Week of March 22
It is one of those unexplained things in our family. Grandfather had come from his house on the Rhode Island shore to spend the better part of the week helping my dad replace the front porch steps on our home in the city.. On the second day my grandfather announced he had to go home. My dad protested but ‘Papa’ was firm.
Papa didn’t know why, he just knew he had to get back to his wife, who was blind, and their adult daughter. My father reluctantly drove Papa to the bus station.
The next afternoon I stood on the unfinished porch with my dad watching the rain and wind blow by the house. At five and a half years old I was holding onto the porch railing and my dad was holding onto me. Suddenly, without making a sound, a tree in the lot across the street toppled over. It didn’t snap or crack it just blew over and was uprooted. Then another tree fell. My dad had seen enough and took me inside.
Dad gathered our family on the inside wall of the dining room, away from the windows while he stood in the opposite corner by the telephone. He called the fire department to discuss the large elm next to our house. While he was talking, we heard a thump and saw the massive tree fall past the window. A branch had grazed the house but the main part of the tree fell harmlessly onto our driveway.
We didn’t know it then but we were witnessing the destructive hurricane of 1938 that would claim 682 lives from Long Island, Providence and the Southern New England coastline. There was no radar in those days and there had been no warning of the approaching danger.
For two days after the hurricane my dad tried to reach Papa. No luck, the phone lines were down. Finally, on the third day my dad decided to drive. He told us later he didn’t realize how catastrophic this hurricane had been until he approached the ocean. Where there had been a row of homes there was now empty space. The road was obliterated in places by sand and he had to detour around large boats and wharfs left stranded in the middle of the roadway.
He finally arrived in Tiverton only to find that the Old Stone Bridge to Island Park, where Papa lived was gone. Dad hitched a ride over by boat.
When he reached the island he found everything in shambles. Many of the buildings he was familiar with were gone or reduced to rubble and my dad was disoriented and in shock. There was so much devastation. A metal street sign still in place told him he was at Papa’s road. All the cottages on the street were crushed or gone, except one. There was Papa’s house still standing with minimal damage.
Papa said when he awoke the morning of the storm he saw the ominous clouds, and boarded up his house, including the cellar windows preventing water from flooding the house. Papa, gramdma and my aunt rode out the ferocious storm in that single story house that Papa had built himself years earlier.
What had produced that overwhelming urge for my grandfather to return home? Papa never tried to explain it. When asked how he knew he had to return home he would just shrug his shoulders.
“Something was telling me I had to go home,” was all that he would say.
He had heeded the message. And it is well he did. Like my Papa, today I pay attention to any strong inner messages. I know the source.
“Whoever listens to me will dwell safely, and will be secure without fear of evil.” (Proverbs 1:33)
Jody Estes
Providence, Rhode Island
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Seeking Employment
Week of March 14
Approximately twenty years ago I was working as a secretary in a steamship company in New Orleans. I had been there a couple of years but because I had studied to be a legal secretary, I was ready to get a job with a law firm. I started to seek God’s guidance to help me find a job where I could utilize my legal training. During lunch hour, I would take my Bible and head behind the office building where there were benches and fountains.
While I was out there I would often see homeless people and panhandlers. There was one man in particular that was there every day. Eventually, he came to me and asked what I was reading and I told him. He asked if I was a Jesus freak and I said yes I am. He said I made him feel uncomfortable when he was trying to ask people for money. I told him I had no condemnation for him, but that I thought he seemed able bodied enough to work. I also shared my desire to get a job with a law firm.
We became speaking friends and one day he said, “Since you know God so well, why don’t you pray that I get a job.” At that moment I put my hand on his shoulder and started praying out loud. “Not here, not now,” he protested. I just kept praying. That was on a Thursday. On Monday he came running up to me at lunch. He was clean and groomed and I hardly recognized him. An attorney who he had been asking for money had hired him. I was happy for him but I was jealous.
I said (silently of course) God, I am the one who wanted a job with a law firm, have you mixed things up here or what? I was sure God knew what he was doing and I thanked him for giving this man a job.
About a week later, the man came to me and said, “I have an interview for you at the law firm. The senior partner needs a secretary.” I thought this would take an act of faith for me to go on an interview at the recommendation of this man. Were they just humoring him? Those thoughts vanished immediately because I knew no matter what; I would do nothing to cause him to waiver in his belief in answered prayers. I was not going to let pride prevent me from going and thereby show a lack of faith.
