July 31
I ask in the van if she has her cell phone. She returns to the house to look for it.
She is back in less than half a minute with the phone in her hand and a quizzical look.
“ Where was it,” I ask relieved?
“I don’t know,” she says softly.
“What do you mean you don’t know?”
“I went into the kitchen and I didn’t see it, I prayed and then I’m holding the phone. It was like someone handed it to me.”
“Let your request be made known to God and the peace of God which surpasses
all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
(Philippians 4:6-7)
Friday, July 30, 2010
IG Inspection
July 30
Try keeping anything metal from rusting in Panama. It is impossible. The Inspector General team arrived headed by a Captain I had served with a year earlier. I told him my evaluation was riding on the weapons inspection.
The captain took over inspecting the weapons himself. Later he made an oral report to the brass. When he got to the weapons section he turned to my company commander and said; "Captain, I congratulate you and your men for having the best looking weapons in the battalion."
“… with God all things are possible." (Mark 10:27)
Try keeping anything metal from rusting in Panama. It is impossible. The Inspector General team arrived headed by a Captain I had served with a year earlier. I told him my evaluation was riding on the weapons inspection.
The captain took over inspecting the weapons himself. Later he made an oral report to the brass. When he got to the weapons section he turned to my company commander and said; "Captain, I congratulate you and your men for having the best looking weapons in the battalion."
“… with God all things are possible." (Mark 10:27)
Lost Swimmer
July 29
I‘m 17 and the waterfront director at a Boy Scout camp. The counselors had left the water for lunch. My assistant reports there is still a nametag on the board.I send him to the mess hall and I begin a lost swimmer search.
On my fourth dive I see the body several feet below me. I gasp, lose my air and re- surface. My heart is pounding. I take a deep breadth and dive straight down, arms extended. As I near the bottom the body is a towel draped over some rocks. When I surface my assistant is walking on the dock and tells me our missing person is at the dinning hall. My reaction is how heaven feels about a new believer.
"Rejoice with me for I have found my sheep which was lost." (Luke 15:6)
I‘m 17 and the waterfront director at a Boy Scout camp. The counselors had left the water for lunch. My assistant reports there is still a nametag on the board.I send him to the mess hall and I begin a lost swimmer search.
On my fourth dive I see the body several feet below me. I gasp, lose my air and re- surface. My heart is pounding. I take a deep breadth and dive straight down, arms extended. As I near the bottom the body is a towel draped over some rocks. When I surface my assistant is walking on the dock and tells me our missing person is at the dinning hall. My reaction is how heaven feels about a new believer.
"Rejoice with me for I have found my sheep which was lost." (Luke 15:6)
Tragic Lesson
July 28
A small plane plunges into the dark ocean off Martha's Vineyard claiming the lives of the pilot, John F. Kennedy, Jr., his wife, Carolyn and her sister, Lauren Bessette.
JFK Jr. left for the island that night despite predictions of poor visibility. A reporter who is also a pilot concludes JFK Jr. fell victim to the young pilot's disease he called, "gotta-get-there-itis."
I ask God, what am I supposed to learn from all this? "The reply comes quickly.
"Without counsel plans go awry, but in the multitude of counselors they are established."(Proverbs 22:1)
A small plane plunges into the dark ocean off Martha's Vineyard claiming the lives of the pilot, John F. Kennedy, Jr., his wife, Carolyn and her sister, Lauren Bessette.
JFK Jr. left for the island that night despite predictions of poor visibility. A reporter who is also a pilot concludes JFK Jr. fell victim to the young pilot's disease he called, "gotta-get-there-itis."
I ask God, what am I supposed to learn from all this? "The reply comes quickly.
"Without counsel plans go awry, but in the multitude of counselors they are established."(Proverbs 22:1)
A Walk on the Beach
July 27
“Grampy, want to go for a walk on the beach?” What I don’t realize is what a four-year-old means by a walk on the beach. To him it means racing down the beach looking back, smiling and off again. This goes on for several minutes. Finally he stops and starts running back towards me, arms extended. I throw my arms up and run towards him. As he draws near I crouch and he leaps into my waiting arms, squealing with delight. What joy.
“ These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.” (John 15: 11)
“Grampy, want to go for a walk on the beach?” What I don’t realize is what a four-year-old means by a walk on the beach. To him it means racing down the beach looking back, smiling and off again. This goes on for several minutes. Finally he stops and starts running back towards me, arms extended. I throw my arms up and run towards him. As he draws near I crouch and he leaps into my waiting arms, squealing with delight. What joy.
