I Shall Come Forth As Gold

Have you ever felt as though life's challenges are bigger than you are? Have you ever been overwhelmed by unexpected tragedy? Have your dreams ever been crushed? Have goals you longed to attain suddenly become impossible? Have your hopes and expectations ever been dashed? When life happens, it can seem hard to keep on going, and doubly hard to maintain your faith in a loving God. How do we make sense of senseless tragedy and random setbacks? When you lose the people or the gifts you love the most, how do you cope? Peter Church suffered through tragedies from which most people never recover. A championship athlete with his sights on the Olympic Games, his career was cut short by a sudden rock fall in the South African gold mine where he worked. Trapped half a mile underground, with other miners dead or dying around him, his spine crushed, he was conscious for agonizing hours while rescuers worked feverishly to rescue the group. Paralyzed from the waist down, he spent a year in hospital. Yet his spirit was strong, and he and his family prayed earnestly for his recovery. He experienced a miraculous healing, and slowly and painfully learned to walk again. He changed the whole focus of his life and trained as a minister. With his wife Ada, he brought the word of God to hundreds of thousands of people through radio broadcasts and movies. Other wrenching disappointments did more than test his faith; they strengthened it. Later he moved the US and provided a bridge between Africa and America, and in his later ministry in Jacksonville, Florida, between African-American, Hispanic, and white churches. He organized city-wide ecumenical events bringing together a wide variety of social and ethic groups to celebrate the glory of God together. Peter's story will amaze and motivate you, and inspire you to reach for God's love and kindness in the darkest of hours.