I thanked God for the opportunity, went on the interview and I was hired on the spot. The attorneys still tell people that the best employment recommendation they ever had was from a homeless man. I quickly remind them that God alone was the employment agency. God will answer your prayer when you step out in faith. God also has a wonderful sense of humor.
Carolyn Bourgeois
New Orleans, Louisiana
Approximately twenty years ago I was working as a secretary in a steamship company in New Orleans. I had been there a couple of years but because I had studied to be a legal secretary, I was ready to get a job with a law firm. I started to seek God’s guidance to help me find a job where I could utilize my legal training. During lunch hour, I would take my Bible and head behind the office building where there were benches and fountains.
While I was out there I would often see homeless people and panhandlers. There was one man in particular that was there every day. Eventually, he came to me and asked what I was reading and I told him. He asked if I was a Jesus freak and I said yes I am. He said I made him feel uncomfortable when he was trying to ask people for money. I told him I had no condemnation for him, but that I thought he seemed able bodied enough to work. I also shared my desire to get a job with a law firm.
We became speaking friends and one day he said, “Since you know God so well, why don’t you pray that I get a job.” At that moment I put my hand on his shoulder and started praying out loud. “Not here, not now,” he protested. I just kept praying. That was on a Thursday. On Monday he came running up to me at lunch. He was clean and groomed and I hardly recognized him. An attorney who he had been asking for money had hired him. I was happy for him but I was jealous.
I said (silently of course) God, I am the one who wanted a job with a law firm, have you mixed things up here or what? I was sure God knew what he was doing and I thanked him for giving this man a job.
About a week later, the man came to me and said, “I have an interview for you at the law firm. The senior partner needs a secretary.” I thought this would take an act of faith for me to go on an interview at the recommendation of this man. Were they just humoring him? Those thoughts vanished immediately because I knew no matter what; I would do nothing to cause him to waiver in his belief in answered prayers. I was not going to let pride prevent me from going and thereby show a lack of faith.
I thanked God for the opportunity, went on the interview and I was hired on the spot. The attorneys still tell people that the best employment recommendation they ever had was from a homeless man. I quickly remind them that God alone was the employment agency. God will answer your prayer when you step out in faith. God also has a wonderful sense of humor.
Carolyn Bourgeois
New Orleans, Louisiana
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Jack's Miracle
Week of March 8
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 a 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. They said 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 she was asked by the nurses 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.
Jack Reilly
Tucson, Arizona (As told by his daughter)
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 a 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. They said 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 she was asked by the nurses 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.
Jack Reilly
Tucson, Arizona (As told by his daughter)
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Lost Keys
Week of March 1
It was my junior year of college and I was studying abroad in Strasbourg, France. My roommate was another American student.One evening she realized she had misplaced her keys. She began frantically searching the room, growing more frustrated and angry with each place she looked and not finding her keys.
I have a habit (as silly as it may seem) when I lose something to ask the Lord for guidance as to where it may be. My roommate was not a Christian so I left the room and walked down the hallway toward the floor bathroom.
I prayed, “Lord, Elizabeth doesn’t know You as I do, and she doesn’t know to ask You where her keys are. But I know she’s very upset and worked up, so Lord, I am asking You for her that You might help her find her keys.”
When I returned to the room, a calmer Elizabeth said, “You’ll never believe it! Shortly after you left, I looked under my mattress and there’s my keys.”
Why am I not surprised.
Marybeth Henry
Arlington, Virginia
It was my junior year of college and I was studying abroad in Strasbourg, France. My roommate was another American student.One evening she realized she had misplaced her keys. She began frantically searching the room, growing more frustrated and angry with each place she looked and not finding her keys.
I have a habit (as silly as it may seem) when I lose something to ask the Lord for guidance as to where it may be. My roommate was not a Christian so I left the room and walked down the hallway toward the floor bathroom.
I prayed, “Lord, Elizabeth doesn’t know You as I do, and she doesn’t know to ask You where her keys are. But I know she’s very upset and worked up, so Lord, I am asking You for her that You might help her find her keys.”
When I returned to the room, a calmer Elizabeth said, “You’ll never believe it! Shortly after you left, I looked under my mattress and there’s my keys.”
