Fewer people ever struck a stranger deal than did Gaylord Kambarami the time he tried to sell a New Testament to a man in Zimbabwe. As Gaylord talked with the man, it became apparent that the stranger was not interested in reading the little book. He was eyeing the size of the pages and the texture of the paper. Actually he was thinking that the paper was just the right size to use to roll his cigarettes and he told Gaylord that if he gave it to him, that's how he would use it.

Gaylord bargained, "At least promise to read each page before you smoke it." Thinking that he had the better of the deal, the man agreed. Gaylord, the General Secretary of the Bible Society in Zimbabwe, gave him the Bible and the man disappeared. That is, until recently.

Gaylord was attending a convention in Zimbabwe, when the speaker on the platform recognized him, and pointed him out to the audience. "This man doesn't remember me," he said excitedly, "but fifteen years ago he tried to sell me a New Testament. When I refused to buy it he gave it to me, even though I told him I would use the pages to roll cigarettes. I just had to read the pages before smoking. I smoked Matthew and I smoked Mark, and I smoked Luke. But when I got to John 3, verse 16, I couldn't smoke any more. My life was changed from that moment!"

The speaker is now a full-time church evangelist devoting his entire life to showing others the way of salvation he found in this little book.

God's Word has the power to impact the lives of people! Paul Finkenbinder tells of a man in El Salvador for whom the pages of a Bible were just the right size to wrap the goods he sold at the market. He would rip a page or two from the large book and wrap beans or rice for people. When they got home and unwrapped their purchases, they began reading the stories contained on this strange paper, and several of the people got so keenly interested in what was happening they began to exchange and compare their pages with one another. Through this strange working of the Holy Spirit people were converted and a church was born.

Unlike other books, the Bible is a living book. The power of the book is able to get the message off the page into our hearts.