#12 Moments of Hope with Pastor Jerry Rice

There is not a single person on earth that God doesn’t want to be saved. The Bible says in 2 Peter 3:9 that the Lord “is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
Years ago, the Men and Women of Action (a group of people who volunteer their time and skills to build buildings such as churches) went to Germany to work on a retreat center. While they were there, a Muslim man volunteered to work with them. Bob Pace, the person leading the group, told him that they would be happy to have him help. Every day the group would have a devotion. During the devotion, the Muslim man would isolate himself from the group. When the group of men completed their work on the retreat center, the Muslim man presented Bob with an interesting drawing. It depicted a man who was in the process of coming out of a cave. In the distance, a light was shining from outside the cave. He told Bob that he had never met anyone like him and that working with the men had impacted his life. He said that the drawing was an indication of where he was: he was coming out of the cave, but he had not arrived yet. When Bob returned to America, he made a copy of this picture and gave it to my father, Gene Rice. On the back the man had labeled his picture “Coming out of the Darkness.”
A few weeks later, my father was in Germany leading convocation for the European Bible School. This particular year they were holding convocation at various churches in the area. When Dad held the altar call the first night after he preached, a lady and her two children came to the altar and committed their lives to the Lord. On the final night, there was a service at another church about two hours away. During a meal that the church had prepared, a man approached my Dad and said, “I came tonight to meet the man that introduced my wife and children to Jesus.” After Dad preached that night, this man gave his life to the Lord. While he talked with this man, he came to realize that this was the same Muslim man who had worked with the Men of Action and had drawn the picture of the man coming out of the cave.
Isn’t it incredible that God would orchestrate all of these events to lead one family to Christ? I Peter 2:9 says “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
Chances are that you know someone in your life that does not know Christ. Continue praying for them, knowing that God does not want anyone to perish. As the Bible says in Colossians 4:6, “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”
May our words and actions be always full of grace.