I’ve always been amazed at how our sovereign God can turn tragedy into triumph. Take the case of John and Reve Walsh, In July of 1981, their little boy Adam, 6 years old, was abducted from a nearby Sears store. Two weeks later, Adam’s mutilated body was found 150 miles away. Well, one thing led to another and John became the host of “American’s Most Wanted,” one of the hottest shows on television. “America’s Most Wanted” wages its war on crime every Sunday night, and the results have been astounding. As of this writing, 96 fugitives have been nabbed by phone-in tips – about one per week.

-Sermons Illustrated July/August 1990



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Rosalie Searles had a very bad Thursday. First while arguing with her husband in their car, this Unadilla, New York woman fell out the passenger’s door and her husband stepped on the gas accidentally running over her left leg. While she lay there waiting for help, a fireman, responding to the call accidentally ran over both of Rosalie’s feet!

Now the least surprising thing is that both men were allegedly drunk. The most surprising thing is that Rosalie is O.K. except for that run down feeling.

-UPI 3/1/90


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Dr. A.T. Pierson once wrote, “In a paper mill what a contrast between the heap of filthy rags at one end and the pure and spotless white paper at the other! What a trial the rags go through before they emerge in this new form! Torn to pieces and ground to pulp, bleached with chloride of lime till all stains are removed, washed over and over; submitted to another bleaching by the action of chlorine and alum; washed again, till the pulp of stuff is white as cream of snowflakes! Caught upon a wire cylinder, after the sever shaking by the Fourdrinier process which crosses the fibers and gives compactness and firmness to the fabric; and then passed between and around the hot surfaces which makes the paper smooth and even – how like the diving discipline by which our filthiness is cleansed way; how like the tribulation out of which all come up who have washed their robes and make them white in the Blood of the Lamb!”


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Are you going through a hard time? Maybe these words from a song sung by Kristine Wyrtzen will help you like they helped me. The song is called “The Fire.”

I’ve been through a fire that had deepened my desire, to know the living God more and more.
It hasn’t been much fun, but the work that is has done in my life has been worth the hurt.
You see sometimes we need the hard times to bring us to our knees, otherwise we do as we please and never heed him.
For he always knows what’s best and it’s when we are distressed that we really come to know God as he is.


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