Why am I not surprised.
Marybeth Henry
Arlington, Virginia
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Choices
At a very young age, I started to dabble in drugs and found it as an escape. I continued to live that life style into my high school years. I left home at 15 and moved in with older people. I did not finish school and continued to live the party life not knowing who I was or taking responsibility.
I had many relationships with fellas. Then I met Jay, a fabulous guy, and I got pregnant. I still didn’t
Do anything about my drug addiction. Jay and I were married and I had the baby. My life continued to spiral downward and I was thinking I needed the party scene and not marriage and children.
Jay and I stayed married for about a year with me not participating in the relationship at all. Then I moved in with a fella who was an after hours bar tender and left my baby with Jay. This was probably the worst time of my life. I felt horrible.
One day I was at a party and had taken the baby with me, when Jay came and pounded on the door.
When I finally opened it, he said, “Give me James.”
I went and bundled up the baby and handed him to Jay who said, “Christy come with us.”
I said, “No, I’m staying here,” and Jay walked away with my son for the last time.
It got bad after that. I could see James but only under supervision. It was a horrible way to live and a horrible way to feel.
I moved from Philadelphia to Florida to get away and to start over. It was a crazy thing to do because moving away never works. I ended up in Venice with my parents. Eventually I entered rehab because I wanted my baby back. In the rehab, they talked about a “higher power.” They did not identify what that higher power was and told us we can choose what we wanted to as a higher power... Without arrogance or inappropriateness, I picked the character Alf from the television show. I really did not understand then, and it is amazing to think back on that, but I really didn’t understand what a higher power was or what it truly meant.
I didn’t take any of the suggestions truly in that rehab so I was destined to fail anyway. From the moment, I picked Alf and the lack of follow thru on any of the suggestions. They told us to stay out of relationships while we were there. I thought I was fooling everyone by the performance I displayed while I was there, I was president of the halfway house and I walked the corridors as if I knew exactly what I was doing. However, I was only fooling myself.
I entered a relationship with a man at that program.
Let me tell you to stay out of relationships. I was drinking on weekends and coming back on Sunday. It was just a game and they dropped me from the program.
We moved with his parents. His mother was disabled. Our lifestyle was insane; we traveled and wrote back checks on his brother’s account without ever thinking there would be any repercussions. I had never really been in trouble with the law except for some minor things. We also began to pawn some guns from his parent’s weapons collection for the money always thinking we would get them back out somehow. How insane.
When we were caught, I was charged with 21 counts of dealing with stolen firearms and two forged instruments over $50,000. I had no idea
how I had gotten there.
I went to jail and the judge released me to the custody of my parent’s house. However, I didn't stay put and was returned to jail and placed in the same rehab again. I jumped the fence, which is crazy because the gate was not locked. I ended up in jail again this time without bond so there was no way of getting out.
I started going to different things just to get out of my cell. I attended the Bible study there at the Sarasota County jail. I would sit in the back and I would talk. Sue Taylor, the Bible teacher at that time, would say would you be quiet, I’ll give you time afterwards to talk. At that time God started to work on me through what Susan was teaching. She had the ability to bring the Bible to real life today.
I started looking forward to going to Bible study and asking questions. I one point I asked her, “How do you get this thing?” She looked me in the eye and asked, “Do you like the way you are living?”
I didn’t like the way I was living. It was horrid.
She said, “There is another way- a new way of life.”
“How do I get this new way of life?”
She said I had to repent and accept Jesus Christ as my savior and if I believed he died on the cross for my sins and that he rose again three days later that I would be saved. She said I needed to go back to my cell and ask Christ into my life.
I went to my cell and all I could muster were the words, “Please help me.” That’s it. That was the catalyst that changed my life.
I returned to Bible study with a fresh look and eagerness to learn. I sat up front and I’m sure I was driving her crazy but I wanted a new way to live. In retrospect I’m sure that is when the Holy Spirit came into my life.
No kidding, I was prompted to stop swearing. I had a very inappropriate vocabulary. God was working on my heart. It was a slow process but amazing to me at the time. I continued to progress but I didn’t understand what I was reading. My Bible teacher said you are a baby in Christ so you are going to be reading mush for awhile but regardless the Holy Spirit and God would work though these times of mush and to read the word was feeding me no matter what.
