Sermon Illustrations
Biker Survives Collision with Flying Mattress
You might have heard someone describe an especially jarring or surprising event using the phrase "hit me like a freight train." One Australian biker, however, can now use a more personal expression in the future: "hit me like a flying mattress." Aaron Wood was riding his motorcycle at about 50 MPH through a tunnel near Brisbane, Australia, when an unsecured mattress in the back of a pickup truck in front of him caught some wind and blew backwards-directly into Wood. "I thought I was a goner," said Wood. Miraculously, however, rather than knocking him off his motorcycle, the mattress became lodged underneath his front tire and actually enabled Wood to slow the bike down enough to jump off unscathed. "I have been riding for 20 years and never had something like this happen," Wood said. Almost as miraculous as his survival, though, is the location of the incident-directly under a tunnel security camera.
Potential Preaching Angle: Many personal salvation stories carry with them tales of being "hit by a freight train" (or mattress) at the point of understanding the depth of sin and the grandeur of redemption. Remarkably, however, the salvation that brings our worldly lives crashing down is the same salvation that cushions our fall.