Blinded by the Ordinary
On December 17, 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright, bicycle merchants who went on to become the fathers of modern aviation, sent their sister a telegram. It read, “Sustained flight for 59 seconds. Hope to be home for Christmas.” Excited by the news, she took the telegram to the local Dayton, OH newspaper.
The paper found the telegram noteworthy and ran a small headline on the back page. It read, “Popular bicycle merchants to be home for Christmas.”
Pastor James R. Noland, Former Pastor, The Church of the Good Shepherd, Vienna, VA
Says pastor Noland, “Sometimes we miss the extraordinary because we are blinded by the ordinary.”
We serve an extraordinary God. Don’t miss Him in the mundane. “Open my eyes to see the wonderful truths in your instructions” (Psalm 119:18).
Illustration Exchange
Boy Hero Bargains With God
News outlets the world over recently reported (January 30, 2026) of the heroic efforts of 13 year old Austin Appelbee who fought high seas, fear, and fatigue to rescue his family from certain death. One outlet reports it this way:
Austin, his mother Joanne, 12-year-old brother Beau, and 8-year-old sister Grace were on a vacation in Quindalup, Australia, when, on Jan. 30, they took their kayak and inflatable paddleboards out on Geographe Bay, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reports. At the time, the waters were calm, so they left their picnic basket, food, and water on the beach.
Soon, though, the waters became rough and the kayak flipped. It also began filling with water and the family was pushed farther and farther out to sea.
Austin tried to swim, dragging the rest of his family in the kayak, back to shore before his mother sent him to go get help. She said it was one of the hardest decisions she ever had to make.
“I knew he was the strongest and he could do it,” she said. “I would have never went because I wouldn’t have left the kids at sea, so I had to send somebody.”
Austin let go of the kayak and took off his life jacket, which he said was impeding his swimming. He swam for four hours.
“I was trying to get the happiest things in my head, and trying to make it through, and not the bad things that would distract me,” Austin told ABC.
So young Austin focused on simple, childhood motivators to keep himself focused. Think Thomas the Tank Engine ("Little engines can do big things!") meets Dory from Finding Nemo. In his own words, “I just kept thinking ‘just keep swimming, just keep swimming.’”
When he finally got to the beach he still had to sprint to a phone to call for help. "I need helicopters, I need planes, I need boats, my family’s out at sea!"
“I don’t think it was actually me doing that,” he said. "It was God the whole time. I kept on praying, I kept on praying.”
Austin knew that in that harrowing situation that God was going to be the answer. He simply couldn't do this on His own. Yet in His fear and uncertainty young Austin began bargaining with God, promising the Almighty that if He woud just get him to shore then he "would get baptized" and "go to church" (which indeed he did the following Sunday).
Click here to watch his interview with ABC news.
Nothing can diminish the unprecidented bravery, strength, and determination of this young hero. And hopefully, his recognition that it was God alone who could pull him and his family through this harrowing situation will provide lasting inspiration and motivation to continuing drawing near to the Lord, not just in rough seas, but in every moment of his life journey.
Yet young Austin has much to learn about the God to whom He cried out in his desparation. God's love, grace, deliverance, provision, and protection cannot be bargained for. "If you do this for me, I'll do that for you." Yet so often, for so many of us much older and supposedly wiser than our young hero, this is our natural, knee-jerk reaction.
God's love and grace are free gifts that stem from His heart and nature, not from our devotion or good works. No amount of obedience or sacrifice can trick Him into loving us. "We love Him because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19, NIV).
Christian author and pastor, Dr. Paul Tripp notes, "Some Christians have argued that there are [indeed] bargains in Scripture in which God seems to have willingly participated. One of the prime examples is Hannah."
“She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. And she vowed a vow and said, “O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head.” (1 Samuel 1:10-11, ESV)
At first glance, this does look like a bargain with God, and in fact, God did give Hannah a son. However, the story needs closer examination. Hannah has a conversation with Eli, the priest, “then the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad.” (v. 18)
[You will know] if you are striking a bargain with God, [if] it is only after you have received what you wanted that you experience positive emotions and celebrate getting what you wanted. Not so for Hannah. She is not waiting for the birth of her baby for joy and peace to return; she has it now.
Hannah’s prayer was not a negotiation with God to get her desire but an abandonment of her desire—yes, even a biblical one—for an even better one.
Rather than being consumed solely by her own purpose, she chooses to be captivated by God’s. Rather than attaching a happy life to the fulfillment of her own desires, she finds life in the success of God’s kingdom.
So he rightly observes:
Hannah is not negotiating with God for a son. Of course, she desires a son—a beautiful, biblical desire—but she is letting go of this desire to grab hold of and submit something infinitely better: God’s perfect, wise, and loving will for her life.
Here's Tripp's punchline ...
'Don’t stop asking God to fulfill the desires of your heart, but also never stop asking God to expose whether these desires are horizontal and self-serving rather than vertical and God-honoring. When your desires belong to the Lord, and you are fully content in him, you can experience the best and brightest of lives, no matter how he answers your prayers.'
As the Lord himself prayed, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39, ESV).
God did indeed show up for young Austin in his time of need, but not because our young hero promised him acts of devotion. There are no doubt many, albeit metaphorical, "rough seas" in Austin's future. To meet the challenges, let's pray this young man learns and grows in his faith, laying down his bargaining tools, simply coming to rest and trust in God's great love and grace freely offered.
He's off to a great start ... what a hero!
Never Hurt Your Mommy
Gene Simmons (born Chaim Witz in Haifa, Israel), known as the over-the-top, theatrical front man for the world famous, hard rock band KISS, never indulged in drug or alcohol use. That's an amazing revelation, given the party hardy rock-n-roll culture.
But Gene had an interesting motivation for staying on the straight and narrow. His mother, Flora, lived through the Holocaust and survived the horrors of the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria.
The Jerusalem Post reports, “I’m her only child,” ... “I knew I had no right to hurt my mother. Life had already done enough to her.”
They go on to site a fuller quote from a famous internet meme of Simmons describing his first major interview with Rolling Stone in the 1970s, saying:
“When I met the Rolling Stone writer, I was very careful to cultivate the mystique of the demon. I wore all my spider and silver jewelry and my leather pants. I puffed my hair as big as it could go. With my seven-inch platform boots with silver dollar signs on them and black nail polish, I thought I was ready to project the perfect rock-and-roll image.
"Then, at one point, the doorbell rang. I answered it, and there was my mother at the door with enough food to feed the world: fresh soups, veal chops, pancakes, jams, and cakes.
"She insisted that the writer and I – whom she referred to as 'hungry boys' – stop what we were doing and eat. She kept calling me by my Hebrew name, Chaim, and told the writer that I was a good boy. The big, bad demon was just a mama’s boy.”
The meme shows a towering, fully decked-out Simmons standing with his tiny, elderly mother.
Photo Credit/Attribution Unknown
Simmons' love, concern, compassion, and HONOR of his mama is truly admirable. And using that as motivation to be sure he never "does her wrong" is as good as any motivation one might come up with. Yet, should we really need anything so harrowing, so horrific to prompt us to always want to bring only honor to our parents? Shouldn't we all strive to do so just because it's the right thing to do?
“Honor your father and mother"—which is the first commandment with a promise—“so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth” (Ephesians 6:2-3, NIV).