I was facing eleven years in prison for the 21 counts of dealing in stolen firearms. As my sentencing came closer I asked my Bible teacher if we could pray that I don’t go to prison.
She said “You know Christy; this isn’t about a lifestyle change that you don’t go to prison. This is about a lifestyle change because you believe in Jesus Christ.”
I said I get it.
She said, “Whether you go to prison or not, you need to be a believer either way.”
So when we said the prayer for my court date it was in earnest that whatever God’s will was is what is best for me.
God’s will for me was to release me to a 12-step program called choices. I also was given seven years house arrest and five years probation and I had to pay $20,000 restitution.
I was released with a faith I could not lose. I had Jesus Christ. I started each day on my knees in prayer and I did everything in that program that they suggested.
I got a job and began paying my restitution. Each step I felt a little bit better and my self-esteem began to build. It was scary but I successfully made it through that program and I went back before the judge and actually got my sentence reduced. The authorities saw what was happening when you believe in Jesus, although I’m sure they didn’t view it like that but that I was doing well in the program
Life started to become a wonderful thing. I rented a little apartment and I acquired a kitty of my own. I was going to AA meetings and I was going to church and to Bible study. Actually when I was under house arrest The Bible study teacher starting coming to my home. Things were getting a little bit better each day.
Fast Forward----I met Patrick and we started going to churches. We had both been sober for sometime.
One Baptist church said we shouldn’t be living together. I guess they were sticking to their values and we hadn’t risen to that level of values yet. At this point God was working on me to be celibate. We had worked hard to acquire a house and. Patrick didn’t want to rip that apart. It was a struggle but I was certain that was what God wanted.
.Patrick said, “I am going to honor you if that is what God is calling you to do.”
Patrick stopped going to church. He said they were trying to rip us apart. I t was very hard because I knew my faith, and what I stood for and I knew I had to have a husband who had those values. It became a big struggle in our lives.
But God is in control (no surprise there) He had us go to friends wedding and Pastor Jeff Wilson did the ceremony. He chatted with us afterwards in a friendly manner and invited Patrick that Saturday evening. to attend South Shore Community Church, where Jeff was the pastor. What a blessing.
We loved the church but we didn’t really feel we fit right in because we were both recovering drug addicts and didn’t do church before. We were put in a small group with the Aung-Dins, Penetecosts and the Taylors. Two of the homes we met in were enormous…three times the size of our house. We really didn’t fit but they welcomed us, made us feel comfortable and took us under their wing.
Patrick and I have been married now for nine years and we are leading a small group. There has been a
miraculous transformation in my relationship with James, Jay and his wife who is a wonderful Christian lady. James lives with his dad and step mom most of the year but stays with Patrick and me during summer school vacation.
Footnote. About a year after I was released from prison I went into the jail with Sue Berger the Bible teacher to share my experience. Every Wednesday night for two or three hours I co-lead this Bible study. I have been teaching Bible study in county jail now for ten years. I get a call from the Chaplain. He wanted me to know that this month, February; (2007) they are having an honorary breakfast for the volunteer of the year for Sarasota County Jail. And yeah it is me. Go Figure.
I was an inmate, a non believer of Jesus and facing 11 years in prison. And now fast forward 12 years and I’m being honored not only as a volunteer but as a Bible study teacher. You see God takes wretches and makes them into people who are useful. It is amazing. It is so God.
Christy Smith
Sarasota, Fl.
I had many relationships with fellas. Then I met Jay, a fabulous guy, and I got pregnant. I still didn’t
Do anything about my drug addiction. Jay and I were married and I had the baby. My life continued to spiral downward and I was thinking I needed the party scene and not marriage and children.
Jay and I stayed married for about a year with me not participating in the relationship at all. Then I moved in with a fella who was an after hours bar tender and left my baby with Jay. This was probably the worst time of my life. I felt horrible.
One day I was at a party and had taken the baby with me, when Jay came and pounded on the door.
When I finally opened it, he said, “Give me James.”
I went and bundled up the baby and handed him to Jay who said, “Christy come with us.”
I said, “No, I’m staying here,” and Jay walked away with my son for the last time.
It got bad after that. I could see James but only under supervision. It was a horrible way to live and a horrible way to feel.