“ These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.” (John 15: 11)
Angels in my Life.
July 26
My thanks to these special angels:
An orthopedic nurse who encouraged me for ten years so I wouldn’t be crippled;
The priest who stopped and taped a leaky fuel line in my car on a hot summer day;
The unknown angel who awakened me just as I was drifting off the road;
Thank you Lord for sending these and others in my time of need.
“He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways."
(Psalm 91:11)
My thanks to these special angels:
An orthopedic nurse who encouraged me for ten years so I wouldn’t be crippled;
The priest who stopped and taped a leaky fuel line in my car on a hot summer day;
The unknown angel who awakened me just as I was drifting off the road;
Thank you Lord for sending these and others in my time of need.
“He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways."
(Psalm 91:11)
All in a Day
July 25
How was your day? Ok. Let’s look again.
The car accident that almost happened but didn’t, the call from a friend inviting me to something good, a hug and smile from my wife and a surprise call from a daughter.
There is food to eat, no aches or pains, and nothing dangerous to face. There is a meeting with a friend, a Bible to read, wild ducks to feed, a computer to use, music to hear, a comfortable bed and prayers to say. It’s not just Ok. It was a day from GOD.
"I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."
(John 10:10)
How was your day? Ok. Let’s look again.
The car accident that almost happened but didn’t, the call from a friend inviting me to something good, a hug and smile from my wife and a surprise call from a daughter.
There is food to eat, no aches or pains, and nothing dangerous to face. There is a meeting with a friend, a Bible to read, wild ducks to feed, a computer to use, music to hear, a comfortable bed and prayers to say. It’s not just Ok. It was a day from GOD.
"I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."
(John 10:10)
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Jack's Miracle
Week of July 25
On Good Friday Jack was working out at the gym, as he often did. Without warning he collapsed on a weight machine and slid to the floor. A cardiac nurse happened to be working out nearby. She normally would not have been at the gym at that hour but a schedule change at work allowed her to be at the gym. She had the presence to remove vomit from Jack’s mouth which cleared his air passage. Jack, unconscious but breathing on his own was rushed to a nearby hospital.
In the emergency room Jack remained unconscious, a couple of times the doctors lost a pulse. He remained in a coma. The doctor told his wife that a cat scan showed no activity…if he regained consciousness he probably would be a vegetable. Jack’s youngest daughter, Colleen, a high school student, told her mom not to believe the doctor.
“Our God is bigger than that,” she said. Later after the rest of the family arrived Colleen found her way to the Chapel. She was alone. She prayed for God’s healing power. She said she clearly her a voice in her head say, “I will restore those (brain) cells Sunday to glorify my son’s resurrection.”
When she reported this revelation to her family she was met with skepticism, heads shaking in disbelief, and eyes rolling. The next day Jack was still in a
comma and on life support. Twice Colleen, in talking to her dad, got such a strong reaction on the monitoring machine that the nurses came in the room. The second time they asked her to leave the hospital room. She insisted her dad was going to be ok. “You don’t know my God or my dad,” she told the nurses as she left.
The next day, Easter morning, there was a banging at her bedroom door. It was her little brother reporting that, “Dad woke up.”
An excited Colleen, while driving to the hospital stopped at every convenience store she passed to exclaim “Behold the Lamb of God, my dad is healed.” She arrived at the hospital to find her dad sitting up and being his old feisty self.
When Colleen returned home that day and turned on her favorite Christian station the first thing she heard was “Behold the Lamb of God.”
Jack Reilly
Tucson, Arizona (as told by his daughter)
On Good Friday Jack was working out at the gym, as he often did. Without warning he collapsed on a weight machine and slid to the floor. A cardiac nurse happened to be working out nearby. She normally would not have been at the gym at that hour but a schedule change at work allowed her to be at the gym. She had the presence to remove vomit from Jack’s mouth which cleared his air passage. Jack, unconscious but breathing on his own was rushed to a nearby hospital.
In the emergency room Jack remained unconscious, a couple of times the doctors lost a pulse. He remained in a coma. The doctor told his wife that a cat scan showed no activity…if he regained consciousness he probably would be a vegetable. Jack’s youngest daughter, Colleen, a high school student, told her mom not to believe the doctor.
“Our God is bigger than that,” she said. Later after the rest of the family arrived Colleen found her way to the Chapel. She was alone. She prayed for God’s healing power. She said she clearly her a voice in her head say, “I will restore those (brain) cells Sunday to glorify my son’s resurrection.”
