{"id":48062,"date":"2004-01-19T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2004-01-19T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/god-is-arms-length-away\/"},"modified":"2004-01-19T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2004-01-19T00:00:00","slug":"god-is-arms-length-away","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/god-is-arms-length-away\/","title":{"rendered":"God Is an Arm’s-Length Away"},"content":{"rendered":"

William Frey, retired Episcopal bishop from Colorado, told the following story in a message on the power of God at work in us:<\/p>\n\n

\n

When I was a younger man, I volunteered to read to a degree student named John who was blind. One day I asked him, "How did you lose your sight?"<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n

"A chemical explosion," John said, "at the age of thirteen."<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n

"How did that make you feel?" I asked.<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n

"Life was over. I felt helpless. I hated God," John responded. "For the first six months I did nothing to improve my lot in life. I would eat all my meals alone in my room. One day my father entered my room and said, 'John, winter's coming and the storm windows need to be up\u0097that's your job. I want those hung by the time I get back this evening or else!'<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n

"Then he turned, walked out of the room and slammed the door. I got so angry. I thought Who does he think I am? I'm blind!<\/em> I was so angry I decided to do it. I felt my way to the garage, found the windows, located the necessary tools, found the ladder, all the while muttering under my breath, 'I'll show them. I'll fall, then they'll have a blind and paralyzed son!'"<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n

John continued, "I got the windows up. I found out later that never at any moment was my father more than four or five feet away from my side."<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[310],"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":[3555,3784,3943,3968,3969,4116,4459,4699,4928,5198],"tax_ctp_topics":[378],"class_list":["post-48062","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-challenges","tax_ctp_tags-disabilities","tax_ctp_tags-faithfulness-of-god","tax_ctp_tags-fatherhood","tax_ctp_tags-fatherhood-of-god","tax_ctp_tags-handicaps","tax_ctp_tags-mentoring","tax_ctp_tags-presence-of-god","tax_ctp_tags-self-pity","tax_ctp_tags-trustworthiness-of-god"],"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}]},"yoast_head":"\nGod Is an Arm's-Length Away - 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\/god-is-arms-length-away\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"God Is an Arm's-Length Away - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"William Frey, retired Episcopal bishop from Colorado, told the following story in a message on the power of God at work in us: When I was a younger man, I volunteered to read to a degree student named John who was blind. 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