I moved from Philadelphia to Florida to get away and to start over. It was a crazy thing to do because moving away never works. I ended up in Venice with my parents. Eventually I entered rehab because I wanted my baby back. In the rehab, they talked about a “higher power.” They did not identify what that higher power was and told us we can choose what we wanted to as a higher power... Without arrogance or inappropriateness, I picked the character Alf from the television show. I really did not understand then, and it is amazing to think back on that, but I really didn’t understand what a higher power was or what it truly meant.
I didn’t take any of the suggestions truly in that rehab so I was destined to fail anyway. From the moment, I picked Alf and the lack of follow thru on any of the suggestions. They told us to stay out of relationships while we were there. I thought I was fooling everyone by the performance I displayed while I was there, I was president of the halfway house and I walked the corridors as if I knew exactly what I was doing. However, I was only fooling myself.
I entered a relationship with a man at that program.
Let me tell you to stay out of relationships. I was drinking on weekends and coming back on Sunday. It was just a game and they dropped me from the program.
We moved with his parents. His mother was disabled. Our lifestyle was insane; we traveled and wrote back checks on his brother’s account without ever thinking there would be any repercussions. I had never really been in trouble with the law except for some minor things. We also began to pawn some guns from his parent’s weapons collection for the money always thinking we would get them back out somehow. How insane.
When we were caught, I was charged with 21 counts of dealing with stolen firearms and two forged instruments over $50,000. I had no idea
how I had gotten there.
I went to jail and the judge released me to the custody of my parent’s house. However, I didn't stay put and was returned to jail and placed in the same rehab again. I jumped the fence, which is crazy because the gate was not locked. I ended up in jail again this time without bond so there was no way of getting out.
I started going to different things just to get out of my cell. I attended the Bible study there at the Sarasota County jail. I would sit in the back and I would talk. Sue Taylor, the Bible teacher at that time, would say would you be quiet, I’ll give you time afterwards to talk. At that time God started to work on me through what Susan was teaching. She had the ability to bring the Bible to real life today.
I started looking forward to going to Bible study and asking questions. I one point I asked her, “How do you get this thing?” She looked me in the eye and asked, “Do you like the way you are living?”
I didn’t like the way I was living. It was horrid.
She said, “There is another way- a new way of life.”
“How do I get this new way of life?”
She said I had to repent and accept Jesus Christ as my savior and if I believed he died on the cross for my sins and that he rose again three days later that I would be saved. She said I needed to go back to my cell and ask Christ into my life.
I went to my cell and all I could muster were the words, “Please help me.” That’s it. That was the catalyst that changed my life.
I returned to Bible study with a fresh look and eagerness to learn. I sat up front and I’m sure I was driving her crazy but I wanted a new way to live. In retrospect I’m sure that is when the Holy Spirit came into my life.
No kidding, I was prompted to stop swearing. I had a very inappropriate vocabulary. God was working on my heart. It was a slow process but amazing to me at the time. I continued to progress but I didn’t understand what I was reading. My Bible teacher said you are a baby in Christ so you are going to be reading mush for awhile but regardless the Holy Spirit and God would work though these times of mush and to read the word was feeding me no matter what.
I was facing eleven years in prison for the 21 counts of dealing in stolen firearms. As my sentencing came closer I asked my Bible teacher if we could pray that I don’t go to prison.
She said “You know Christy; this isn’t about a lifestyle change that you don’t go to prison. This is about a lifestyle change because you believe in Jesus Christ.”
I said I get it.
She said, “Whether you go to prison or not, you need to be a believer either way.”
So when we said the prayer for my court date it was in earnest that whatever God’s will was is what is best for me.
God’s will for me was to release me to a 12-step program called choices. I also was given seven years house arrest and five years probation and I had to pay $20,000 restitution.
I was released with a faith I could not lose. I had Jesus Christ. I started each day on my knees in prayer and I did everything in that program that they suggested.
I got a job and began paying my restitution. Each step I felt a little bit better and my self-esteem began to build. It was scary but I successfully made it through that program and I went back before the judge and actually got my sentence reduced. The authorities saw what was happening when you believe in Jesus, although I’m sure they didn’t view it like that but that I was doing well in the program
Life started to become a wonderful thing. I rented a little apartment and I acquired a kitty of my own. I was going to AA meetings and I was going to church and to Bible study. Actually when I was under house arrest The Bible study teacher starting coming to my home. Things were getting a little bit better each day.
