Protection of God

The owners of Captain's Quarters Riverside Grille in Kentucky have come up with a unique strategy to protect their restaurant from floodwaters. As the Ohio River floodwaters encroached, co-owner Andrew Masterson shared their plan: intentionally flooding the building with clean water to keep the dirty floodwaters out. In a Facebook live video, Masterson demonstrated how he and his team used sinks, faucets, and a well water pump to fill the restaurant with about six feet of fresh water. "We disconnected kitchen equipment and electrical panels beforehand," Masterson explained.

The method relies on maintaining a barrier of clean water to prevent the muddy floodwater from entering the building. Masterson believes that this strategy, if successful, could save the restaurant from costly cleanup. "If this works, it will save us a lot of time and money in the future," he said.

Despite the ingenuity of the plan, Masterson expressed concerns about the rising water levels, noting that they could still breach the restaurant through windows, doors, or ductwork if the floodwaters exceed six feet.

Possible Preaching Angle:

In a similar we can guard our hearts and minds by filling it full of pure things. God wants to fill us up with His Spirit so that we’re not overcome by the world’s evil.

A humpback whale briefly swallowed a kayaker off Chilean Patagonia before quickly releasing him unharmed. The incident, caught on camera, quickly went viral. Adrián Simancas was kayaking with his father, Dell, near the San Isidro Lighthouse when a humpback whale surfaced, engulfing Adrián and his yellow kayak for a few seconds before letting him go.

Dell, just yards away, captured the moment on video while encouraging his son to stay calm. “Stay calm, stay calm,” he can be heard saying after his son was released from the whale’s mouth.

“I thought I was dead,” Adrián said. “I thought it had eaten me, that it had swallowed me.”

He described the “terror” of those few seconds and explained that his real fear set in only after resurfacing, fearing that the huge animal would hurt his father or that he would perish in the frigid waters.

Despite the terrifying experience, Dell remained focused, filming, and reassuring his son while grappling with his own worry. After a few seconds in the water, Adrián managed to reach his father’s kayak and was quickly assisted. Despite the scare, both returned to shore uninjured.

Reports of such incidents are rare but not unheard of: In 2021, a Massachusetts lobster diver said a humpback whale had scooped him up and spit him out. But, unlike the Old Testament's Jonah, these men didn't spend three days and nights in the belly of the whale — they didn't even reach it, nor could they have. Experts say it's just not possible for a whale to swallow something as large as a person. While their mouths are massive — as wide as 10 feet — their throats are much smaller, roughly the size of a human fist.

You can watch the short video clip here

Editor’s Note: We know that the Bible does not state that Jonah was swallowed by a “whale” but by a “great fish.” (See Addendum below). Still, the video makes a graphic illustration for the true story of Jonah, regardless of what type of “great fish” swallowed him.

Addendum:

The Bible actually does not teach that Jonah as swallowed by a “whale.” The Bible doesn’t specify what sort of marine animal it was. The Hebrew phrase used in the Old Testament, gadowl dag, literally means “great fish.” The Greek used in the New Testament is këtos, which simply means “sea creature.” There are at least two species of Mediterranean marine life that are able to swallow a man whole. These are the cachalot (also known as the sperm whale) and the white shark. Both creatures are known to prowl the Mediterranean and have been known to sailors since antiquity. Aristotle described both species in his fourth-century-BC Historia Animalium. Jesus spoke of Jonah’s ordeal as a real historical event. He used it as a typological metaphor for His own crucifixion and resurrection (Matt. 12:40-41).

You see them everywhere, from rural fields to suburban yards. Fences come in many different styles, and just about everyone seems to have one. They represent safety and security, protecting our loved ones, making our yards into sanctuaries, and keeping our property safe. Did you ever think about the history of the fence? In many ways, fences have had a major impact on the development of modern civilization.

Whether it is for safety, wealth, or isolation purposes, there is no denying that fences still carry significant symbolic importance in many societies today. But they are also ubiquitous: Strung together, the world’s fences would likely reach the sun. Just taking the American West by itself, it is latticed by more than 620,000 miles of fence—enough to encircle the earth more than 75 times.

Who first came up with the idea of fences? There are certainly famous “fences” in ancient history, from the Great Wall of China to the Walls of Jericho. Fences became a feature of civilization as cultures transitioned from nomads to landowners and farmers. In a way, fences have laid the foundation of the modern world.

