Narrow Escape!

By Saengsurin Phongchan

God loves me a lot.

Image © Pacific Press

When a friend moved away to Australia, I agreed to visit her parents every once in a while back here in Thailand. It wasn’t easy to find the parents’ house. I had to look up directions, and I learned that the house was quite some distance from my own. For my first visit, I filled my backpack and several bags with groceries. Carrying the food, I hailed a three-wheeled tuk-tuk taxi to take me to the bus station.

Partway through our trip, the tuk-tuk driver suddenly said, “I can’t take you. Can I call you another tuk-tuk?” He didn’t give any reason for his change of heart. What could I do? A second tuk-tuk picked me up, but the driver took me to the wrong place. I got into a third tuk-tuk.

It took nearly two hours to reach the bus station. I was fuming in frustration when I arrived. Why had it taken two hours and three tuk-tuks for the usual short and simple trip to the bus station?

“Where are you going?” the ticket seller asked me.

I was so upset that I couldn’t talk to anyone, not even to the ticket seller.

“I’ll talk to you later,” I said, turning away.

After calming down, I bought a ticket and boarded a minivan.

During the trip to the house of my friend’s parents, we passed a wrecked minivan on the side of the road. Our driver stopped to see if he could help. Returning to the minivan, he somberly told us that several passengers had died in the crash.

“This is the minivan that left right before us on this route,” he said.

At that moment, I realized that I should have been on that minivan. I only missed the minivan because of the many delays in reaching the bus station.

My friend’s parents were relieved to see me. They had heard about the crash. “We were so worried because we thought you were on that minivan,” the mother said.

“God is so good,” I said. Then I told my story about the delays to the parents, who were not Christians.

“The God or angel who protects you is really great!” the father exclaimed.

Yes, God loves me a lot.

Saengsurin Phongchan was principal at the Seventh-day Adventist school in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, that received part of the Thirteenth Sabbath Offering three years ago. Thank you for your offering that helped the school, Adventist International Mission School — Korat, expand into a high school at a new site.

Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Find more mission stories at adventistmission[dot]org

Amen!(2)

The post Inside Story: Narrow Escape appeared first on Sabbath School Net.

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/inside-story-narrow-escape/

Further Thought:

“After the descent of the Holy Spirit, … [believers] rejoiced in the sweetness of communion with saints. They were tender, thoughtful, self-denying, willing to make any sacrifice for the truth’s sake. In their daily association with one another, they revealed the love that Christ had enjoined upon them.

Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

By unselfish words and deeds they strove to kindle this love in other hearts. …

But gradually a change came. The believers began to look for defects in others. Dwelling upon mistakes, giving place to unkind criticism, they lost sight of the Saviour and His love. They became more strict in regard to outward ceremonies, more particular about the theory than the practice of the faith. In their zeal to condemn others, they overlooked their own errors. They lost the brotherly love that Christ had enjoined, and, saddest of all, they were unconscious of their loss. They did not realize that happiness and joy were going out of their lives and that, having shut the love of God out of their hearts, they would soon walk in darkness.

John, realizing that brotherly love was waning in the church, urged upon believers the constant need of this love. His letters to the church are full of this thought. ‘Beloved, let us love one another,’ he writes; ‘for love is of God; and everyone that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only-begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.’” — Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles, Pages 547, 548.

Discussion Questions:

<–Thursday

Amen!(3)

The post Friday: Let Brotherly Love Continue appeared first on Sabbath School Net.

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/friday-let-brotherly-love-continue/