Victory
Chaplain Wade Graber
August 25, 2020
Hey Team CareGivers (TCG Family and Friends),
The story below, sometimes considered myth and sometimes written as history, came to mind as I was thinking through some things this weekend.
Harry Houdini, the famed escape artist from a few years back, issued a challenge wherever he went. He could be locked in any jail cell in the country, he claimed, and set himself free in short order. Always he kept his promise, but one time something went wrong. Houdini entered the jail in his street clothes; the heavy, metal doors clanged shut behind him. He took from his belt a piece of metal, strong and flexible. He set to work immediately, but something seemed to be unusual about this lock. For thirty minutes he worked and got nowhere. An hour passed, and still he had not opened the door. By now, he was bathed in sweat and panting in exasperation, but he still could not pick the lock. Finally, after laboring for two hours, Harry Houdini collapsed in frustration and failure against the door he could not unlock. But when he fell against the door, it swung open! It had never been locked at all! But in his mind it was locked, and that was all it took to keep him from opening the door and walking out of the jail cell. (Cited in Illustrations Unlimited, by James S. Hewett, p. 225.)
There are several applications that one could make from this Houdini story. My thoughts this morning were affected by the devotion entitled “Victory” by A.J. Gretz and the words of Jesus he quoted, “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world (John 16:33).” We have to deal with sickness, broken relationships, anxiety, stress, storms, riots, injustices, turmoil, problems, and all kinds of heartaches, but we ultimately overcome through Christ’s victory. Whether our hurts are real or imagined, we can find escape and release in Christ and live in His victory!
In Him,
Wade
Chaplain Wade Graber
After serving as a church pastor for over four decades, Wade is now the director of Graber Ministries and the corporate Chaplain for TCG Services. Wade’s caregiving ministries take him to co-worker’s desks, down the street to local businesses, online to share life with clients, around the US, and across the ocean for church planting (primarily in Liberia), and sharing his writings and songs about “The Mission of the Holy Spirit."