In the modern era, fences have continued to evolve, with the development of new materials and construction techniques. Today, fences are an essential part of any security system, providing both physical and psychological protection. They are used to protect everything from homes and businesses to government installations and military bases. Innovations such as electric fences, security cameras, and access control systems have made it possible to create highly secure environments.

These new technologies have also made it easier than ever to monitor and control who enters a particular area. Implicitly, the ability to access these physical barriers require some sort of credential — such as an invitation or pass — suggesting the presence of a system that excluded certain people from access.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Scripture mentions fences, walls, hedges, and boundaries nearly 350 times. These structures serve literal purposes, such as defending cities, protecting livestock, and marking territorial boundaries. However, their symbolic significance is profound. Satan challenged God's protection of Job by referencing a "hedge" around him (Job 1:10). Jesus likened himself to a "good shepherd" who encloses his sheep in a protective fold (John 10:1-10). The New Jerusalem, described as having a wall, symbolizes a place of ultimate safety and exclusivity for the saved, while excluding the unrighteous (Rev. 21:27).

Rodney Holbrook no longer has to clean up his shed—he has a mouse to do that. Holbrook, a wildlife photographer and retired mailman, noticed that things were moving around in his Builth Wells, Wales, shed overnight. He set up a night vision camera and discovered that a mouse was picking up nuts, bolts, corks, and other items and putting them back into their box.

Holbrook dubbed the tiny housekeeper "Welsh Tidy Mouse," and said that "99 times out of 100," the mouse cleans up during the night. Holbrook said the mouse seems to have fun moving the objects. He doesn't even "bother to tidy up now, I leave things out of the box and they put it back in its place by the morning.”

Watch the adorable 1-minute video here.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Throughout the Bible, God uses a variety of animals to help his people in significant ways. The Scripture references are just a few examples of the many ways God used animals to help, guide, and protect those he cares for. Each story offers unique insights into God's character and relationship with his creation.

It’s never a good thing for an airline to send a passenger on the wrong plane, especially when that passenger is a child. The six-year-old was supposed to fly from Philadelphia to visit his grandmother in Fort Myers, Florida, but ended up on a flight to Orlando instead.

Panic set in for Maria Ramos, the child’s grandmother, after the plane her grandson was initially supposed to be on landed and he wasn’t on it. Ramos began asking, “How did that happen? Did they get him off the plane? The flight attendant – after Mom handed them the paperwork – did they let him go by himself? He jumped in the wrong plane by himself?”

Spirit Airlines personnel informed her that Casper had instead landed in Orlando, 160 miles away. Apparently, the gate agent assigned to escort Casper to his departing flight from Philadelphia accidentally put him on the wrong flight. According to Spirit Airlines, that individual is no longer employed by the airline.

In a statement, Spirit Airlines said, “Any individual whose actions resulted in the incorrect boarding will be held accountable for failing to follow our procedures.” It also reiterated that though the boy was transported to the wrong city, he was accompanied by and under the supervision of a Spirit Airlines employee the entire time.

Ramos was eventually reunited with Casper after she drove to Orlando to pick him up. She already had his luggage, as it made it to Fort Myers on the correct flight. Spirit Airlines offered to reimburse her for the trip, but Ramos said all she wants is answers to her questions.

Possible Preaching Angle:

It seems instructive that it happened on Spirit Airlines, because even when the child seemed to be alone, the Holy Spirit was present to protect the child, even in the face of professional incompetence.

Twelve-year-old Amelia Loverme hadn’t received any formalized training when she saw her twin brother Charlie in need of medical intervention. But she didn’t let that stop her from getting the job done.

Charlie said, “[I thought] I was going to die. It's just scary and you just don't know what's going to happen next and it's just really scary.” Amelia added, “It was just instinct, I didn't really know what to do, I just feel like I had to help him.”

And help him she did. The siblings were both in their lunch period at Leicester Middle School when Charlie began choking on a piece of mozzarella cheese. When other students in his immediate vicinity were too scared or confused to know what to do, Amelia leapt into action. Security footage caught her giving her brother a series of abdominal thrusts known as the Heimlich maneuver.

Jason Loverme, the twins’ father said, “Adults should talk to their kids about life-saving stuff like this. Whether you think it registers or not, they may tune it out but clearly something registered and she recalled it when she needed it.” Jason says a lack of training should never inhibit someone in the position of potentially giving life-saving help. “If you can help somebody and you can react regardless of if you're nervous or not, you should.”

For her quick thinking and heroism, Amelia was honored by the official school committee, and a public honor from a local law enforcement agency might be in the works.

