The Least Likely

God has ways of working out His plans and doing things through us that we never dreamed possible. Sometimes we forget that all things are possible when we are willing to be used by God.

Here is an interesting story from the book The Least Likely: In September 1898, John Nicholson, a traveling salesman, attempted to check into the Central House Hotel in Boscobel, Wis. As the hotel was hosting a lumberman’s convention, no single rooms were available. 

The hotel manager asked Nicholson to share a room with another salesman, Samuel Hill. That evening, in Room 19, the two men discovered that they were both Christians. Having prayed together and read the Bible, they discussed the need for a Christian commercial travelers’ association.

Nothing more might have happened. But then a chance meeting the following May rekindled the idea. On July 1, 1899, the two salesmen, joined by a third, William Knights, met in Jamestown and founded an association which they called the “Gideons.” The name comes from the Old Testament book of Judges, and refers to a man who is willing to do whatever God asks him to do.

At the start, the Gideons had the idea of presenting every hotel manager with a Bible for his front desk. Then, in 1907, this progressed to a Bible for each hotel bedroom in the U.S.A. Within 20 years of the first placement, the association had distributed one million Bibles.

To date, the Gideons have given away 870 million Bibles and New Testaments. The movement has 140,000 members, mostly volunteers, in 172 countries. This averages one million books every eight days, or 86 per minute. Evangelical churches of many denominations financially support the Gideons’ work of distributing Bibles, not only to hotels but also to hospitals, prisons, primary schools, universities and military bases.

Think that God doesn’t want to use you? Think again! People are who He works through to accomplish great things. It doesn’t take great people, just willing and obedient ones.