“The Hidden Opportunities Of Life”

Max Lucado tells a story about a bird named Chippie in his book “In The Eye Of The Storm”…

Chippie the parakeet never saw it coming.

One second he was peacefully perched in his cage. The next he was sucked in, washed up, and blown over.

The problems began when Chippie's owner decided to clean Chippie's cage… with a vacuum cleaner. She removed the attachment from the end of the hose and stuck it in the cage. The phone rang, and she turned to pick it up. She'd barely said "hello" when "ssssopp!" Chippie got sucked in.

The bird owner gasped, put down the phone, turned off the vacuum, and opened the bag. There was Chippie -- still alive, but stunned.

Since the bird was covered with dust and soot, she grabbed him and raced to the bathroom, turned on the faucet, and held Chippie under the running water. Then, realizing that Chippie was soaked and shivering, she did what any compassionate bird owner would do . . . she reached for the hair dryer and blasted the pet with hot air.

Poor Chippie never knew what hit him.

A few days after the trauma, the reporter who'd initially written about the event contacted Chippie's owner to see how the bird was recovering. "Well," she replied, "Chippie doesn't sing much anymore -- he just sits and stares."

It's easy to laugh at Chippie, but all of us know what it's like to go through a trial and feel afterward like we don't sing much anymore -- we just sit there and stare. :)


But, trials and problems are a normal thing in this fallen world we live in. We shouldn’t be surprised by them. We should really expect them!


In John 16:33, Jesus said, “Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”

If we can’t stop trials from coming into our lives, what can we do?

The only thing we can do is learn to see them differently. And when we learn to see them differently, we’ll discover something amazing.

I want to look at a passage of scripture that tells us a surprising way to look at our trials and problems.

Turn with me in your Bibles to James 1:2-12.

Hear the message below:

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