Note: You can watch the video of Amelia saving her brother’s life here.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Anyone can become God's vessel of deliverance; all it takes is willingness to see the need and act accordingly to the Spirit's leading.

Psalm 46 says, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” A particular scene from Fury, a movie set mostly inside a World War Two-era tank of the same name, brings this beautiful promise home.

In the waning days of the war as American soldiers flood into Germany, we’re transported to a field where a group of GIs are exposed and pinned down by German fire, helpless to do anything but wait. They are definitely in trouble.

Suddenly, “Fury” and a pair of other tanks break through and advance, guns thundering away at the German positions. Do the GIs rise and charge ahead, side-by-side with the tanks? No! They simply roll to where the tanks are, slide in behind them and move ahead, letting the tanks do all the work, letting the tanks do what they were designed to do.

It is the same with God. Notice the psalmist says that God, and he alone, is our refuge, our strength. Not God plus our abilities or God plus our strength or wits or might. Just God. Sometimes, it’s best to simply slide in behind him in obedience and let him do what only he can do.

Suppose you were exploring an unknown glacier in the north of Greenland in the dead of winter. Just as you reach a sheer cliff with a spectacular view of miles and miles of jagged ice and snow covered mountains, a terrible storm breaks in. The wind is so strong that the fear arises that it might blow you and your party right over the cliff. But in the midst of it you discover a cleft in the ice where you can hide. Here you feel secure, but the awesome might of the storm rages on and you watch it with a kind of trembling pleasure as it surges out across the distant glaciers.

At first, there was the fear that this terrible storm and awesome terrain might claim your life. But then you found a refuge and gained the hope that you would be safe. But not everything in the feeling called fear vanished. Only the life-threatening part. There remains the trembling, the awe, the wonder, the feeling that you would never want to tangle with such a storm or be the adversary of such a power.

God’s power is behind the unendurable cold of Arctic storms. Yet he cups his hand around us and says, “Take refuge in my love and let the terrors of my power become the awesome fireworks of your happy night sky.”

Dr. Eric McLaughlin is a missionary doctor in Burundi, one of the poorest nations on the planet. After years of watching one out of seven of his patients die, it is hard for him to hold onto hope. He tells the story of Odette, a young woman who was hospitalized with terrible kidney failure. Odette’s family pooled their money to send her to a kidney specialist in the city. Long-term dialysis was not an option, so Dr. McLaughlin wondered if the expense of such a trip would change anything for her.

Dr. McLaughlin writes, “I fear to hope sometimes. My recent weeks had been filled with tragedies like Odette’s. More than that, there had been several times when it seemed like someone was going to recover but then suddenly died. ‘Hope deferred makes the heart sick,’ says Proverbs 13:12. Exactly; my heart was sick.”

Amid his lament and doubt, his phone chimed. Dr. McLaughlin saw that the messages were from a friend named Onesphore, a former student and coworker. Now he works at a hospital in the city.

“Good morning doctor. I wanted to let you know that we have been caring for Odette. We have not been able to do much. But some fluids and careful observation have resulted in her kidneys returning almost to normal! We’re sending her home today. I just thought you would want to know. Praise God!”

Not only was Odette healed, but I heard the news from someone I had helped train for his current job. The good news arrived precisely when I was sitting there thinking about how afraid I was to hope. The idea that God was present was no longer theoretical; it was real and sudden. In a moment, the revealing of this whole story filled me with tearful joy, not a small amount of fear, and a renewed hope.

Pastor Andrew Wilson writes in an issue of CT magazine:

Most of us pray the Lord’s Prayer backwards. (A few) years ago, my wife and I were on an Air New Zealand flight that felt like it was falling out of the sky. Approaching the Queenstown airport, we were caught in a giant wind tunnel. The plane was shuddering and sporadically dropping 50 feet at a time. The cabin filled with shrieking and praying. Many people were crying out to a God in whom they did not believe. Just as there are no atheists in foxholes, there certainly aren’t many on buffeted flights.

Thirty minutes later, after having landed safely, the group of strangers waited at baggage claim, looking awkwardly at each other. No doubt, many of them felt silly.

The content of those prayers fascinated me. I suspect it reflects the way many of us intuitively pray. The most common petition I heard was some variant of “Deliver us from evil.” “Help!” “Save us!” and “Oh, God, please don’t let me die!” Crises prompt cries for deliverance, with the immediate need for safety drowning out all other concerns.