Fast Forward----I met Patrick and we started going to churches. We had both been sober for sometime.
One Baptist church said we shouldn’t be living together. I guess they were sticking to their values and we hadn’t risen to that level of values yet. At this point God was working on me to be celibate. We had worked hard to acquire a house and. Patrick didn’t want to rip that apart. It was a struggle but I was certain that was what God wanted.
.Patrick said, “I am going to honor you if that is what God is calling you to do.”
Patrick stopped going to church. He said they were trying to rip us apart. I t was very hard because I knew my faith, and what I stood for and I knew I had to have a husband who had those values. It became a big struggle in our lives.
But God is in control (no surprise there) He had us go to friends wedding and Pastor Jeff Wilson did the ceremony. He chatted with us afterwards in a friendly manner and invited Patrick that Saturday evening. to attend South Shore Community Church, where Jeff was the pastor. What a blessing.
We loved the church but we didn’t really feel we fit right in because we were both recovering drug addicts and didn’t do church before. We were put in a small group with the Aung-Dins, Penetecosts and the Taylors. Two of the homes we met in were enormous…three times the size of our house. We really didn’t fit but they welcomed us, made us feel comfortable and took us under their wing.
Patrick and I have been married now for nine years and we are leading a small group. There has been a
miraculous transformation in my relationship with James, Jay and his wife who is a wonderful Christian lady. James lives with his dad and step mom most of the year but stays with Patrick and me during summer school vacation.
Footnote. About a year after I was released from prison I went into the jail with Sue Berger the Bible teacher to share my experience. Every Wednesday night for two or three hours I co-lead this Bible study. I have been teaching Bible study in county jail now for ten years. I get a call from the Chaplain. He wanted me to know that this month, February; (2007) they are having an honorary breakfast for the volunteer of the year for Sarasota County Jail. And yeah it is me. Go Figure.
I was an inmate, a non believer of Jesus and facing 11 years in prison. And now fast forward 12 years and I’m being honored not only as a volunteer but as a Bible study teacher. You see God takes wretches and makes them into people who are useful. It is amazing. It is so God.
Christy Smith
Sarasota, Fl.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Do Not Be Afraid
Week of February 15
Several years ago I was going through a tough time and feeling a great deal of anxiety. Something happened that has been a source of comfort and courage ever since.
I need to say, right up front, that I have never practiced, nor do I agree with, what has sometimes been called “Bible roulette.” This is the technique
of seeking guidance from God by letting the Bible fall open at random, putting your finger on the page, and trying to interpret as a directive from God the verse thus identified. On the other hand, in my personal devotions I will often select a passage to read as I feel led, or because I feel a need.
I must also say that the Bible I usually use for my devotional reading was, at the time I am referring to, still fairly new. It was not dog-eared from
use, nor did it naturally fall open to any particular passages.
The event is recorded in my journal. But it need not be, for it stands out in my mind with crystal clarity.
I was alone and feeling agitated. There seemed no end to my anxiety. I cried out, “O God, I am so tired of being afraid!” It wasn’t a formal prayer. It was a cry from the heart.
At that moment I felt an urge, an invitation, a desire to turn to Scripture. As I reached for my Bible, I felt a definite inclination to turn to the Old Testament. But nothing more specific had yet come to mind. I opened the Bible somewhere around the middle. The very first words my eyes fell upon were these: “...do not fear, for I am with you, do not be afraid, for I am your God...”
I was awestruck. I tried to reproduce the event, but it was soon obvious that my Bible was not automatically opening to Isaiah 41:10.
The skeptic may call it coincidence. But I am convinced that God was in that event, speaking precisely to my anguish through those words of Scripture. Thanks be to God.
Persh Parker
Helena, Montana
Copyright Thanks Be, First Church of Christ, Wethersfield, Connecticut.Repreinted with permission.
Several years ago I was going through a tough time and feeling a great deal of anxiety. Something happened that has been a source of comfort and courage ever since.
I need to say, right up front, that I have never practiced, nor do I agree with, what has sometimes been called “Bible roulette.” This is the technique
of seeking guidance from God by letting the Bible fall open at random, putting your finger on the page, and trying to interpret as a directive from God the verse thus identified. On the other hand, in my personal devotions I will often select a passage to read as I feel led, or because I feel a need.
