OPENING ACTIVITY: Emergency!

After students arrive, ask them to consider where is their nearest shelter to offer them physical protection from severe storms, high winds, floods, fires, or earthquakes. How would they and their loved ones reach this place of shelter in an emergency? Do they have some kind of emergency preparedness kit at home if they had to “shelter in place”? Record their answers on a board or sheet of newsprint.

This week’s story is about two men who escaped certain death when God warned them of on-coming danger and kept them safe.

OPENING STORY: [Read aloud it or pass out copies for students to read.]

‘VOICE OF GOD’ SAVES MEN FROM SEMI-TRUCK CRASH

NEWTON TOWNSHIP, Ohio —Two men who escaped being crushed by a semi-trailer truck say it was the voice of God that saved them.

“We heard a voice, and it was to get out of the truck, and I looked down and I saw a semi swerving toward us,” Jordan Cole told WJW-TV. He was traveling with Kenneth Bryant and several other men from Montana to Philadelphia for a pastor’s conference.

The men were bringing a MudMan food truck. It’s part of a non-profit that sells hamburgers to raise money for Potter’s Field Ministries. “Providing food and other resources,” said Bryant, who recently returned from Guatemala and Uganda.

On November 12, around 8 p.m., the men were on the Ohio Turnpike in Newton Township, between Cleveland and Youngstown, when the food truck broke down. Bryant and Cole stayed with the vehicle while the others hailed a van to go get a repair part.

“He was in the cab of the truck and I was in the back,” Bryant said. “I was using a generator in the back to charge our cellphones.”

Suddenly, he became overwhelmed with a sort of vision. “It was kind of vivid,” Bryant said. “It was a pretty predominant thought that the truck was going to get hit.”

He immediately grabbed his phone and jumped out of the vehicle, while at the same time Cole was jumping out of the front cab. They both made it out with only seconds to spare before the entire food truck was crushed and mangled beyond recognition.

Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers who responded to the accident told WJW the men most certainly would have been killed had they been inside the vehicle during impact. The semi-truck driver also survived and suffered only minor injuries.

“God kept us safe; God kept us alive,” Bryant said.

The men continued on to Philadelphia, then to Florida, and then to California. They were feeding people at a church when they spoke with WJW.

Both absolutely believe they know who saved them and why. “We’ve come to the conclusion that it was Jesus,” Bryant said. “He allowed this to happen for me to be able to share this story…for people to know that our heavenly Father is mindful of us.”

The men feel strongly that they were spared because they have a purpose in this world. “[You have] a purpose for your life, you do have a reason to be living, and it’s God’s perfect timing,” Bryant said.

Now ask your students to form small groups to discuss their answers to these questions.

• Has God has saved you from a dire, possibly life-ending, situation? If so, share your story if you would like to do so.

• Why would God save some people from dangerous situations, but not others?

• Where do you usually go to find protection and safety in life’s hard times?

• When have you found peace by taking shelter in God?

News Source:

https://fox5sandiego.com/2018/12/07/voice-of-god-saves-men-from-semi-truck-crash/