The other prayer I heard, though more infrequently, was “Forgive us our sins” in some form or another: “I’m sorry” and “God, please forgive me.” People want to be at peace with God when they die. So, after crying out for rescue, they apologized as they prepared to meet their Maker.

After these sorts of petitions, most of us pray, “Please.” This is probably the most frequent type of prayer we utter. “God, please give me this job.” “Fix my marriage.” “Keep my children safe.” “Provide for my family.” Or, more traditionally, “Give us today our daily bread.” Life comes first, then forgiveness, and then physical provision.

Left to our own devices, we pray the Lord’s Prayer backwards. Without being taught, we say help, then sorry, then please do X for me, and then please do Y for others. And then we begin to appreciate more fully the One to whom we are praying—not just as the One who dispenses safety, redemption, and material goods, but for his own sake.

Yet Jesus taught us to pray it forwards. The topsy-turvy order of the Lord’s Prayer is one reason it is so remarkable. Jesus wanted to make sure (the disciples) never forgot that prayer is not intended to move from action to relationship. Instead, it is intended to move from relationship to action. “This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father …’” Forget your formulas and your intercessory cards for a moment, and begin praying with one of the most basic words in a child’s vocabulary. You are God’s child, and he is your Father. Start there, and the rest will flow accordingly.

A tourist named Ivan was swimming in the ocean at Myti Beach in Greece when he was carried away by a series of powerful currents. Friends alerted the nearby coast guard, but they couldn’t find him, and he along with a friend were eventually declared to be lost at sea.

But 18 hours later, rescuers pulled Ivan out of the ocean, cold and shaken, but alive. That’s because shortly after his ocean ordeal began, he found an unexpected floatation device--a children’s ball. Just like Tom Hanks in the movie Cast Away, Ivan found himself clinging onto the ball for survival, except rather than a volleyball, it was a child-sized soccer ball.

Ivan’s recovery was covered extensively in Greek national media, and several newspapers carried the photo where he posed with his grateful father, the mayor of Kassandra, and the fateful ball. The ball in the photo caught the attention of a mom who recognized it as the toy her son lost at the beach 10 days prior. Not only had the sea currents pulled the ball over 80 miles before he was able to grab onto it, but Ivan testified that the ball was only half-inflated. In Ivan’s home region of north Macedonia, people are rightfully calling it a miracle.

Possible Preaching Angle:

1) Word of God - When our lives are at stake, we must hold on to God's Word, for in it is life and salvation; 2) Rescue - God can use the most unlikely things to rescue his people. He has used: A whale (Jonah 1:17), a raven (1 Kings 17:6), the jawbone of a donkey (Judges 15:15), and a handful of flour (1 Kings 17:12).

One of the ways that Meredith Holt-Caldwell stays in contact with her 80-year-old mother Denyse Holt is through their newest daily ritual, comparing scores in the popular online word game Wordle. So, when Denyse didn’t send her word grid one morning, and didn’t respond to any of her text messages, Meredith grew concerned.

As it turns out, she was right to be concerned. Authorities say that early that morning, a man presumed to be mentally ill, broke into Denyse’s home and threatened to harm her with a pair of scissors. She told reporters, “I didn’t think I was going to live. I was in shock. I was trying to survive.”

Denyse’s silence prompted Meredith to call police in the area to request a welfare check, which escalated into an hours-long standoff with local law enforcement. Eventually, a SWAT team broke through the door and subdued Davis with a stun gun, taking him into custody. Davis was eventually charged with home invasion, aggravated kidnapping, and aggravated assault against a peace officer.

Despite being held in captivity for over 17 hours, Holt was uninjured upon rescue. “I’m very lucky,” she said.

Possible Preaching Angle:

God can use even trivial things to help engineer our rescue from life-threatening dangers and troubles.

One of the tourist attractions in Chicago, Illinois, is the Willis Tower and SkyDeck. It boasts of being the third tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, soaring some 1430 feet into the air. It has 108 floors and on the 103rd floor there is a SkyDeck with spectacular 360-degree views of the city. On a clear day, the visibility stretches out over 50 miles into four States!

If that’s not enough to boost your adrenaline, you can step out onto one of the glass viewing boxes, called “The Ledge.” Each of the boxes extends 4.3 feet outside the building and are made of 1.5-inch laminated glass and can hold up to 10,000 pounds of weight!

In June 2019, a woman and her two children stepped out on the ledge and the glass ledge splintered into thousands of pieces. As you can imagine the family was visibly shaken by the experience. The Willis Tower officials said that no one was in danger because the “protective layer did what it was supposed to do.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

Jesus often challenged the foundations that we build our lives upon. Sometimes “life happens” and there are cracks under our feet and in those moments, we then decide whether to trust the Designer and master Engineer.

