Recently I read about a Pastor who had a thorn. He had just started - getting involved in teaching and preaching and sensing that it might be some area of calling for him.
It was on a Sunday morning at this church and five minutes into his message he started to get dizzy and woozy and the room started to spin around and the next thing he knew he had fainted dead away on
the floor in the middle of his own message.
Now it’s a bad thing when you’re preaching, and the people who are listening to you fall asleep while you’re talking.
It’s bad when the choir is sitting behind you when you’re preaching, And with everyone looking at them, they are trying really hard to keep from nodding off.
But, when you’re the one preaching, and you fall asleep, that’s a really bad thing.
He figures, it was a fluky deal. Soon after that he left for a year of study abroad.
A year later, he is invited to share a sermon at another church and it happens again.
Ten minutes into the message he gets woozy, dizzy. The next thing he knows he’s laying on the floor again! And the worst part about it was this is a Baptist church not a charismatic church.
At some point it dawned on this guy that if you are called to preach, but you keep fainting in the middle of the message, people get nervous.
Well, he wanted this thorn removed. It was embarrassing and difficult for him. But, even though people were nervous, attendance was up.
It’s a little like people driving by an accident, They don’t really hope someone crashes, but if they did, they don’t want to miss it.
Today, this guy is a preacher of a large, strong congregation. But every time he steps into the pulpit
he remembers and thinks about it. And he is reminded of his need for God’s strength.