How often do we hear of a perfect example of a scripture that you studied just that week?
James 1:19 My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.
This week we heard of a wonderful example of a brother who did indeed follow this scripture and experienced a righteous moment.
I'll try to give you just a taste of what happened. My suggestion is that you ask the individual himself to re-enact the story. As a story it has it all--jealousy, danger, humor, amazement and a sweet ending.
As you all know David M. is an avid photographer. He and his lovely wife Gail were taking a break at the Pine family cabin this past week. In an act of supreme sacrifice Gail stopped the car at the Verde River area to give David a chance to get some shots of the pretty river area. (I say a sacrifice because typically David is not the speediest photographer and it was a warm day).
As David stood taking some shots of the river, a burly sort of guy walks up to David, gets directly in his face, and asks a surprising question "Why are you taking pictures of my wife?". Now I can't think of another man who would have kept his cool so well as David did who slowly and quietly replied "I'm not taking pictures of your wife. I didn't even see your wife." The man stayed right in his face and insisted that David had been taking pictures of his wife. David stayed ever so calm, quietly explaining that he hadn't even been aware that this man's wife was in the river. Eventually the man backs away and continues to rant about how his wife was always being unfaithful--using expletives to punctuate his angst.
Some pretty weird and interesting conversation takes place at this point but I'll let David, an expert story teller, fill you in when you see him Sunday.
But I can't resist finishing the story. Here's where we see the righteous result of a slow to speak answer. David says to the man in response to his despairing comments "would you like me to pray with you? and then "Do you know Jesus as your Savior?".
That deserves a big WOW and a hearty Amen! Way to go David! The man says yes and yes and David prays with him and offers counsel on the situation.
Sorry to give away the punchline, but you'll still enjoy David's recounting of this God ordained encounter.
Proverbs 15
1 A soft answer turns away wrath,
but a harsh word stirs up anger.
