Dear friends,
If you’re like me, you are watching the news less frequently these days. That could be because you are busy with summer activities, but it is more likely because the amount of violence portrayed on television is hard to watch. Seeing children injured or killed is heart-wrenching. It is also very sad to hear of children who are afflicted with a life-threatening disease. A prayer request that came to my attention recently is for a young boy named Caleb. He is fighting a form of leukemia and his parents are making plans to relocate to Montreal from a remote part of Quebec, after living at a Ronald McDonald house for nearly a year.
This afternoon I received a phone call from JP, who has lived in a facility for mental health patients for most of his adult life. He told me that he has gone five days without hearing voices and attributes this to a reduction in the amount of medication that he has been taking. I told him that I asked people earlier this week to pray for him. JP has gone through many highs and lows in recent months, but is reading the Bible that I took him last month.
Did you see the four American runners who knelt to pray after winning the gold medal in the women’s medley race at the Summer Olympics in Rio? It was tremendous to watch them run and even more wonderful to see them thank the Lord after the race. The microphone near the track picked up “In Jesus’ name” at the end of their prayer!
Watching the track events reminded me of the “Flying Scotsman” who refused to run on a Sunday in the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris. Eric Liddell entered the 400-metre race, which was not scheduled on Sunday, and won a gold medal while setting a world record (www.christianity.com/church/church-history/church-history-for-kids/eric-liddell-greater-than-gold-11634861.html). Within a year of his victory, he was “sent off” from Edinburgh by more than 1,000 well-wishers, as he followed in his father’s footsteps to be a missionary in China. His physical conditioning from training as a sprinter would prove to be valuable in walking and biking in rugged rural areas where he took the gospel message.
According to an article by David J. Michell entitled “The Last Triumph of Eric Liddell” (published by “Power for Living” on February 12, 1984), Eric persuaded a workman to go with him during a time of increasing hostilities between the Japanese and Chinese, to rescue a wounded man in an abandoned temple. After putting the man in their cart, they came upon a man
with a deep gash in his head, which had been inflicted by a soldier who intended to kill him. Eric and his helper walked the two men 18 miles to the mission hospital and the second man became a follower of Christ. Eric Liddell died of a brain tumour on February 21, 1945 at the age of 43.
Scripture for the weekend: “He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.” Luke 16:10 (NASB)
Thought for the weekend: “Too often we plan our projects and then ask God to bless them; but Nehemiah didn’t make that mistake. He sat down and wept (Neh. 1:4), knelt down and prayed, and then stood up and worked because he knew he had the blessing of the Lord on what he was doing.” – Warren W. Wiersbe (from his book “Be Determined”)
By His grace,
Steve