~ written by Connie Dunmyer
We are entering the holiday season. No – not Christmas ... yet. Thanksgiving.
I’m not sure why we gloss over Thanksgiving so quickly.
Is it that we don’t think we have anything to be thankful about? I sure hope not.
Is it that we are a bit greedy for sales and deals, that the gifts of Christmas overtake our thoughts of thankfulness? Again, I hope not.
For I believe that Thanksgiving – being thankful – is what prepares our souls for the holiness of Christmas.
We should not only be “thankful” for what God has done for us – but we should be vocal about it – we should talk about it. The Bible is full of remembrances of not only God’s promises of what was to come, but of miracles He performed proving those promises. Some miracles are answers to prayer. Some miracles are because God knew we needed them before we did. Here are some scriptures that do just that. I encourage you to read them over this Thanksgiving season: Deuteronomy 8, Nehemiah 9, Psalms 78, 105, & 136, Acts 7, Ephesians 1, Hebrews 1 & 11.
“Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.” ~ Joshua 4:5-7
Some years ago, we, as a family, gathered stones that represented miracles in our lives to that point. It sits on our property to this day. Today's Monday blog, and the conclusion in Thursday's blog, is one of those really big stones.
Once upon a time in a land far, far away . . .
That’s the way most fairy tales begin. This story is not a fairy tale. It’s real. And yet, it is like a fairy tale in that it is so miraculous, it’s almost fantasy.
I grew up poor in small towns of Ohio. Very poor. If I tried to explain my growing up years, most of you would think I was either exaggerating or downright lying. As a teen, I would lay in bed and stare at a large scarf hanging on my door. That scarf had images from Colorado on it. My mom’s friend visited Colorado and brought it back to me as a souvenir. I thought it was the greatest thing ever. I would lay there and fantasize about getting to see the Colorado mountains. It never occurred to me that I would ever get to see a “real mountain” in my lifetime, or that I would ever get to travel and visit such “exotic” places.
“Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember the covenant between me and you and all living creatures of all kinds.” ~ Genesis 9:14-15
In October 1978, Dana and I were married at the very young ages of 19 & 18. (And that’s not even the fairy tale part.) Four weeks after our wedding, right at this time of year, we packed up our few belongings, and a lot of “borrowed” stuff into our little 1971 red Ford pickup, and we set off for Bible College in Colorado Springs. We had $200 in our pockets for the entire trip.
Our first stop, after leaving Dana’s parents in Northwest Ohio, was to spend the night with my parents in Southeast Ohio to say goodbye. Heading south on Rt. 23, we saw our first rainbow. It was pretty. But at that point, we had no idea what promise God was giving us that day. After only 45 minutes our truckload became too much of a taskmaster for our rear tire and it gave up the ghost. We had no spare (I can’t imagine why not. We shall attribute it to “youthful ignorance”), but some good samaritan stopped – checked on us – and sent back a tow truck with a spare that was our size. 
Remember, cell phones hadn’t been invented yet! The tow truck driver installed the tire and we were back on our way… but for only about 2 more miles and then the other rear tire popped and decided to join its mate in tire heaven. Fortunately, the tow truck driver was behind us and ended up towing us to his station and sold us another tire. That’s 2 tires and $100 gone in the first hour of our trip.
We finally made it to my parents’ home with only about $100. We packed up a few more items and food for the trip. After a prayer for God’s care, my dad said “Amen” by slipping us another hundred in cash. I cannot explain how much that hundred would’ve meant to them, and what it ended up meaning for us. And we set off on an adventure of a lifetime. I had rarely ever been out of the state of Ohio. And I had never lived anywhere else. So to leave Ohio was monumental for this young 18-year-old.
At about 6:00 pm we began driving through St. Louis at the height of rush hour. There were 4 lanes of traffic on I-70 with lanes merging from the left and right. Glancing at the luminous red TWA sign on the airport hangar near our right, Dana said, “I sure am glad this is a Tuesday evening.” Why? “Because on a Tuesday, there shouldn’t be any drunks on the road and I’d hate to have that to deal with in addition to all this traffic.” Famous last words. Within seconds, a car merging onto I-70 from the left side, slammed into the driver side of our over-weight truck and pushed us across 3 lanes of traffic and onto the highway shoulder overlooking a cliff-like drop of about 90 feet. The car that hit us careened and spun behind us and blocked 2 of the lanes of traffic.
We were both stunned and shocked but uninjured. Dana tried to get out of the truck but his door and the side of the cab had been crushed in. But before either of us could crawl out of my door to assess the situation, a man in a dark overcoat appeared from out of nowhere at our driver’s window and told us that a drunk driver had hit us. He said, “you are OK and everything will be alright.” This stranger went over to the drunk driver to check on him, and then subsequently to the State Patrol that showed up rather quickly. The stranger sat in the cruiser and gave the State Patrol all the information about the accident, while we simply sat in our truck. He came back once to tell us that the police report had been taken care of and that we could “go on our way”. Then he was gone.
We realized, after he was gone, that this stranger had no car. There were no other cars other than the State Trooper’s and the drunk’s. Some days later, we got his name, address & phone number from the police report. But when we tried to contact him to thank him, we found that no such person existed. We had been in the presence of an angel whose mission it was to help us know that despite the situation, God was caring for us. This angel, this messenger of God, showed up to assure us that we were “going to be OK.”
“Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?”
~ Hebrews 1:14
“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” ~ Hebrews 13:2
This is not the only angel in my life. It’s the first of two that I know about. I likely have had many more. And so have you.
“Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.” ~ 2 Kings 6:17
“See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.” ~ Matthew 18:10
Now back to our story . . .
Rather than “go on our way”, we found out that our truck would not start. So after our report was filed and we watched them arrest the drunk driver and clear his car from the highway, we waited hours for a tow truck to show up. The driver dropped us off at a hotel and towed our truck to a Ford dealership where we would deal with our problems in the morning.
Alone in our hotel room that we could not afford, we prayed and tried to place some understanding around the whole thing. We called parents. We prayed over the phone. Dana’s parents wanted to come out and pick us up right away. But we didn’t want that and insisted that we were resolute on continuing to Colorado Springs for school and that God would provide a way. We didn’t know how – we didn’t know a whole lot of anything – but we believed in God’s plans for us and to not continue would be exactly what the enemy wanted.
How often has that situation happened in my life? Too many to count. And I cannot say that I’ve handled them in faith most of the time.
Sometimes I just get so weary, that I just want someone to “come and pick me up”.
Sometimes I question that I even heard from God.
Sometimes I get mad at God.
But God’s plans for me do not change. So much so, that He will send angels to protect me and “protect the promise”.
And if He will do that for a little girl from the coal-mining-hills of Ohio, what do you suppose He will do for you?! Or rather, what HAS He done for you?
To be continued in Thursday’s Yield. . . Ya'll come back now, ya hear! In the words of the great Paul Harvey, you don’t want to miss “the rest of the story”!
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