Plan for: Thanksgiving | Advent | Christmas

Sermon Illustrations

I almost lost the that which is most precious to me almost 3 years ago. I was here doing some interviews for Day Camp Staff when the phone rang. It was a friend of my wife, Joanne, who called to say that Joanne had just been loaded into an ambulance and was being taken to the U of A hospital. She had had a severe allergic reaction - she had gone into anaphylactic shock - was covered in hives, passed out, and had her blood pressure drop to 50/30. The paramedics arrived, shot her full of adrenaline, and rushed her to emergency. She got the adrenaline in time, and so by the time I reached the hospital she had revived and was doing ok. I can tell you that that night I held her tighter. I realized in a new way how incredibly precious she is to me. And the fact that I came close to losing her gave me a brand new appreciation for what I have in her.

I can’t really describe to you now how I felt as I drove to the emergency room - its a bit of a blur in my memory. But I do know that that is exactly how God feels towards every non-Christian in the world: as something incredibly precious that could be lost. The love is the same, the urgency is the same, the intense desire to change the situation is the same. His heart breaks over each sinner that has not yet found his way into relationship with God.