Many of you likely have never heard of a man by the name of
Lester Roloff.  Brother Roloff, as most people called him, was one
of the most unusual preachers on the planet.  He has been dead
since the early eighties when his private airplane crashed
unexpectedly, and for no reason that was ever determined by
officials, and Brother Roloff went home to be with the Lord.  His
ministry was headquartered in Corpus Christie, Texas.

     Brother Roloff started a home for girls there many years ago.
He was a Baptist preacher, by the way, but it was hard to tell
sometimes because he walked closer to God than  just about any
Baptist I ever knew.  The home for girls started out being for run
aways, drug addicts, and eventually Brother Roloff would even go
and take the worst mentally ill cases from Texas state hospitals
and bring them to his ministry headquarters and work with them.
His ministry had an overall 95 percent success rate.  Eventually,
he started a home just for unwed mothers, a home for the elderly,
another one for boys, most of whom were criminals and former drug
addicts, some even were murderers, and he branched out into a
couple of other southern states; planting other such homes for
boys and girls in trouble.

     Now that I have told you who he was, you'll appreciate the
following story I heard Brother Roloff tell this week on a radio
station that still plays Brother Roloff's sermons.  By the way, I
heard Brother Roloff preach many times back in the seventies here
in Denver.  Brother Roloff was more of a story teller than a
theologian but that man could preach.  I still have some of his
sermons on tape, too.

     Brother Roloff was preaching this week on Romans 8:28, All
things work together for Good to them that love God, to them that
are called according to His purpose.  The story goes this way.

     Brother Roloff said a man was a coal miner and worked deep
underground.  Of course, back when this story happened, life was
much different and the coal miners then, as they are today, are
rough and tough men.  One man was a Christian and he witnessed
often to others in the coal mines.  When things went wrong, or
even when good things happened, this Christian man would call out
loudly, and say, "Romans 8:28" and the men would laugh and make
fun of him.

     One day the men were sitting on the ground and waiting for
their turn to climb into the cage and be lowered hundreds of feet
to their work area.  An old hungry skinny dog came up to where
they were sitting, and grabbed the Christian man's lunch bucket by
the handle and quickly ran off into the woods.  This Christian man
was nick named by the other miners as Romans 8:28 so when he
jumped up and began chasing the dog to get his lunch back, they
all yelled, There goes Romans 8:28.  What do you think about that
now Romans 8:28?  They all got a big laugh watching Roman's 8:28
running into the woods and making fun of him.

     the cage came up and these men climbed on board and went down
to their work areas but Roman's 8:28 had to wait for the next cage
ride to the bottom of the shaft because it took him awhile to
catch the dog and get his lunch back.

     When all the men climbed on to the next cage to ride to the
bottom, something went terribly wrong with the equipment and the
cage plunged all the way to the bottom of the shaft.  they all
died but Romans 8:28.  Yes, Romans 8:28 was the only survivor.

     The passage that is so often quoted during times of tragedy,
is really a miracle passage of promise to the Believer in Christ.
It often brings comfort but in this case, it brought a miracle of
life.  It sure made me think differently after hearing this story
the other day.

Phil.

Victory Isn't Something You Have; It Is Who You Are.
www.SafePlaceFellowship.com