11. Is It Worth It All?
The “Is It Worth it All?” module is a story that portrays a time when the truth of Scripture was put to the supreme test. It is most effective if it is the speaker’s own story of the time he or she was most tempted to throw in the towel and quit, where faith was most severely tested. It is the place to be honest and vulnerable, to come down off your pedestal and be human. You reveal what you truly felt in your heart as you faced the trial. Did you yell at God? Did you rebel and complain that is wasn’t fair? This story should leave the audience member saying, “Wow, if that is how God’s grace works, I have no excuse for not obeying.”
Here is one of my many Is it Worth All stories:
It Isn’t Fair
In the fall of 1965 my wife and I were in a 12-week missionary boot camp in the jungles of Southern Mexico. One day during the first week I was standing in a dugout canoe with a long paddle navigating down a deep, swift stream. I had my glasses strapped on with an elastic band. Suddenly a branch from the shore caught my glasses and they flipped off into the river.
I was in huge trouble. I am severely nearsighted and helpless without my glasses. Now, jungle camp was over for me in the first week because I stupidly didn’t bring a second pair of glasses.
I sat on the shore, helpless, while my colleagues dived and searched for my glasses in the swift, deep current. I knew it was hopeless. I remember thinking, “Lord this can’t be happening! How could you let me do something so stupid! Is this the way it is going to be? It isn’t worth it and it isn’t fair! Why did I ever think I could be a missionary anyway?”
That evening the camp director called everyone together to pray about my glasses. I remember thinking, “What good does he think that will do?
The next morning Bob Gunn, a friend in hut next to ours suddenly woke up and said to his wife, “Mary, I just had the strangest dream. I can see Jerry’s glasses. I know right where they are!”
He scrambled out of his sleeping bag, pulled on his swimsuit, ran to the river and dived in one time. When he came up, he had my glasses.