Inspirational Short Stories for April

"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believed in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condem the world, but to save the world through Him." (John 3: 16 & 17)

Story # 1 - THE SACRIFICE

After a few of the usual Sunday evening hymns, the Church’s Pastor slowly stood up, walked over to the pulpit and before he gave his sermon for the evening, he briefly introduced a guest minister who was in the service that evening.

In the introduction, the Pastor told the congregation that the guest minister was one of his dearest childhood friends and that he wanted him to have a few moments to greet the Church and share whatever he felt would be appropriate for the service. With that, an elderly man stepped up to the pulpit and began to speak.

"A father, his son and a friend of his son were sailing off the Pacific Coast,” he began, “when a fast approaching storm blocked any attempt to get back to the shore.
The waves were so high, that even though the father was an experienced sailor, he could not keep the boat upright and the three were swept into the ocean as the boat capsized.”

The old man hesitated for a moment making eye contact with two teenagers who were, for the first time since the service began, looking somewhat interested in his story.

The aged minister continued with his story, “Grabbing a rescue line, the father had to make the most excruciating decision of his life: To which boy would he throw the other end of the life line? He only had seconds to make the decision. The father knew that his son was a Christian and he, also, knew that his son’s friend was not. The agony of his decision could not be matched by the torrent of the waves.

As the father yelled out, ‘I love you, SON!’ He threw out the life line to his son’s friend. By the time the father had pulled the friend back to the capsized boat, his son had disappeared beneath the raging swells into the black of night. His body was never recovered.”

By this time, the two teenagers were sitting up straight in the pew, anxiously waiting for the next words to come out of the old minister’s mouth. "The father,” he continued, “knew his son would step into eternity with Jesus and he could not bear the thought of his son’s friend stepping into an eternity without Jesus.. Therefore, he sacrificed his son to save the son’s friend.

How great is the love of God that He should do the same for us. Our Heavenly Father sacrificed His only Begotten Son that we could be saved. I urge you to accept His offer to rescue you and take a hold of the life line He is throwing out to you in this service.”

With that, the old man turned and sat back down in his chair as silence filled the room. The Pastor again walked slowly to the pulpit and delivered a brief sermon with an invitation at the end. However, no one responded to the appeal.

Within minutes after the service ended, the two teenagers were at the old man’s side. “That was a nice story,” politely stated one of them, “but I don’t think it was very realistic for a father to give up his only son’s life line in hopes that the other boy would become a Christian.”

“Well, you’ve got a point there.” the old man replied, glancing down at his worn Bible. A bid smile broadened his narrow face. He once again looked up at the boys and said. “It sure isn’t very realistic, is it? But, I’m standing here today to tell you that story gives me a glimpse of what it must have been like for God to give up His Son for me.

YOU SEE...

I WAS THAT FATHER AND YOUR PASTOR IS MY SON'S FRIEND."

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Here's a story that will bring you chills. Have you ever felt the urge to pray for someone and then just put it on a list and said, "I'll pray for them later"? Or has anyone called you and said, "I need you to pray for me, I have this need?" and we put it off to later because we are too busy?

We received this story sent to us. Read it as it may it change the way you think about prayer and also the way you pray.

Story # 2 - 26 Guards.

A missionary on furlough told this true story while visiting his home church in Michigan."While serving at a small field hospital in Africa, every two weeks I traveled by bicycle through the jungle to a nearby city for supplies. This was a journey of two days and required camping overnight at the halfway point.

On one of these journeys, I arrived in the city where I planned to collect money from a bank, purchase medicine, and supplies, and then begin my two-day journey back to the field hospital.

Upon arrival in the city, I observed two men fighting, one of whom had been seriously injured. I treated him for his injuries and at the same time talked to him about the Lord.
I then traveled two days, camping overnight, and arrived home without incident. Two weeks later I repeated my journey. Upon arriving in the city, I was approached by the young man I had treated. He told me that he had known I carried money and medicines.

He said, some friends and I followed you into the jungle, knowing you would camp overnight. We planned to kill you and take your money and drugs. But just as we were about to move into your camp, we saw that you were surrounded by 26 armed guards. At this, I laughed and said that I was certainly all alone in that jungle campsite. The young man pressed the point, however, and said, 'No, sir, I was not the only person to see the guards, my friends also saw them, and we all counted them. It was because of those guards that we were afraid and left you alone.' At this point in the sermon, one of the men in the congregation jumped to his feet and interrupted the missionary and asked if he could tell him the exact day this happened.

The missionary told the congregation the date, and the man who interrupted told him this story:
"On the night of your incident in Africa, it was morning here and I was preparing to go play golf. I was about to put when I felt the urge to pray for you. In fact, the urging of the Lord was so strong, I called men in this church to meet with me here in the sanctuary to pray for you. Would all of those men who met with me on that day stand up?"

The men who had met together to pray that day stood up. The missionary wasn't concerned with who they were, he was too busy counting how many men he saw. There were 26.

This story is an incredible example of how the Spirit of the Lord moves in mysterious ways. If you ever hear such prodding, go along with it.

Nothing is ever hurt by prayer except the gates of hell. If we all take prayer to heart, we can turn this world toward God once again. As the above true story clearly illustrates, "with God all things are possible" and God hears and answers the prayers of the faithful. God does work in mysterious ways.

Let us all spend some some time today to pray for someone we know. Pray for God to guide them and protect them as they go along their way. Pray for God's love to be felt by them, His promises to be true to them, and when they give Him their cares, they know that He will see them through. When the road they are traveling on seems difficult, may they know and realise that someone is praying for them and have committed them to God.