Used with permission from artist
© 2000 Tom Sierak's painting "Goin' Fishin"
God Was There That Night
Back in 1956 we lived way out in the country and at the time we didn't
have a car to get around, so if we went anywhere we either had to depend on relatives or neighbors to take us to town or we would have
to walk. We were always very poor and we didn't have any way to go to and from church, so every once in a while
a preacher would come to visit and to minister to all of us, but my Dad would go out to the workshop
and stay out there until the preacher would leave and then he would come back to the house.
Well one day the preacher came to the house and Dad didn't have a chance
to get away from him like the other times when he had come.The preacher got to minister to him a little bit that day, but Dad still didn't
seem ready to really listen to him yet, all he would say to the preacher would be "You can lead a horse to water
but you can't make him drink." For years and years that was all he would say whenever someone would try to
talk to him about the Lord. I can still hear him saying that line, just like it was yesterday.
One day a neighbor let my Dad use his car to go to town to get some groceries. He didn't have too much money to buy groceries, course we never had much money. But it was enough to get us by, so he took off early in the
afternoon. The rest of the family, along with myself, had finished doing our chores and finished our supper, and it
was starting to get dark, but Dad still hadn't made it home and my Mother was starting to get worried, but she
wouldn't let on to the rest of us. Course ,we knew something had to be wrong, because Dad had never done
anything like that before.
Everyone finally went to bed except for Mother, she sat up and worked
on her crocheting, she always had something like that going. I guess it was about three oclock in the morning when Dad finally got home,
carrying all the groceries, which was five bags full. We couldn't figure out just how he managed to carry all that stuff,
but the next day he told all of us the story.
He said he started from town and only went four miles out of town when the car broke down. He didn't know what to do, so he waited and waited for someone to come by, but to no avail. So he said he got on his knees and prayed to God. Dad said he didn't know whether God would answer him or not, but he had to try, while he was praying,
all of a sudden the sky became real bright almost like daylight. He said he could see everywhere, but he didn't think
he would have the strength to be able to carry all the bags.
Back then when you bought a bag of groceries you could
fill a big bag for hardly any money, not like now when you spend fifty dollars and you can get it all in one bag. He said
something was telling him to pick up the bags, so he picked up all five bags and started out with the bags full to the top,
and he continued walking until he arrived home. When he arrived home, he said he wasn't even tired. He also told us
that the bags never, ever got too heavy for him to carry and he did not have to set them down at all. He ended up
walking eleven miles that night, carrying five bags full of groceries.The only way he could have done that task
would have been with the help from God.
The next year, we moved from there and we had ups and downs for a
lot of years, but my Dad was always willing to help anyone at anytime. He told that same story at least five hundred times over the years,
and I will always remember that night.
In 1963 he had his first heart attack and went on to live for another eighteen
years having heart attacks, one after another until his fourteenth. The Lord took him home then to be with Him.
I believe back when that preacher ministered to my dad, he added a little salt to the message that he gave my dad
that day. I also believe that was the night when my dad met and got to know God, I will always believe that, and
I will get to see him very soon.
I remember lots of stories that my dad told, but this one will always be my
favorite. When you see someone in need or feeling like they have been neglected by everyone, take the time to tell them the good news
about our Lord Jesus Christ. That is why I cherish the verse in (Matthew 17:20.) And Jesus said unto them, "Because of your unbelief:
If ye have the faith of a grain of a mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place;
and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you."
This story is true, this was my Dad.
Written By: Jim Clarke
 
| 