Topics: Circumstances and Faith; Community; Discouragement; Experiencing God; Memories; Prayer; Providence; Relationships; Truth
Reference: Romans 8:28
Senator Max Cleland, who lost both of his legs and his right hand in Vietnam, came to the senators’ Bible study withdrawn and tired. Another senator said, “Max, are you all right?”
“Not really,” he said. “I’ve been having the same dream for thirty years. I accidentally drop that grenade, and I leap on it, and it explodes and blows my legs off.” That night, the study group gathered around Max and prayed that the Lord would heal that memory.
Two days later, the History Channel broadcasted the story. A man from Annapolis saw it and phoned Max: “Senator, you have the story wrong. That wasn’t your grenade. It was a young recruit behind you who had opened the pins on his grenades before jumping out of the helicopter. One of them popped out of the belt and rolled on the ground. You leaped on it to save us all. I wrapped you up myself and got you to the hospital. I was on the helicopter; I know how it happened.”
Max came to the next Bible study saying a gigantic load had been lifted off his shoulders.
The study group had been studying Romans 8:28, which says, “God works all things together for good.” So now, when Senator Cleland is hurrying around in his wheelchair, he’ll call out to the Senate chaplain, “Remember, things don’t work out; God works out things.”
—Lloyd John Ogilvie, “Pastoring the Powerful,” Leadership (Fall 2000)