I must also say that the Bible I usually use for my devotional reading was, at the time I am referring to, still fairly new. It was not dog-eared from
use, nor did it naturally fall open to any particular passages.
The event is recorded in my journal. But it need not be, for it stands out in my mind with crystal clarity.
I was alone and feeling agitated. There seemed no end to my anxiety. I cried out, “O God, I am so tired of being afraid!” It wasn’t a formal prayer. It was a cry from the heart.
At that moment I felt an urge, an invitation, a desire to turn to Scripture. As I reached for my Bible, I felt a definite inclination to turn to the Old Testament. But nothing more specific had yet come to mind. I opened the Bible somewhere around the middle. The very first words my eyes fell upon were these: “...do not fear, for I am with you, do not be afraid, for I am your God...”
I was awestruck. I tried to reproduce the event, but it was soon obvious that my Bible was not automatically opening to Isaiah 41:10.
The skeptic may call it coincidence. But I am convinced that God was in that event, speaking precisely to my anguish through those words of Scripture. Thanks be to God.
Persh Parker
Helena, Montana
Copyright Thanks Be, First Church of Christ, Wethersfield, Connecticut.Repreinted with permission.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Hope Haulers
Week of February 8
I’m a salesman and a part time chaplain to the trucking industry. This is a true story.
Three days after 9//11, 2001 I was on my way to Destin Fl. for the annual convention of the Tennessee Trucking Association where I planned to launch Hope Haulers, a family of services to and through the trucking industry. Upon arrival I wasn’t surprised to find everyone talking about 9/11. When I spoke with the association president he asked me if I would deliver the opening prayer. I said I would.
When I stood up in front of the convention, and I hadn’t planned this, I said, “looking out at your faces I see some of you are wondering what is going on in the world and others of you look worried. I might feel the same way if it wasn’t for my faith and knowing my destiny. I believe God has us all here for a reason and if any of you have uncertainty in your life and are anxious see me before you leave this conference.”
Two hundred and fifty people came up to talk with me over the next three days.
Shortly after returning to Nashville I went to the chapel at the truck stop in Antioch to pick up some tools that I left there before going to Florida and to
talk with Chaplain Doug. A young man came in and started asking the chaplain questions. The nature of the questions told me I should retreat to the chaplain’s quarters and pray for Doug while he talks with the man. I could hear the chaplain making progress when a lady truck driver comes in and interrupts the conversation. I came out and suggested that the lady and I go next door to the restaurant.
She is angry with God and unloads on me. We talk for more than an hour and she calms down. I realize I have to leave and I give her my cell number and head back to the chapel to pickup my tools.
The chapel is empty and I wonder how Doug made out with the young man. As I walk out of the chapel with my tools I notice a truck waiting to pull up to the fuel isle but there is no truck in front of it. The driver is just staring straight ahead.
I yell, “hey trucker you can move up.” No response, the driver stares straight ahead.
I walk over and jump up on his rail. “You ok?”
The driver slowly moves his head and says he is waiting for his wife who is in the restaurant. Then he adds, “I’m a mess.”
I tell him to pull around and park and to meet me in the chapel. I drop my tools in my truck and I spot Doug in the restaurant. He tells me he had a good talk with the young man and has scheduled a follow up tomorrow. Together we go into the chapel and
pray for the man in the truck.
After a few minutes, he comes into the chapel. “You have something heavy weighing you down?” He nods. I ask, “are you a Christian?”
“Sorta.”
“Did you ever accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior?”
“Sorta.”
“Let’s address sorta. What do you mean by sorta?”
He tells me that he was kicked out of his house when he was 15, moved into the home of a pastor and his wife. He lived in the basement for a few years and that is when he “sorta” heard about the Lord.
.
“I find a good starting point is getting right with the Lord, would you like to do that,” I ask?
“OK, how do I do that?”
“Go for it! Just start praying.”
There is a long silence. He starts to sweat.
I say, “Tracey there is a battle going on right now over you. If it is alright with you I’ll put my hands on you and I’ll pray over your body. Are you comfortable with this?” He says, “Yeah.”
After two minutes of prayer he opens up and there is a stream of confession, repentance and acceptance of Jesus as his Lord and Savior. We all rejoice. He tells us that the gal waiting in his truck is not his wife but his live in girlfriend.
