The story is told of an out-of-work country boy who had applied for an open position down at the factory.
“So why do you want this job?” the interviewer asked.
“Well,” the country boy answered, “I’ve always felt passionately about not starving to death.”
In very few words, that country boy conveyed a truth that the job really wasn’t all that exciting but that it would come with a much-needed paycheck that would allow him to put food on the table.
Wow! What honesty.
If I had been the interviewer, I feel certain I would have reached across the desk and given that country boy a congratulatory handshake and welcomed him to the company.
I have a deep appreciation for wow moments – those times when you hear or see something that causes your jaw to drop, and the only word you can utter is “wow.”
The Bible is filled with such moments, and I was reminded of that not long ago when a man who had never read the Bible nor gone to church got saved while in the hospital. One of his nurses, realizing he was a new Christian, told him about the day Jesus walked on water.
“You’re pulling my leg,” the man said. “Jesus walked on water? Come on. You gotta be kidding me.”
The nurse said, “Nope, I’m not kidding. It’s right here in the Bible. See?”
The man read that passage in silence, looked up at the nurse from his hospital bed, and uttered one word: “Wow!”
I fear many people come to the point where they take the Bible for granted. That’s unfortunate because it is chock full of wow moments.
Everything Jesus did during his public ministry was a wow moment. So was everything the apostles did. So was everything the Old Testament prophets did. Everything in the Bible, from the first sentence in Genesis to the last sentence in Revelation, should make us stop and say, “wow.”
It’s important to remind ourselves not to close our eyes to the wonder of it all.
I had to go to Los Angeles not long ago, and I noticed most of the people around me had become bored with the miracle of flight. Some read magazines and books. Some pushed the window shades closed and slept.
Then, there was me, marveling at the roar of the engines as we raced down the runaway, the G-forces pushing me back into my seat. Wow!
Seeing the roads and the buildings growing smaller as we went higher. Wow!
Looking down on the Great Plains from 34,000 feet. Wow!
Seeing the snow-capped Rocky Mountains from high above. Wow!
How do people grow bored with flying?
More importantly, how do people grow bored with church?
Seeing the towering steeple silhouetted by the rising sun. Wow!
Talking with all the smiling, happy believers who have always been there for you in the good times and bad. Wow!
Hearing Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing ringing from the rafters. Wow!
Listening to sermons about the great heroes of the Bible. Wow!
Seeing lives changed as people respond to the invitation to become Christians. Wow!
Let me encourage you to watch for those “wow moments” in life and never, ever lose sight of the wonder of it all.
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Reach Roger Alford at 502-514-6857 or rogeralford1@gmail.com.