If anyone in Hollywood is looking to reboot Crocodile Dundee with a person of color in the lead role, 26-year-old Eugene Bozzi won’t have to send in an audition tape, because he’s already got an alligator-hunting viral video under his belt.

When Bozzi was notified by his children that an alligator had wondered onto their suburban property, he went outside to investigate. He told USA TODAY that he assumed it was a baby alligator and was prepared to let it go, but when he saw its real size, he knew he needed to act.

Bozzi, a US Army veteran, said “I'm removing it because he's probably hungry. The only thing that came to my mind was to protect my kids and the other children outside." His heroic exploits were filmed and posted to Twitter, where it’s been viewed at least six million times.

When the video footage of him begins, Bozzi has a dark-colored trash receptacle tipped over on its side, lid up, mouth open, and he’s pushing it toward the gator. “Let me know when the head goes inside,” he implores the onlookers who are filming him. Then, once the gator is close enough, Bozzi swings the lid over, striking the gator on its head. As the gator violently thrashes around, he slowly tilts the can upward, trapping it inside as onlookers whoop and holler in joyful disbelief.

Bozzi said, "I used the front like a hippo mouth. I saw that he was timid, and he was backing down, so that's why I knew I had the advantage.” Afterwards, Bozzi released the gator into a nearby waterway. He said, "I feel like I was just doing what I was supposed to do at the time.”

You can view the video here.

Possible Preaching Angle:

We sometimes need to put ourselves in harm’s way to protect the weak and innocent. This is what Jesus did when he took on Satan to protect us from spiritual death.

Sometimes the things that seem inconsequential can end up making a huge difference. When Eyal and Sara Nir moved into the Champlain Towers South with two of their six children, they had a choice between a penthouse unit and one on the first floor. Sara liked the first-floor unit better, so that’s the one they picked. Because of that one choice, along with several other routine choices, the family narrowly avoided death.

That’s because during the early morning hours of June 24 the Champlain Towers South suffered a devastating building collapse, killing at least 97 people. Eyal was out of town, but Sara and her children Gabe and Chani were home, and happened to be awake. Regular night owl Gabe had just returned from the gym, and noted that the whole family was out of their regular routine. Gabe said, "For some reason, we all were doing things later than usual. And my mom decided to stay later at her event, my sister decided to come back home late [from babysitting].”

It was nearly 1am when all three of them made it home and Gabe heard what sounded like construction noises, unusual for the middle of the night. This prompted their mom to talk to a security guard. Gabe said, "As soon as she goes down to the front, I hear this loud rumble. Like, you feel like an earthquake is happening right in front of you,”

As he and his mother and sister ran from the scene, Gabe dialed 911 and began describing the scene as the ground opened up and started swallowing everything whole. Gabe feels a sense of gratitude for their survival. “There's got to be a reason we came back later. And I feel like fate really — God really came and saved us.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

Even in times of calamity and disaster God is still present and can still protect us. It doesn't mean we're automatically insulated from any negative experience, but it does mean that we never walk alone, and God's power is present in us to endure whatever we face.

When fisherman Michael Packard dove into the ocean to check on his lobster traps, he found something bigger than one of the live crustaceans he was hunting. Much bigger.

Without much warning, Packard was suddenly swallowed by a giant humpback whale. Inside the maw of the great mammal, Packard was preparing himself for the end. “I thought to myself, ‘Hey, this is it. I’m going to die.'” But he didn’t die. “He was in a whale’s mouth for 30 to 40 seconds, and then he was spit out,” said his mother, local painter Anne Packard.

As it turns out, humpbacks don’t usually like to eat people, according to marine mammal expert Peter Corkeron. He said, “Humpback whales are ‘gulp feeders’ who eat by unhinging their mouths and taking big lunges through the water. And when you’re 50 feet long and weigh 30 tons, sometimes you don’t really have too much fine control over where you’re headed.” He added that, since the whale swam toward the surface before spitting Packard out, it’s possible that the whale was trying to help him out.

As astonishing as this latest adventure was, Anne says that’s not even the first time Packard’s life was miraculously spared, noting that he’d survived a plane crash in Costa Rica. She’s encouraged her son to write a book about all of his adventures, but he demurred, saying he’s not much for all the attention. His mother said, “He doesn’t want to make a big deal out of it, but it’s becoming a big deal. I mean, how many people have been in the mouth of a whale?”

