26 Guards
 
 
 

"While serving at a small field hospital in Africa, every two weeks
 I traveled by bicycle through the jungle to a nearby city for
supplies.

 This was a journey of two days and required camping
 overnight at the halfway point. On one of these journeys, I arrived
 in the city where I planned to collect money from a bank, purchase
 medicine and supplies, and then begin my two-day journey back to the
 field hospital. Upon arrival in the city, I observed two men
 fighting, one of whom had been seriously injured. I treated him for
 his injuries and at the same time talked to him about the Lord Jesus
 Christ. I then traveled two days, camping overnight, and arrived
 home without incident.

 Two weeks later I repeated my journey. Upon arriving in the city,
I was   approached by the young man I had treated.
He told me he knew I carried  money and medicines.
He said, "Some friends and I followed you into the  jungle,
knowing you would camp overnight.
We planned to kill you and take  your money and drugs.
But just as we were about to move into your camp,
we  saw that you were surrounded by 26 armed guards.'"

 At this I laughed and said that I was certainly all alone out in
 that jungle campsite. The young man pressed the point, however, and
 said, 'No sir, I was not the only person to see the guards. My five friends
 also saw them, and we all counted them."  It was because of those guards
 that we were afraid and left you alone.

 At this point in the sermon, one of the men in the congregation
 jumped to his feet and interrupted the missionary and asked if he
could tell him the exact day this happened.
The missionary told the congregation the date,
and the man who interrupted told him this
story:

 "On the night of your incident in Africa, it was morning here and I
was
 preparing to go play golf. I was about to putt when I felt the urge
to pray  for you.
 In fact, the urge of the Lord was so strong, I called men of
 this
 church to meet with me here in the sanctuary to
 pray for you. Would all of those men who met with me on that day
 stand up?" The men who had met together to pray that day stood up.
 The missionary wasn't concerned with who they were, he was too busy
 counting how many men he saw. There were 26."