Hey, girls! Have you ever had your parents do your homework? That’s kinda how this feels. I’m heading out on vacation this Friday, so I’m posting a story by my mom today. How I loved curling up on her lap as a little girl to hear stories like this one about a missionary to India from in the nineteenth century. Listen in as she shares how God kept Dr. Jacob Chamberlain safe one scary day.
Dr. Chamberlain needed to go to the other side of the mountain to visit some villages and hold meetings. He sent his workers ahead of him with their supplies and spent the morning writing letters. Then he set out on his own with only an umbrella to shield him from the sun.
As Dr. Chamberlain made his way along a mountain path, suddenly a spotted tiger sprang out and faced him. Since tigers normally sleep during the day, Dr. Chamberlain knew the tiger was hungry and looking for something to eat.
For one tense moment, the missionary eyed the tiger, and the tiger eyed the missionary. Then suddenly, Dr. Chamberlain opened his umbrella and, rushing forward, let out a loud war whoop he had learned as a boy. He then closed the umbrella and ran at the tiger to hit him with it.
Startled at such strange behavior, the tiger leapt through an opening in a banyan tree nearby. Knowing the tiger might return, Dr. Chamberlain shouted that war whoop a few more times. Finally, sure he would see not that tiger again, he praised God for keeping him safe.
What an adventure to live life serving God and experience His deliverance! The world with all its glittering entertainment can’t match it. Don’t waste your lives, girls, on amusement and make-believe, but live for the One who made the worlds and who gave His life to redeem you to God.
Someday soon Jesus Christ will set everything straight that is wrong with our world. And when He does, we don’t want to be ashamed for having lived life to please ourselves, but be like Dr. Chamberlain who lived his life for God’s glory.
And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming (1 John 2:28).
What adventure does God have you on right now? How have you seen His awesome deliverance in your life?