“Be anxious for nothing, but in
everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be
made know to God. And the peace of God,
which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and or minds in
Christ Jesus” (Phil.
4:6-7).
Hey
Gang: My dad was a coal miner. We lived
in the back country of Pennsylvania. Some
say we lived so far back in the sticks that even the hoot-owls wore knapsacs
and they had to pump sunshine to us. We
were as poor as church messes so a trip to store to purchase new threads was an
annual event. But this year’s trip was
to result in nearly tragic overtones.
The mine
owner had recently installed a large auger machine that took the pick and
shovels out of the hands of the miners and placed it in this wonderful new
device. A brand spanking new machine
that made life oh-so-much easier for the miners. Add to this our yearly trip to
town-store for a new pair of overalls all in the same week. Wow, life seemed so much brighter!
And then it
happened. As Dad was standing near the
machine, the machine hit a rock that kicked the machine back several feet and Dad’s
brand new coveralls get caught in the cogs of the machine - which began to pull
him towards the digger part of the machine.
If the machine would have continued unabated, he would have been
crushed.
A that
moment a God-thing happened! One of the supervisors, who wanted to see the machine
in operation decided that was the moment he would visit the work-site. When he saw what was happening, he
immediately recognized that within minutes Dad would have been crushed. There
happened to be an iron bar leaning on the cave wall. He picked up and shoved it
into the cogs, immediately shutting the machine down.
Shutting the
engine down would not have saved my dad’s life; it took several minutes after
cutting power for the machine to totally shut down. The iron pick stopped the cogs
immediately! I remember them bringing Dad
into the house on a litter and then the months of rehab that followed. I also remember that my life changed, for
even though my Dad recovered physically, he never recovered mentally from that
terrifying experience, and we soon left the mountains and moved into the
city. ( The material of the old
coveralls would have torn away.)
Mining has
always been a very dangerous occupation and there is always a constant element
of fear in the air. Mining accidents are
not rare and, in most cases, there are injuries and death. For several years after Dad’s accident I
would have dreams that a gigantic ball was always rolling after me and trying
to crush me.
I never told anyone about these nightmares
because I did not want to add additional burdens to my Mom and Dad, who were in
the recovery mode from dad’s accident.
So why am I
telling you all of this? Because fear is
like a cancer and eats the very heart out of your soul. In my growing up years, fear was a driving
force in my life. And it remained that
way until one day when I read these words from Mark 4:40: “Why are you so fearful? How is
it that you have no faith?” For the first time in my life I realized that
I was the cause of my fear, and that fear was a faith issue.
Now hear
this old duffer: I have received
literally hundreds of messages over the airways and not a single one is telling
me we are going to have a wonderful year filed with victories over the evil
one. I have also received many messages
that the anxiety level of many folks is very close to the red zone. Jesus said, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father
has chosen gladly to give you the Kingdom”
(Luke 12:32). God gave us this piece of
assurance through His prophet Isaiah when He said, “For I am the Lord your God, who holds your right hand. Who says to you, “DO NOT FEAR, I WILL HELP
YOU.”
Keep in mind
my young friends, the victory is already ours because of the cross of Calvary! On the cross, Jesus cried out, “It is finished”.
Sooooo. Put your hands in the hands of the one
who stilled the waters.
Blessings,
Gramps
No comments:
Post a Comment