When she reported this revelation to her family she was met with skepticism, heads shaking in disbelief, and eyes rolling. The next day Jack was still in a
comma and on life support. Twice Colleen, in talking to her dad, got such a strong reaction on the monitoring machine that the nurses came in the room. The second time they asked her to leave the hospital room. She insisted her dad was going to be ok. “You don’t know my God or my dad,” she told the nurses as she left.
The next day, Easter morning, there was a banging at her bedroom door. It was her little brother reporting that, “Dad woke up.”
An excited Colleen, while driving to the hospital stopped at every convenience store she passed to exclaim “Behold the Lamb of God, my dad is healed.” She arrived at the hospital to find her dad sitting up and being his old feisty self.
When Colleen returned home that day and turned on her favorite Christian station the first thing she heard was “Behold the Lamb of God.”
Jack Reilly
Tucson, Arizona (as told by his daughter)
Sunday, July 18, 2010
It Began with a Shipwreck
Week of July 17
“It all started when I was shipwrecked off the coast of Africa.” This is how my dad started every bedtime story when my little sister and I were growing up. He always made the stories up according to his mood and while the stories were always different, the beginning was always the same; he was shipwrecked off the coast of Africa. We loved his stories.
He had lived a life full of both hard work and temperance. He was a stonemason, didn't smoke, and he drank only a tiny glass of family home-made wine occasionally. He walked about 5 miles daily to relieve the loneliness and grief after my mom died from cancer. My dad was a spirit filled man who prayed the Rosary daily on his knees.
Dad had been ill for about a year while hospitals misdiagnosed him. Finally we got him to Mass General Hospital where he was diagnosed with stage 4 leukemia. He was bleeding internally and that spiked the stroke that killed him. He was 75 when he passed.
I should tell you that in my family we always expect to get word that our loved ones “arrive safely.” So when my dad died my sister and I expected to hear from him.
A short while after the funeral my sister and I were driving separate cars in two different states (Connecticut and Massachusetts) and we happened to be listening to the same program on Public Radio. Faith Middleton was interviewing an author and asked him to read a page from his newly published book. His first words were, “It all started when I was shipwrecked off the coast of Africa.”
I called my sister that evening and we both knew that it was a message from our story telling dad.
I’ve had one other contact from my dad. There came a time several months after his death when I was overcome with grief and was weeping for him in my bed, calling him in fact, wanting him to be near. At the time, I was lying on my left side in the bed, my head on the pillow. I suddenly heard him call my name, loudly and directly, into my right ear as though he were standing next to me. After I heard my name, my right ear 'pinged' and a ringing sound began in an odd way. Not my left ear, nor did both ears 'ping' -- only the right one into which his voice came. I knew immediately it was my dad and I was at peace.
I hope that these stories I have shared give others as much comfort as I received experiencing them.
Diane Valentine Reading
Middletown, Connecticut
“It all started when I was shipwrecked off the coast of Africa.” This is how my dad started every bedtime story when my little sister and I were growing up. He always made the stories up according to his mood and while the stories were always different, the beginning was always the same; he was shipwrecked off the coast of Africa. We loved his stories.
He had lived a life full of both hard work and temperance. He was a stonemason, didn't smoke, and he drank only a tiny glass of family home-made wine occasionally. He walked about 5 miles daily to relieve the loneliness and grief after my mom died from cancer. My dad was a spirit filled man who prayed the Rosary daily on his knees.
Dad had been ill for about a year while hospitals misdiagnosed him. Finally we got him to Mass General Hospital where he was diagnosed with stage 4 leukemia. He was bleeding internally and that spiked the stroke that killed him. He was 75 when he passed.
I should tell you that in my family we always expect to get word that our loved ones “arrive safely.” So when my dad died my sister and I expected to hear from him.
A short while after the funeral my sister and I were driving separate cars in two different states (Connecticut and Massachusetts) and we happened to be listening to the same program on Public Radio. Faith Middleton was interviewing an author and asked him to read a page from his newly published book. His first words were, “It all started when I was shipwrecked off the coast of Africa.”
I called my sister that evening and we both knew that it was a message from our story telling dad.
I’ve had one other contact from my dad. There came a time several months after his death when I was overcome with grief and was weeping for him in my bed, calling him in fact, wanting him to be near. At the time, I was lying on my left side in the bed, my head on the pillow. I suddenly heard him call my name, loudly and directly, into my right ear as though he were standing next to me. After I heard my name, my right ear 'pinged' and a ringing sound began in an odd way. Not my left ear, nor did both ears 'ping' -- only the right one into which his voice came. I knew immediately it was my dad and I was at peace.
