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Key Bible Verse: "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him" (John 6:44a). Bonus Reading: John 16:7-11

While in the Navy, I stole a Gideon Bible from a hotel, took it to the base and, after reading the New Testament three times, was saved. For my remaining two years in the Navy, I prayed for my parents and my two brothers almost every day. When I got out, I was so psyched up for my family to believe in Jesus that I "dumped the truck" on them. That produced a lot of tension.

From then on, I had to pray and wait for clear opportunities to talk about my faith. Seven years later, my father was heavily into drinking and often gone for days at a time. During one of these times, my mother made her commitment to God.

I had a bad relationship with my father, and he did not respond well to discussions about faith. To be heard, I had to work on my relationship with him and wait him out. I started going into the beer joints with him. One night he called me and said he wanted to become a Christian. I said, "Dad, you're drunk." He admitted he was but said he'd sober up if I'd come see him the next day. I did, and we talked. Three weeks later he declared his faith in Jesus. That was 22 years after my conversion.

—Don Fields in Finding God Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Adapted from Lil Copan & Elisa Fryling, Finding God Between a Rock and a Hard Place (Shaw, 1999).

NOTE: For your convenience, Finding God Between a Rock and a Hard Place is available in the ChristianityToday.com Shopping Channel.

Prayer for the Week

I praise you, Father, because you are at work in my family.

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