What is God's Favorite Word?

June 17, 2018

Upon awakening one morning in his homeland of Switzerland, Jean Henri Dunant learned that a war had started in Italy. Hastily packing a few things, he set out to see for himself what was going on.

Henri arrived in Italy to see soldiers fighting on the side of a hill near the town of Castiglione.  Shots were fired back and forth, with Henri watching as men were hit, screaming and falling to the ground. Having never seen anything like this before, he felt compelled to do something to help the wounded men. When at dusk the fighting stopped, Henri went to the nearby town to ask people to go to the battlefield with him. Ordinary citizens: farmers, bakers and tailors immediately responded, spending the night there providing as much aid as possible to the wounded men.

It was difficult for Henri to forget what he had seen, so he decided to write down his experiences. Describing the horrible sight of battle and men being shot, he suggested that every country should have a relief society, a kind of emergency aid service to help wounded soldiers.

It was five years later, in 1864, when the first rescue society was organized in Geneva, Switzerland. It was called the Red Cross. Soon, other countries joined the society. Henri was forgotten until an article appeared in a newspaper in 1895. In 1901, Henri was given the very first Nobel peace prize.

Who would have thought that something as horrible as witnessing a battle would bring about so much good?

Jesus’ preaching of the Kingdom of God was his primary theme, but as the apostles were listening to him they must have wondered about the reality of this.  There was no evidence in sight of a Kingdom of God. All they saw was anger and resistance.  After Jesus’ crucifixion, the apostles were totally dejected. They must have questioned believing everything that Jesus taught. 

Remember David, a teenaged shepherd boy, who took down the mighty soldier, Goliath? Remember Moses, a stuttering herdsman who was directed to liberate his Hebrew people from a two-thousand-year-old nation?

I think that “impossible” must be God’s favorite word.  God takes it and turns into reality things that seem truly “impossible.” The smallest seed can become the largest plant! 

Nothing is impossible with God!  




Kathryn Richards