I hope that these stories I have shared give others as much comfort as I received experiencing them.
Diane Valentine Reading
Middletown, Connecticut
Sunday, July 11, 2010
God Talks to Debbie
Week of July 11
I love my God. The God who sent Jesus Christ, My Lord and Savior, HE is my everything. So when people would share how God clearly spoke to them and they were going to do something out of clearly hearing God’s word, I would become puzzled and often wonder, “Why isn’t God talking to me?”
Well, in the fall of 2005 a thought came to mind. It was that I should consider moving back to St. Louis (I had been in Florida for 5 years.) When I left St. Louis I had experienced a very painful divorce and a lot of heartache so I never felt it was a place I would return to live. This idea continued to come up in my quiet time and I did not understand.
Pastor Brian’s sermons were jumping out at me. He talked about quiet time, taking time to really spend with God in prayer and adoration. Let me tell you, it is awesome what we can hear from our Lord when we are quiet and consistently seek his word and desire for us.
Two months into this, I was going back home to St. Louis for Christmas. I was clearly hearing from God that He wanted me to return permanently, but I had never experienced this before, so I was wanting to make sure I was getting it right.
I have a dear friend, a woman who truly walks and talks with our God. What Faith she has. She sent me to Florida with much love and blessings and over the past five years never once asked, “When are you coming home?” So I prayed to God to please somehow reveal to me through Mary that this is what He wanted me to do.
When I arrive in St. Louis six of us ladies, friends for almost 30 years, meet for lunch. As we are leaving, my friend Mary pulls me aside and says, “Debbie, God has really put you on my heart for the past several months. I think it is time you came home.” ( I began to tremble inside because I knew God was letting me know His desire for me.)
I jokingly said to her, “One problem, I need a job”. Then she proceeded to tell me another “God Thing”. Two days earlier a friend of hers, whom she had not talked to in months, just showed up at her door. Mary claims this Nurse Recruiter friend has never done such a thing before. She would normally call and ask to come by and visit. She told Mary she did not know why God led her to the house that morning, but just felt a strong need to visit her friend. During the conversation, she told Mary she was in need of a Nurse Case Manager and did she know of anyone. Oddly enough, Mary tells her that we are having lunch in two days and she would discuss it with me. Mary then tells me to fax my resume to Karen and let God do the rest.
I shared with her what I had been praying for and how she revealed to me this is what God desires for me and I want and must be obedient. We both began to cry and thank God for his goodness.
I returned to Florida, put my condo up for sale and had a telephone interview from Florida for a Nurse Case Manager position the very next week.
I have clearly heard God’s word to me and as frightening as a move, new job, etc. seems, I am excited and must be obedient. I don’t know what God has in store for me in St. Louis, but what ever it is, I will be able to get through it because I love my Lord and He is always with me. He is my Rock and my strength and is ever present.
I encourage you to spend quiet time with the Lord. Pray, read scripture and then, most importantly, be still, “listen, and know that I am God.” We MUST listen to God and be obedient to his will in our life.
Debbie Houston
St. Louis, Missouri
I love my God. The God who sent Jesus Christ, My Lord and Savior, HE is my everything. So when people would share how God clearly spoke to them and they were going to do something out of clearly hearing God’s word, I would become puzzled and often wonder, “Why isn’t God talking to me?”
Well, in the fall of 2005 a thought came to mind. It was that I should consider moving back to St. Louis (I had been in Florida for 5 years.) When I left St. Louis I had experienced a very painful divorce and a lot of heartache so I never felt it was a place I would return to live. This idea continued to come up in my quiet time and I did not understand.
Pastor Brian’s sermons were jumping out at me. He talked about quiet time, taking time to really spend with God in prayer and adoration. Let me tell you, it is awesome what we can hear from our Lord when we are quiet and consistently seek his word and desire for us.
Two months into this, I was going back home to St. Louis for Christmas. I was clearly hearing from God that He wanted me to return permanently, but I had never experienced this before, so I was wanting to make sure I was getting it right.
I have a dear friend, a woman who truly walks and talks with our God. What Faith she has. She sent me to Florida with much love and blessings and over the past five years never once asked, “When are you coming home?” So I prayed to God to please somehow reveal to me through Mary that this is what He wanted me to do.
