Making the Most of Our Regrets

When a pastor and one of his parishioners are offered a ride in a small plane, they accept. It’s a decision that plunges the community into tears and mourning. What if …?

It isn’t every day that some event in our lives seems to echo a Bible story, but it happens. In fact, it happened recently to Stan Purdum, editor and writer of The Wired Word (thewiredword.com) and also a regular contributor to Homiletics.

According to 2 Chronicles 34, in the days of Josiah, king of Israel, a copy of “the book of the law,” which was probably the scroll of Deuteronomy, was discovered in the temple during a renovation of that building. Apparently, the scroll had been stored in the temple many years before and then forgotten. Upon discovery, it was sent to King Josiah who, after it was read to him, realized his nation had wandered far from the divine instructions recorded in that book. In response, King Josiah led his people in great spiritual renewal.

That’s Josiah’s story.

Purdum’s story begins when he was serving a six-month interim pastorate at the church he’d been attending in Basking Ridge, New Jersey.

On a seldom-used ...