This tract is nearing completion, but may yet undergo changes. There is no official TITLE yet. Other tracts of mine are available via Moments With the Book if you search my name*.
BOB WICKLIFFE lived in Long Island
and worked in NYC. Arriving at his job on 9/11/2001, Bob watched
in horror as people jumped out of windows from the top floors of the World
Trade Center, and he saw the 2nd tower fall from a distance. A Christian, he was
thankful he escaped without harm. Bob was a relative of mine and I
can say with certainty that Bob prayed, thanking God for his safety during that
surprise attack and the things he personally witnessed first-hand, things that
were hard to forget.
Fast forward 12 years to
2013. Bob, then retired, and his dear wife Dottie (pictured), now lived in
Pennsylvania. As the Commissioner of their church's Upward Children's
Sports Ministry, Bob was at a soccer game when he fainted and fell due to AFib
(a heart problem). He broke his neck/back and was instantly paralyzed
from his chest down.
In a sense, what happened
to Bob on that fateful day in May was similar to 9-11 in that it was totally
unexpected and life-altering. Yet, with his and Dottie's faith in God,
Bob had a radiant smile which people couldn't understand, and commented
on. They were told it was because of his love for God and joy in the
Lord. When I visited them, Bob was more cheerful and upbeat than I'd ever
seen him. The Lord used Bob (and Dottie, an example of steadfast
Christian love) to encourage Believers, and to witness to many in person and
through his 12 YouTube videos, with at least 4 people becoming Christians and 1
coming back to faith in God. In God's timing, Bob went to Heaven five years
to the day after his injury.
I don’t doubt that Bob’s cheerfulness
in affliction was partly influenced by my father-in-law who, in 2007 at age 85,
suffered a sudden stroke which left HIM paralyzed for four years before the
Lord took him! Yet (I bear witness, as he lived with my wife and me in New
Jersey then), GIL ZINKE remained cheerful every single day during his trial.
And though (unlike Bob) Gil lost his power of speech, his smiling face
communicated to us that he still believed this key scriptural command: “In
everything give thanks.” The Lord took Gil Home to Heaven in 2011, two years
before Bob’s accident. Bob was able to use HIS gift of retained speech and
spoke with many about the Lord in the five years of his suffering.
What of you, dear reader? Life is full
of unexpected tragedies. Proverbs 27:1 warns us, “We don’t know what a
day may bring forth;” and James 4:14 states, we “do not know what will
happen tomorrow.” The people who died on 9-11 had no idea they’d experience
death and “after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27) when they woke up
that morning!
Another terrorist attack, or an
accident, an illness or a freak storm may claim YOUR life without warning! Or,
it may leave you paralyzed without any hope of recovery in this life. GIL ZINKE
had no idea he’d have a life-changing stroke that would leave him bedridden
from 2007-2011 and BOB WICKLIFFE could not foresee what he’d have to endure
from 2013-2018! But those two men had put their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ
for the forgiveness of their sins years earlier. If they HAD died suddenly,
they would have gone directly to Heaven (see 2 Corinthians 5:8-10).
They were READY, you see. Ready to die if called to die suddenly, yet ready to
suffer patiently and joyfully if it was God’s Will that they linger in a state
of suffering.
In Matthew 27: 24-27, Jesus
talked about a wise man who “built his house upon the rock” (the rock being
HIMSELF and the salvation only He can offer) and a foolish man who “built his
house upon the sand,” which represents anything which is NOT that rock!
24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to
a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came,
and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was
founded on the rock.26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not
do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand; 27 and the rain descended, the floods came,
and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its
fall.”
Be
prepared! Build your house on the Rock, the Lord Jesus, and you’ll be ready for
anything!
* The tract company will not advertise my John Lennon tract with the others, they say it's too controversial. However, here's a direct link....
https://mwtb.org/products/pmt-dont-harden-your-heart-to-gods-message?variant=32851656802407
And here's the link for the Spanish version of the Lennon tract...
https://mwtb.org/products/pmt-no-endurezca-tu-corazon-al-mensaje-de-dios?variant=32944126754919
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