• Unforgettable Bombs - All We Can Do Is Pray?

  Contributed by Martin Spoelstra on Sep 30, 2019 (message contributor)

  based on 1 rating   (rate this sermon illustration)

   | 3,831 views

  Scripture:  Matthew 7:7-11, James 5:15, Psalms 34:15

  Tags:  Prayer, Power In Prayer, Intersession, Watchman Prayer

  Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

Elmer Bendiner, a crewmember in a World War II B-17 bomber, the Tondalayo, was barraged by flak from Nazi antiaircraft guns. That was not unusual, but on this particular occasion, the gas tanks were hit. Later Elmer reflected on the miracle of a 20 mm shell piercing the fuel tank without touching off an explosion with his pilot. The pilot, Bohn Fawkes, told him it was not just that simple.

“On the morning following the raid, Bohn had gone down to ask our crew chief for that shell as a souvenir of unbelievable luck. The crew chief told Bohn that not just one shell but eleven had been found in the gas tanks-eleven unexploded shells where only one was sufficient to blast us out of the sky. It was as if the sea had parted for us. Even after thirty-five years, so awesome an event leaves me shaken, especially after I heard the rest of the story from Bohn.

He was told that the shells of been sent to the armours to be diffused. The armourers told him that intelligence had picked them up. They could not say why at the time, but Bohn eventually sought out the answer. Apparently, the armourers opened each of those shells, they found no explosive charge. They were as clean as a whistle and just as harmless. Empty? Not all of them.

One contained a carefully scrolled piece of paper. On it was a scrawl in Czechoslovakian. The intelligence people looked all over the base for someone who could read Czechoslovakian. Eventually, they found one to decipher the note. Translated, the note read: 'This is all we can do for you now.'"

Just think of all that the Czechoslovakian’s had done by sparing that flight crew. The wives, children and grandchildren of those soldiers. Not to mention the lives they saved in the future as they help deliver the world from Adolf Hitler.

When people say that "All they can do is pray," they are misguided believing that prayer is not as powerful as it is. "All we can do...?" What better activity could a person possibly do? Prayer can impact the world, secure destinies and affect eternity.

Quin Sherrer, How to Pray for Your Children (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1998) pg 24