By Ann Farabee

One more

Most of us were aware of it.

Many of us prayed about it.

Help them find one more, Lord.

They were young girls at a Christian camp in the middle of the night, as a flood carried away their cabin, every person, and every thing  inside of it. Quite frankly, it is hard for me to fathom. As soon as I typed the word fathom, my eyes blurred with tears, and  I looked up the definition to make sure the word was strong enough to express how I feel. Yes, it is hard to fathom, for sure.

If I knew the definition, I had forgotten it –

Definition 1. Noun –  A unit of length equal to six feet, mostly used in reference to the depth of water.

Definition 2. Verb –  Difficult to understand after much thought.

As I often do during a tragic event, I watched TV coverage non-stop, hoping for just one more person to be found alive. When that did not happen, I began to hope for just one more body to be found.

Yes, many of us who watched the coverage were praying for the same – one more!

A tragedy is defined as an event causing great suffering, destruction, distress, and sometimes death. How tragic it is for those who lost their lives in that unimaginable circumstance.

The ‘one more’ I was hoping for from the Texas flooding was not found.

I had written down the words ‘one more’ in my sermon notes the previous Sunday at church during the pastor’s message.

The phrase has stuck with me. A few years ago on a mission trip to Jamaica, people of all ages accepted Christ, and we found ourselves praying for just one more. In our everyday lives, reaching the thousands is unlikely, but reaching one more is very likely IF we make the effort.

While in Jamaica visiting many churches and towns to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I was a little surprised on our last day there, when the bus driver who had been taking us everywhere, watching and waiting for us at each stop, turned toward those of us loaded on the bus – and asked if he could have a Bible.

We had ministered to hundreds that week, but the bus driver became our one more.

As the writer of this column, I feel blessed to reach thousands each week. One day, a reader emailed me that she had accepted Christ as a result of reading my columns. She was my one more!

Sometimes, for all of us as Christians, as a result of our testimony and God’s grace and mercy, there is one more. And maybe another one more.

What greater victory can we have in our lives than to experience the spiritual salvation of those we cross paths with along the way?

I am praying that God will send us all one more!