The Devotional Tales

Tragedy Strikes

On April 19^th, 1995 at 9:01 A.M. tragedy struck America when the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City collapsed. Around a thousand people were in the building on the day of the bombing. One such person was David Miller, who was a seven-year-old boy who attended the daycare facility held in the building. Upon hearing the news John Miller, David’s father, frantically left his office in an Oklahoma City suburb and rushed to the scene. John ran up towards the debris where he was quickly stopped by several government officials who stated, “Sir, you cannot go in there.”

John forcefully exclaimed, “ It’s my boy, he’s in there.”

“I’m sorry, sir, firefighters are doing the best they can in there.”

Another official added, “There’s electrical fires, asbestos, and a chance of more rubble collapsing, so you would only be endangering your own life.”

However, the officials saw the look in John’s Eyes and knew that there was no stopping this man. So, they lifted up the yellow tape and said, “Be careful.” John searched tirelessly for his son. For hours he pulled back large chunks of concrete calling, “David, David – are you there?”

12 hours passed, 24 hours passed, and after 36 hours, the chief fireman went up to the father and said, “Sir, your courageous efforts have greatly inspired me and my men; I’m sorry you could not find your boy, but at least you can go home knowing that you tried your best, and you did everything you could.”

But John jerked back and replied, “I am going to keep searching until I see my son one more time whether he is alive or dead.”

38 hours passed and finally one of John’s “David” calls was answered by a barely audible “Daddy.” John knew that this was the voice of his son. John pushed back large pieces of rubble that, in any other circumstance, would have taken at least three men just to budge. Then when John reached his son, he saw 12 other children trapped in a triangular wedge. John led the other children to safety and embraced his thought-to-be gone son. A local newspaper reporter heard John and David’s story. The reporter went up to the seven-year-old David to ask him a few questions.

The reported asked, “How was it down there?”

David replied, “A lot of my friends were scared and started crying and stuff, but I didn’t cry though.”

“Why was that David?”

“I knew my daddy would come for me – he promised that he would always be there for me.” 

In our lives God is searching (just like David’s father) for you. Our Father promises us each day that He loves us and that He will always be there for us. In our lives we too should trust God and abide in his love. This love will be the central message in the chapters ahead, and I want nothing greater than for this love to become more alive in you.

In most of our lives up to this point, we wanted to do everything ourselves; it’s been all about one person, that being ourselves. However, we must find that God loves us, and that He “will always be there for us.” He will be there with us, from times when the rubble comes crashing down in our lives, to times when no one seems to care for us, from times when we are lost in life, to times when we are burdened with stress – He will always be there, always showing us His love.

Having this love will fully make our lives joyous and complete. Because it is amazing – our Father in Heaven loves us even more than this father love his son. For it is only when you feel or comprehend this love – that you fully understand what it is to be a Christian.

Ask yourself right now, have you felt this amazing love of God?

What does that love mean to you? (I ask you write this answer down now, so that you may look back later.)

Has this love changed your life?

We can have nothing greater than the love of