trial by fire, Corrie’s faith in God also survived, and she spent much of her time in the post-war years traveling in Germany and elsewhere in Europe, sharing her faith in Christ.

The story is told of a woman who left her husband. The husband called the police and filed a “missing persons report.” A few weeks later the police found her a few counties over. They asked him if he wanted them to take him to her. By now the husband had realized how poorly he had treated his wife. He decided to write his wife, and he did for months. Finally, Christmas came, and he went to see her (she was in a run down hotel). He asked her to come home and she did. On the way home he said, “I’ve written you for months, why did you come home so easily?”

Alexander Solzhenitsyn was a prisoner in a Soviet prison in Siberia. He became so weak and discouraged that he wished he would die. The guards would beat and usually kill anyone that stopped working. He decided to stop working so that the guards would kill him. As soon as he did so, another Christian drew a cross where Alexander could see it.

Alexander said that he was encouraged by remembering that God gives hope and courage. He decided to continue working because of a Christian who cared too much to let him give up.

Lauren McCain was one of the students killed at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007. The freshman from Shawnee, Oklahoma left a powerful statement about her faith on her personal web site. The 20-year-old had written, “The purpose and love of my life is Jesus Christ. I don’t have to argue religion, philosophy, or historical evidence because I KNOW Him.”

Source: The New York Times

A young man, who was to return home and be married, came sooner than was expected. He did not notify his bride-to-be of the exact time. He desired to please her with a surprise. He loved her devotedly and had worked hard and saved his earnings in order to purchase a home for her. It was about midnight when he arrived, but, with a happy heart, he felt he must go by her home. However, when he came near he saw the house was all lighted up. As he came nearer he heard music. Still nearer he saw dancing.

On a hot summer day in south Florida a little boy decided to go for a swim in the old swimming hole behind his house.

In a hurry to dive into the cool water, he ran out the back door, leaving behind shoes, socks, and shirt as he went. He flew into the water, not realizing that as he swam toward the middle of the lake, an alligator was swimming toward the shore.

A Hebrew lady once told how seeing another Christian’s faith converted her: She was fleeing the German Gestapo in France during World War II. She knew she was close to being caught and she wanted to give up. She came to the home of a French Huguenot. A widow lady met her and said that it was time to flee to a new place. This Jewish lady said, “It’s no use, they will find me anyway. They are so close behind.” The Christian widow said, “Yes, they will find someone here, but it’s time for you to leave.

One night a cobbler dreamed that the next day Jesus was coming to visit him. The dream seemed so real that he got up very early the next morning and hurried to the woods, where he gathered green boughs to decorate his shop for the arrival of so great a Guest. He waited all morning, but, to his disappointment, his shop remained quiet, except for an old man who limped up to the door asking to come in for a few minutes of warmth.

The historian Xenophon states, that when Cyrus had taken captives including a young prince of Armenia with his young and beautiful wife, of whom he was remarkably fond, they were brought before the tribunal of Cyrus to receive their sentence. The warrior inquired of the prince what he would give to be reinstated in his kingdom; and he replied, that he valued his crown and his liberty at a very low rate, but that if the noble conqueror would restore his beloved wife to her former dignity and possessions, he would willingly pay his life for the purchase.

“The term Stockholm Syndrome first occurred in 1973 at an attempted bank robbery in Stockholm, Sweden. A man tried to rob a bank, and the police caught him inside. He took three female hostages and one male hostage and held them for 131 hours, during which time he terrorized them. He fired his Russian automatic assault weapon at them. He threatened to kill them on numerous occasions. He put nooses around their necks and threatened to hang them. But he didn’t harm any of them.

The English artist George Romney fell in love and married a young lady, but then left her so that he could pursue his career wholeheartedly (although he did support her financially). His paintings brought him much income, but he eventually became too old to work and went back to his wife who took care of him until he passed away. The spirit that his wife showed in caring for him was worth more than all the paintings he ever produced.

We often ignore Christ until we need Him, but He always loves us and stands ready to forgive and restore us.

I visited one who was ill in bed; and, after having buried seven of her family in six months, had just heard that the eighth, her beloved husband, was cast away at sea. I asked, “Do not you fret at any of those things?” She said, with a lovely smile upon her pale cheek, “O, no! How can I fret at anything which is the will of God? Let Him take all besides: He has given me Himself. I love, I praise Him every moment.”

Source: John Wesley's Journal, April 21, 1764

Submitted by the homiletics class of West Coast Baptist College

First year of marriage: “Sugar dumpling, I’m really worried about my baby girl. You’ve got a bad sniffle and there’s no telling about these things with all the strep going around. I’m putting you in the hospital this afternoon for a general checkup and a good rest. I know the food’s lousy but I’ll be bringing your meals in from Rozzini’s. I already have it all arranged with the floor superintendent.”

Second year: “Listen darling, I don’t like the sound of that cough. I’ve called Doc Miller to rush over here. Now you go to bed like a good girl, just for Poppa.”

Girl: “Do you love me?”

Boy: “Yes, Dear.”

Girl: “Would you die for me?”

Boy: “No. Mine is an undying love.”

Source: Unknown

Submitted by the homiletics class of West Coast Baptist College

Newspaper columnist George Crane told the story of a wife who came into his office wanting to divorce her husband. She said, “I do not only want to get rid of him, I want to get even. Before I divorce him, I want to hurt him as much as he has me.”

“If I had a brother who had been murdered, what would you think of me if I ... daily consorted with the assassin who drove the dagger into my brother’s heart; surely I too must be an accomplice in the crime. Sin murdered Christ; will you be a friend to it? Sin pierced the heart of the incarnate God; can you love it?”—Charles Spurgeon

Source: One Thousand Evangelistic Illustrations, Aquilla Webb

Submitted by the homiletics class of West Coast Baptist College