The Gospel-24/7

Story About John Glenn Author Unknown

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TOPIC and SUBTOPIC: TOPIC: Astronaut, Famous and Afflicted.

TITLE: Story About John Glenn

Do you remember when John Glenn first circled the earth and enjoyed fame unequaled by any man at that time? Then he filed in the Democratic primary. . . for the US. Senate in Ohio. He walked in his bathroom one morning . . . had a freakish accident and had to WITHDRAW from that race. Do you recall reading about the AFFLICTIONS of John Glenn and his family? You see . . . the HEROISM had worn off . . . and now they were TELLING THE TRUTH. He was NOT an "A" student . . . he was a "B" student. He was NOT a topflight athlete . . . he was a 2nd stringer.

You see . . . man always wants to attribute greatness to brain or brawn . . . never to character. . . never to the spirit. When the public got around to telling the truth . . . it was because the character of John Glenn centers in Jesus Christ! The writer in this particular magazine article . . . told how he had to withdraw from the campaign trail (but had not yet withdrawn from the race) . . . HIS WIFE went out to substitute for him.

She'd step up to the microphone and say "I'm Annie Glenn. I STUTTER you know here's Rene." . . .

Then she would step back . . . and Rene Carpenter . . . the wife of another astronaut at that time . . . would come to the microphone. Rene was not only a very capable speaker . . . she was an extremely attractive woman.

People went for it . . . the HONESTY OF IT . . . "I'm Annie Glenn . . . I stutter, you know."

Moses is usually thought of as a shy, reticent man . . . who was seeking to withdraw from responsibility. BUT, it is quite possible that Moses withdrew from responsibility . . . because being slow of speech meant that he stammered or stuttered.

He was AFFLICTED . . . but the Lord said to him . . . "I made that mouth, and I made all other mouths, and now I will give you a mouth that will speak for you . . . a mouth that can communicate . . . the mouth of your own brother . . . Aaron."

When we think of the 20th century, we marvel at the voice of one man . . . Winston Churchill . . . literally a speaker who changed the course of human history . . . who rallied an entire people . . . never realizing that his great speaking ability was NOT a style . . . it was an AFFLICTION. He stammered and stuttered all his life . . . and it made him sound the way he did. With the affliction that he never corrected . . . he grew in greatness.