“I need to get right with that. When she came out of the restaurant with our food she wanted to leave. I told her I had to go to the chapel. She said I’ll wait here.” He looks at me and says, “When I saw you go into the chapel I wondered if you were the chaplain. When I saw you come out I hoped you would come over. When you spoke I couldn’t move my head it was like it was frozen.”
Then he says, “I’m an owner operator. I’ve lost my job, I’m behind in my payments and I’m broke, I had a spot all picked out one and half hours up the road where I was going to drive off and end it all. Then you jumped up on my truck.”
Chuck Sonn
Nashville, Tennessee
I’m a salesman and a part time chaplain to the trucking industry. This is a true story.
Three days after 9//11, 2001 I was on my way to Destin Fl. for the annual convention of the Tennessee Trucking Association where I planned to launch Hope Haulers, a family of services to and through the trucking industry. Upon arrival I wasn’t surprised to find everyone talking about 9/11. When I spoke with the association president he asked me if I would deliver the opening prayer. I said I would.
When I stood up in front of the convention, and I hadn’t planned this, I said, “looking out at your faces I see some of you are wondering what is going on in the world and others of you look worried. I might feel the same way if it wasn’t for my faith and knowing my destiny. I believe God has us all here for a reason and if any of you have uncertainty in your life and are anxious see me before you leave this conference.”
Two hundred and fifty people came up to talk with me over the next three days.
Shortly after returning to Nashville I went to the chapel at the truck stop in Antioch to pick up some tools that I left there before going to Florida and to
talk with Chaplain Doug. A young man came in and started asking the chaplain questions. The nature of the questions told me I should retreat to the chaplain’s quarters and pray for Doug while he talks with the man. I could hear the chaplain making progress when a lady truck driver comes in and interrupts the conversation. I came out and suggested that the lady and I go next door to the restaurant.
She is angry with God and unloads on me. We talk for more than an hour and she calms down. I realize I have to leave and I give her my cell number and head back to the chapel to pickup my tools.
The chapel is empty and I wonder how Doug made out with the young man. As I walk out of the chapel with my tools I notice a truck waiting to pull up to the fuel isle but there is no truck in front of it. The driver is just staring straight ahead.
I yell, “hey trucker you can move up.” No response, the driver stares straight ahead.
I walk over and jump up on his rail. “You ok?”
The driver slowly moves his head and says he is waiting for his wife who is in the restaurant. Then he adds, “I’m a mess.”
I tell him to pull around and park and to meet me in the chapel. I drop my tools in my truck and I spot Doug in the restaurant. He tells me he had a good talk with the young man and has scheduled a follow up tomorrow. Together we go into the chapel and
pray for the man in the truck.
After a few minutes, he comes into the chapel. “You have something heavy weighing you down?” He nods. I ask, “are you a Christian?”
“Sorta.”
“Did you ever accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior?”
“Sorta.”
“Let’s address sorta. What do you mean by sorta?”
He tells me that he was kicked out of his house when he was 15, moved into the home of a pastor and his wife. He lived in the basement for a few years and that is when he “sorta” heard about the Lord.
.
“I find a good starting point is getting right with the Lord, would you like to do that,” I ask?
“OK, how do I do that?”
“Go for it! Just start praying.”
There is a long silence. He starts to sweat.
I say, “Tracey there is a battle going on right now over you. If it is alright with you I’ll put my hands on you and I’ll pray over your body. Are you comfortable with this?” He says, “Yeah.”
After two minutes of prayer he opens up and there is a stream of confession, repentance and acceptance of Jesus as his Lord and Savior. We all rejoice. He tells us that the gal waiting in his truck is not his wife but his live in girlfriend.
“I need to get right with that. When she came out of the restaurant with our food she wanted to leave. I told her I had to go to the chapel. She said I’ll wait here.” He looks at me and says, “When I saw you go into the chapel I wondered if you were the chaplain. When I saw you come out I hoped you would come over. When you spoke I couldn’t move my head it was like it was frozen.”
Then he says, “I’m an owner operator. I’ve lost my job, I’m behind in my payments and I’m broke, I had a spot all picked out one and half hours up the road where I was going to drive off and end it all. Then you jumped up on my truck.”
Chuck Sonn
Nashville, Tennessee
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