When I arrive in St. Louis six of us ladies, friends for almost 30 years, meet for lunch. As we are leaving, my friend Mary pulls me aside and says, “Debbie, God has really put you on my heart for the past several months. I think it is time you came home.” ( I began to tremble inside because I knew God was letting me know His desire for me.)
I jokingly said to her, “One problem, I need a job”. Then she proceeded to tell me another “God Thing”. Two days earlier a friend of hers, whom she had not talked to in months, just showed up at her door. Mary claims this Nurse Recruiter friend has never done such a thing before. She would normally call and ask to come by and visit. She told Mary she did not know why God led her to the house that morning, but just felt a strong need to visit her friend. During the conversation, she told Mary she was in need of a Nurse Case Manager and did she know of anyone. Oddly enough, Mary tells her that we are having lunch in two days and she would discuss it with me. Mary then tells me to fax my resume to Karen and let God do the rest.
I shared with her what I had been praying for and how she revealed to me this is what God desires for me and I want and must be obedient. We both began to cry and thank God for his goodness.
I returned to Florida, put my condo up for sale and had a telephone interview from Florida for a Nurse Case Manager position the very next week.
I have clearly heard God’s word to me and as frightening as a move, new job, etc. seems, I am excited and must be obedient. I don’t know what God has in store for me in St. Louis, but what ever it is, I will be able to get through it because I love my Lord and He is always with me. He is my Rock and my strength and is ever present.
I encourage you to spend quiet time with the Lord. Pray, read scripture and then, most importantly, be still, “listen, and know that I am God.” We MUST listen to God and be obedient to his will in our life.
Debbie Houston
St. Louis, Missouri
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Mr. Clarke
Week of July 4
There are some things that just defy logical explanations. This is one of those things for me. I was a mother with a small boy at home. About once a month a Mr. Clarke would stop by, usually late morning, with a suitcase full of small household items for sale. Mr. Clarke, I never knew his first name, was an older gentleman of retirement age who was trying to augment his income by going door-to-door selling whatever he could. I felt sorry for him and would always buy something, even if only a pair of shoe strings, so he wouldn’t leave without having sold something.
Mainly we would just chat about the weather or something in the news that week while my little boy played with blocks or some other toy on the living room floor. After several minutes of friendly conversation he would open his suitcase and point out some new item. I would listen to whatever he was promoting and politely say I didn’t think I needed that right now but what we really needed was a box of bandages. I would purchase the item and he was most gracious as he packed his wares and left.
This went on for about a year and then one month passed and he hadn’t stopped by. Several months passed and no Mr. Clarke. There was a knock at the door one morning and I opened it to find a thin pleasant looking woman.
“Are you Mrs. Marr,” she asked? I nodded.
“I’m Mrs. Clarke, You were a customer of my husband. He passed on you know.”
“I’m sorry, I wondered what happened to him.”
“I’ve been talking with him and last night he gave me a message for you,” she said.
Before I could collect myself to say anything sensible she must have read the expression of bewilderment and shock on my face and she continued talking.
“Oh yes. I talk with him frequently and last night he was very clear that I bring a message to you. He said, ‘tell Mrs. Marr there is going to be an explosion.’ That’s it, that’s all he said. I can’t tell you what it means, just what he said.”
She wouldn’t come in, apologized for upsetting me in any way and thanked me for being kind to her husband and she walked away. I was dumbfounded.
I thought of a hundred questions I wanted to ask her but she had gone. I didn’t know how to get in touch with her, or where she lived and I still didn’t know Mr. Clarke’s first name.
An explosion! What to do? My husband worked at an oil refinery and I impulsively called his office. As the call was going through I thought what on earth will I say to him, that a woman I’ve never met before told me her dead husband gave her a message last night to warn me that there was going to be an explosion…
“Hello.”
“Hi Dear, how are you?”
“I’m fine, what’s up?”
I couldn’t tell him at least not now over the phone while he was at work. I would tell him when he got home tonight, besides he would be asking me a ton of questions to which I had no answers. The rest of our conversation was strained and awkward especially on my end. I tried to determine what the rest of his day was like without tipping my hand. I was trying to ascertain that he was going to be right at his desk and not out by the fuel storage tanks or down on the docks where the tankers unloaded. I sensed he was getting curious about my new-found interest in his day. Then he asked the question I was dreading.
“Tell me is there something on your mind that prompted this call?”
“Oh,” I laughed nervously, “Could you pick up a dozen eggs on your way home?”
