This week we visited a different church, and found that this week they had a visiting speaker. He had an interesting story to tell….
His telephone had rung one day a week or so back, and he had answered it to find the elder of the church on the line. “Will be willing to speak at our church next week?” the elder asked.
“Sure,” our speaker had responded, and on his calendar he marked Speak at L——– church on the 17th. Well, you and I both know that the date he was should have written that on was the 10th. Unfortunately, he was blissfully ignorant of his mistake.
The weekend rolled around, and on the morning of the 10th he received a phone call from his brother. “Hey, I was wondering if we could ride to the L——– church together this morning?”
“The L——– church?” our speaker responded, “Why there?”
“….How about because you’re speaking there….”
After a long moment of silence, our speaker responded that he thought he was speaking the next week. His brother explained that he wouldn’t normally have called on a church day, but, on a whim of visiting the L——– church had texted the elder of to see who would be speaking. He didn’t even know that his brother was supposed to be the speaker there, until the elder had texted back saying that he was. Needless to say, our speaker hurriedly got off the phone to get ready for church. As he rode to his speaking destination with his brother, he had to brainstorm what he was going to do for a sermon. Suddenly it struck him how miraculous it was that his brother had even called, and he decided to talk about modern-day miracles.
Fortunately, he had one other modern-day miracle story to share with us….
Not long ago–about a generation before us–a farming family in North Dakota was preparing for the harvest. There was a lot at stake with their crops–they had bills to pay and were depending on the profits they would receive. And their hopes were high. The crop was beautiful and almost ready to be harvested.
Come August, however, dreaded news arrived: The army worms were moving in! Army worms are about an inch long caterpillar-type worm that eats everything green in it’s path–everything! When the army worms move into your fields, you might as well consider yourself broke! Neighbors began calling saying that the worms were getting in their fields, and everyone in the area made a mad scramble to order insecticides and crop sprayers.
Yet, when this family tried to order insecticide and sprayers, they found there would be none available until the Sabbath day. Well, not for one moment did they even consider breaking the Sabbath–not even to save their fields and their livelihood. The father gathered his family into the living room for prayer. He then asked God, not to keep the army worms out of their fields, but to give their family the courage to trust Him no matter what happened.
Come Sunday, everyone piled into the truck to go check the fields–wondering if there were any fields left! As they drove nearer, however, they saw their crops standing tall and strong, obviously untouched. All around their field the grass and foliage had been clipped bare by the chewing army worms, but at the very edge of their fields, the army worms had suddenly stopped their destructive nibbling. God had worked a miracle on their behalf!
How did the speaker know that this was a modern-day miracle? Because it had happened to his mother and her family! Friends, we serve an all-powerful God who still works miracles today, if we’re willing to trust Him!
Sarah E. Brown 