I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 14th of March, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go to that well-known scripture, 2 Timothy 1:7, Jesus says,

“I have not given you a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”

I want to tell you a little story about the strongest man in the world. Well, we are going back a little bit to 1956. Yes, his name was Paul Anderson. Paul Anderson went to the Olympic Games in Australia. It was a given that he was going to get the gold medal in the heavyweight division, but when he got to Australia, he got sick. He had a terrible fever. He lost 30 lbs and the doctor said he couldn’t participate, but he tried. He came all that way. Apparently, when he walked onto the platform, everyone could see that it was a given, this man weighed over 350lbs. Well, he started the first lift (you only get three chances). He failed miserably. The second one, he failed again. The third one, the last one to make him the gold medalist, he prayed in his heart, “Lord, if You give me the strength to get this bar and this weight over my head, I will serve You for the rest of my life’, and at that very moment, he said this himself, God gave him the strength and he pushed that weight over his head and he became the world champion. One lift!

What are you struggling with today? What is the lift in your life? What is the challenge that you are struggling with? Folks, I want to tell you, Paul Anderson said, “If I, the strongest man cannot make it through one day without Jesus Christ, how can you?” You know, often God puts us through a test and He gives us an opportunity to call upon Him. 

You have probably heard this story before, but there was a year on this farm when we had a devastating drought. I had all my money in the crop. I had a young family, everything was at maximum. My overdraft was full, my production loan at the Co-Op was full, I had no money left and there was no rain and the crop was dying in front of my eyes. I said a similar thing as Paul Anderson. I said, “Lord, if you take me through this crop, I will preach the Gospel for the rest of my life.” That’s exactly what I am doing at the moment.

You know that Paul Anderson went back home and started a youth movement. He started a home for young men. To help young, underprivileged boys, he brought them to his home. They looked up to him, and they respected him. You see, the Bible says in Philippians 4:13:

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Today, trust the Lord. He will pull you through.
Jesus bless you and goodbye.