Possible Preaching Angle:

God is able to provide deliverance for us. As evangelist George Whitefield said, “We are immortal until our work on earth is done.” This is not only to show us divine favor but also to empower us to walk in our calling and accomplish the good works for which we were created.

A woman has gone viral on TikTok after sharing a video of the moment she unknowingly held “one of the most dangerous animals” while studying abroad in Bali. The clip starts with a shot of Phillips on the beach with the "highly venomous" cephalopod in her palm. A second screenshot, describes the animals as carrying “enough venom to kill 26 adult humans within minutes” and having bites that are “tiny and often painless,” which result in victims often not realizing they have been bitten “until respiratory depression and paralysis begins.”

"Cheers for still being alive," Phillips wrote at the end of the viral clip. "Called my dad crying 3 hours later."

The encounter took place while she was studying abroad. She only learned the truth after posting clips from that day to social media.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Sometimes sin can seem harmless, even attractive. We might secretly play with this “thing of beauty.” But as with Adam and Eve, like the fruit that was so attractive, the result is spiritual death (Gen. 3:6).

A 71-year-old woman was hospitalized with injuries to her head after her car’s windshield was destroyed by a hard, blunt projectile while she was driving along the freeway. That projectile? A turtle.

The 911 recording of the call recorded the following exchange: “There is a turtle in there,” a man can be heard saying. “A turtle!” the victim’s daughter exclaimed. “An actual turtle?!” Yes, an actual turtle. “It’s crazy,” said the dispatch supervisor, who took the call at 10:18am that Wednesday morning.

The woman was treated by first responders on the scene and, according to paramedics, did not lose consciousness on her way to the hospital. However, witnesses say the turtle walked away with just a few scratches on its shell, obviously benefitting from having its home attached to its back.

Authorities are unsure how or why the turtle ended up in the air, theorizing that perhaps it was kicked up by the tires of another vehicle on the freeway. However, the most shocking thing about this story is that it’s not the first report of such a turtle windshield assault. Apparently, a similar phenomenon occurred in neighboring Volusia County back in 2016.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Those who walk according to God's will can expect God's protection. Not that nothing bad will ever happen to us, but God has and will continue to equip you to withstand the things life throws your way.

An anonymous woman phoned the Krakow Animal Welfare Society with concerns about an unidentified, menacing object or animal in a tree near her home. When asked if it was a bird, she suggested that it might be an iguana, but she wasn’t sure. The “tree beast”--whatever it was--had been in place for two days, and some of her neighbors were afraid to open their windows out of fear of what it might do.

When animal welfare personnel arrived on the scene, they were prepared for the possibility of previously-abandoned domesticated animal, or even a wild beast that had wandered in from elsewhere. What they found, however, was a croissant. Apparently, the flaky French pastry had been lodged into the tree branch so high up that neighbors were unable to identify it from a distance.

The theory floated by the animal welfare spokesperson on social media was that perhaps someone had tossed it into the tree attempting to feed the birds, but it remained uneaten. Despite the hilarious nature of the misunderstanding, animal welfare officials reiterated that citizens should still call if they’re unsure about a potential animal-related danger.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Don't let the fear of unknown circumstances make you a prisoner. Trust that any challenge can be overcome, when you put your faith in God instead of circumstances.

Forty-seven-year-old Anthony Oliveri was riding his Harley Davidson motorcycle down a busy street in Indiana when he was struck by another vehicle. Oliveri later recounted the incident, “I remember it happened and I didn’t quite know what was going on for a split second … as I looked back around my left shoulder, all I see is her tire and the left bumper getting ready to run my face over.”

Interestingly, both drivers attributed the crash to God's will. The driver of the automobile did not stop, but police located her a few miles from the accident. When she was asked to explain her actions, she had an interesting response, "God told me to let him take the wheel." Police summarized her statement: "She was driving and out of nowhere God told her that he would take it from here and she let go of the wheel and let him take it."

By contrast, Oliveri recounted: "I was inches from that bumper and I just said to myself today is the day I die. I just shut my eyes and said if this is the way that God wants to do it then I guess that this is the way we’re going to do it." Later, he attributed his survival to divine intervention.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Both statements exhibited a degree of trust. Notice the difference between their beliefs. One presumed on God’s power based solely on human desires or feelings. The other took what was known about God and his sovereignty, and gave him glory for whatever came next. One attempted to force God’s hand, the other recognized his involvement and said “Whatever you want here."