Sermon Illustrations
God and Truth Relieve Agony
Lloyd John Ogilvie, chaplain of the United States Senate, recalls:
Senator Max Cleland, who lost both of his legs and his right hand in Vietnam, came to the Bible study withdrawn and tired. Another senator said, "Max, are you all right?"
"Not really," he said. "I've been having the same dream for 30 years. I accidentally drop that grenade, and I leap on it, and it explodes and blows my legs off."
That night, the study group gathered around Max and prayed that the Lord would heal that memory.
Two days later the History Channel broadcast his story just as he remembered it. A man from Annapolis saw it and phoned Max: "Senator, you have the story all wrong. That wasn't your grenade. It was a young recruit behind you who had opened the pins on his grenades before jumping out of the helicopter. One of them popped out of the belt and rolled on the ground. You leaped on it to save us all. I wrapped you up myself and got you to the hospital. I was on the helicopter; I know how it happened."
Max came to the next Bible study a new man. He said a gigantic load had been lifted off his shoulders.
The study group had been studying Romans 8:28, where in the Greek, God (not "all things") is the subject of the sentence: "God works all things together for good." So now, when Senator Cleland is hurrying around in his wheelchair, he'll call out to the Senate Chaplain, "Remember, things don't work out; God works out things."