When he came home with the eggs I came clean. I was relieved that he was home and we both had a laugh over our cat and mouse phone conversation. He didn’t know what to make of Mrs. Clarke’s message anymore than I did. So we returned to our routine and switched on the evening news.
The lead story was “A Northwest Airliner Exploded Over Lake Michigan Today Killing All On Board.”
I fainted. Our daughter was a flight attendant for Northwest. Bob, after assisting me, called the airline. They wouldn’t give out any information at this time. Our next call was to the Providence Journal. After talking to a few people an editor said he would make inquiries. He did and called us back with the information that our daughter was not on that flight.
We found out later that she was scheduled for that flight but took sick and her roommate had taken her place. It was a sad day for our family and many others.
What about Mrs. Clarke’s message and its source? Was it just coincidence? I wonder? As I said, I have no logical explanation for this.
Caroline Marr
East Providence, Rhode Island
There are some things that just defy logical explanations. This is one of those things for me. I was a mother with a small boy at home. About once a month a Mr. Clarke would stop by, usually late morning, with a suitcase full of small household items for sale. Mr. Clarke, I never knew his first name, was an older gentleman of retirement age who was trying to augment his income by going door-to-door selling whatever he could. I felt sorry for him and would always buy something, even if only a pair of shoe strings, so he wouldn’t leave without having sold something.
Mainly we would just chat about the weather or something in the news that week while my little boy played with blocks or some other toy on the living room floor. After several minutes of friendly conversation he would open his suitcase and point out some new item. I would listen to whatever he was promoting and politely say I didn’t think I needed that right now but what we really needed was a box of bandages. I would purchase the item and he was most gracious as he packed his wares and left.
This went on for about a year and then one month passed and he hadn’t stopped by. Several months passed and no Mr. Clarke. There was a knock at the door one morning and I opened it to find a thin pleasant looking woman.
“Are you Mrs. Marr,” she asked? I nodded.
“I’m Mrs. Clarke, You were a customer of my husband. He passed on you know.”
“I’m sorry, I wondered what happened to him.”
“I’ve been talking with him and last night he gave me a message for you,” she said.
Before I could collect myself to say anything sensible she must have read the expression of bewilderment and shock on my face and she continued talking.
“Oh yes. I talk with him frequently and last night he was very clear that I bring a message to you. He said, ‘tell Mrs. Marr there is going to be an explosion.’ That’s it, that’s all he said. I can’t tell you what it means, just what he said.”
She wouldn’t come in, apologized for upsetting me in any way and thanked me for being kind to her husband and she walked away. I was dumbfounded.
I thought of a hundred questions I wanted to ask her but she had gone. I didn’t know how to get in touch with her, or where she lived and I still didn’t know Mr. Clarke’s first name.
An explosion! What to do? My husband worked at an oil refinery and I impulsively called his office. As the call was going through I thought what on earth will I say to him, that a woman I’ve never met before told me her dead husband gave her a message last night to warn me that there was going to be an explosion…
“Hello.”
“Hi Dear, how are you?”
“I’m fine, what’s up?”
I couldn’t tell him at least not now over the phone while he was at work. I would tell him when he got home tonight, besides he would be asking me a ton of questions to which I had no answers. The rest of our conversation was strained and awkward especially on my end. I tried to determine what the rest of his day was like without tipping my hand. I was trying to ascertain that he was going to be right at his desk and not out by the fuel storage tanks or down on the docks where the tankers unloaded. I sensed he was getting curious about my new-found interest in his day. Then he asked the question I was dreading.
“Tell me is there something on your mind that prompted this call?”
“Oh,” I laughed nervously, “Could you pick up a dozen eggs on your way home?”
When he came home with the eggs I came clean. I was relieved that he was home and we both had a laugh over our cat and mouse phone conversation. He didn’t know what to make of Mrs. Clarke’s message anymore than I did. So we returned to our routine and switched on the evening news.
The lead story was “A Northwest Airliner Exploded Over Lake Michigan Today Killing All On Board.”
I fainted. Our daughter was a flight attendant for Northwest. Bob, after assisting me, called the airline. They wouldn’t give out any information at this time. Our next call was to the Providence Journal. After talking to a few people an editor said he would make inquiries. He did and called us back with the information that our daughter was not on that flight.
We found out later that she was scheduled for that flight but took sick and her roommate had taken her place. It was a sad day for our family and many others.
What about Mrs. Clarke’s message and its source? Was it just coincidence? I wonder? As I said, I have no logical explanation for this.
Caroline Marr
East Providence, Rhode Island
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