{"id":45139,"date":"2009-04-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-04-13T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/closecallwonderaboutgod\/"},"modified":"2009-04-13T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-04-13T00:00:00","slug":"closecallwonderaboutgod","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/closecallwonderaboutgod\/","title":{"rendered":"Close Call Leaves Lewis Smedes Wondering About God"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before giving his life fully to Christ, author Lewis Smedes worked for his uncle's steel company. He writes:<\/p>\n\n

\n

Gigantic cranes hoisted the steel beams from boat to dock by means of immense electro-magnets, each of them about three feet thick, eight feet in diameter, and weighing about fifteen tons. The magnets hung at the end of a two-inch cable which was, in turn, controlled by an operator sitting in a cab above the docks. I was standing on the ground blankly watching the theater of steel bustling around me when a shadow fell over me, which seemed odd, because there were no trees or building that could cast a shadow.<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n

I looked up and saw one of those immense magnets ten feet above me. [Dock workers] ducked in and under these magnets all day long without giving them a thought, but I did not feel safe with that monster hovering over me, so I took a long step away. At that instant, the magnet crashed to earth and scraped the heel of my shoe as it landed. Rushing to investigate, the crane operator discovered that the cable holding the tons of magnetized steel above my head had been frayed down to a few threads of wire just before it crashed.<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n

Later on, away from the docks, I wondered whether God himself could have pushed me out of the way of that magnet just in time to save my neck and get my attention at the same time. It seemed absurd to wonder whether the Maker of the Universe would go to such extreme lengths to get the attention of a failed steel man. But then again, I had been less than a tenth of a second away from being crushed to the thickness of a dime, and such things do not happen every day.<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3464,3478,3557,3689,3737,3921,3933,3977,4493,4633,4645,4736,4970,5181],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-45139","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-awakenings","tax_ctp_tags-belief","tax_ctp_tags-change","tax_ctp_tags-conversion","tax_ctp_tags-death","tax_ctp_tags-experiencing-god","tax_ctp_tags-faith","tax_ctp_tags-fear-of-death","tax_ctp_tags-mortality","tax_ctp_tags-perspective","tax_ctp_tags-physical-death","tax_ctp_tags-providence","tax_ctp_tags-short-life","tax_ctp_tags-transformation"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"\nClose Call Leaves Lewis Smedes Wondering About God - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/closecallwonderaboutgod\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Close Call Leaves Lewis Smedes Wondering About God - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Before giving his life fully to Christ, author Lewis Smedes worked for his uncle's steel company. 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