The Message That Saved His Life
A World War II veteran remembers a life-saving decision he made on Thanksgiving Day in 1944.
In the winter of 1944 during World War II, I was in France, a platoon sergeant in the Yankee Division under General Patton. About mid-December I received a letter from my mother back in the States.
“Can you remember,” she asked, “where you were on Thanksgiving Day?”
Could I remember? How could I forget the odd thing that happened that day. At dawn I was sent to check out a crossroads where an enemy strongpoint was suspected. Normally I would have had my men fan out so that they could move with the cover of the trees. But just before we started out that Thanksgiving morning, I stopped. I stood stark still, arguing with myself about what I should do.
Then, going strictly against the book, I walked my men right down the middle of a road in an exposed column. No one fired at us; there was no evidence of the enemy. We found the crossroads unoccupied and turned to walk back.
There, on the backside of the trees where only the German soldiers would have seen, were signs cautioning minen. The woods were mined. We could have been blown to bits!
Mother’s letter continued. She told me how she awakened after midnight on Thanksgiving Eve when it would have been daylight in France:
“I had a strong feeling that you were in great danger,” she wrote. “When I opened my Bible, a phrase in Second Chronicles [20:17] gleamed on the page: ‘Stand ye still and see the salvation of the Lord with you…’”
Stand ye still. Stark still.
Almost Home for the Holidays
Our car broke down when we were almost home. Who would repair it on Thanksgiving?
I was a college student in Illinois that Thanksgiving, and I couldn’t wait to get home to Massachusetts for the holidays. A friend’s mother offered me a lift as far as upstate New York, where my parents were going to pick me up.
Mrs. Case and I drove all through the chilly night. Just after sunrise on Thanksgiving morning, the engine quit and we rolled to a stop on a deserted highway somewhere in western New York.
Mrs. Case said calmly, “God doesn’t get you just halfway. Let’s pray, Richard.” After we prayed a little, she turned the key again. The engine coughed and started. The car lurched down the road. We barely made it to a garage at the next exit. I found the owner in back.
“Lucky you caught me,” he said. “We’re closed today. I just came in to clean up.” He checked the engine, then gave us a funny look. “Who pushed you in from the highway?” We told him no one. He shook his head. “That’s impossible,” he insisted. “A part is burned out and the engine can’t run without it.”
He didn’t have the part, and he told us no other shops were open that day. “I doubt anybody has it in stock anyway,” he said.
Seeing our stricken expressions, he said, “Won’t hurt to try, I suppose.” He went to make a call. In a few minutes, he was back. “My buddy’s shop is closed, but he just happened to be there doing some paperwork. Strange, huh? He’s got the part you need.”
Mrs. Case delivered me to where my parents were waiting with their car. At home in time for Thanksgiving dinner, I said a special thank you, because now I knew: God doesn’t get you just halfway.
A Thanksgiving Turkey on Every Table
We’d given our turkey to a family that was even more needy. But who would help us?
By Mary Jarvis, Pawhuska, Oklahoma
I lifted the heavy lid of our old freezer in the garage and peered inside, looking for some vegetables to make for dinner. For the past year, we’d scraped by on my small teacher’s salary while my husband, Mike, was away at graduate school. With three hungry teenagers to feed, it was a challenge to stretch our grocery dollars. Now, one glance at the half-empty freezer made me question what I’d done on impulse a week earlier.
The Tuesday before Thanksgiving, Kathy, my 14-year-old, blurted out that one of her friends wasn’t celebrating the holiday because her mother couldn’t afford it. “We could give them our turkey, Mom,” she said. “We don’t need it since we’re going to Uncle Pat’s.” How could I explain to her that I was saving our turkey for Christmas? We didn’t have enough money for Mike to come home for Thanksgiving. The kids and I were going to my brother-in-law’s so I wouldn’t have to invest in a big dinner. How could I afford another turkey before Christmas?
We taught our kids to help others. But to help someone else when we could barely help ourselves? Still, I knew I couldn’t say no. Lord, I hope you have a plan because I sure don’t.
We gathered up a bag of potatoes and cranberry sauce I had in the pantry. I sent my son, Matt, out to the freezer in the garage to get some vegetables—and the turkey. When we brought Kathy’s friend the food, her mother cried tears of joy. At the time, their happiness made me feel better about giving away our turkey. But now, looking into our freezer, I wondered, Who’s going to help us?
I rummaged through the frozen containers—broccoli, carrots, some blackberries from our garden. I pushed aside some frosted bags of green beans and corn. Wait…something was there. Suddenly I stopped and stared. Nestled among the vegetables was a newly bought turkey.
I never found out who the mysterious donor was. Does it matter? Whoever it was knew exactly what we needed, when we needed it.
MORE BIBLE JOKES
Some men were discussing the Bible. They were wondering how many apples Adam and Eve ate in the Garden of Eden.
First man: I think there was only one apple in the Garden.
Second man: I think there were ten apples. Adam 8 and Eve ate 2.
Third man: I think there were sixteen apples. Eve 8 and Adam 8 also.
Fourth man: I think all three of you are wrong. If Eve 8 and Adam 82, that would be a total of 90 apples.
Fifth man: You guys don’t know how to add at all. According to history, Eve 81 and Adam 82. That would be a total of 163 apples.
Sixth man: Wait a minute! If Eve 81 and Adam 812, that would make a total of 893 apples.
Seventh man: None of you guys understand the problem in the slightest. According to my figuring, if Eve 814 Adam and Adam 8124 Eve, that would be a total of 8,938 apples in the garden.
At that point all of the men gave up.
At Sunday School they were learning how God created everything, including human beings. Johnny was especially intent when the teacher told him how Eve was created out of one of Adam’s ribs.
Later in the week his mother noticed him lying down as though he were ill, and said, “Johnny, what is the matter?”
Johnny responded, “I have pain in my side. I think I’m going to have a wife.”
The Drawing
A kindergarten teacher was observing her classroom of children as they drew. She would occasionally walk around to see each child’s artwork. As she came around to one little girl, who was working diligently, she asked what the drawing was.
The little girl replied, “I’m drawing God.”
The teacher paused and said, “But no one knows what God looks like.”
Without missing a beat, or looking up from her drawing, the girl replied, “They will in a minute.”
a misfortune or a blessing
https://lordjesussaves.wordpress.com/
There was a poor, old man who lived in a small village. He owned a beautiful white horse. Kings offered fabulous prices for the horse, but the man would say, “This horse is my friend.” The man was poor, but he never sold the horse.
One morning he found the horse was gone from the stable. The whole village gathered and said, “You foolish old man! We knew someday the horse would be stolen. You should have sold it. What a misfortune!”
The old man replied, “That’s not necessarily true. The horse is simply not in the stable. This is the fact. Everything else is a judgment. Who knows if it is a misfortune or a blessing?”
People laughed at the old man. They knew he was a little crazy. But after fifteen days, the horse suddenly returned. He had not been stolen, but had gone visiting. Not only that, a dozen wild horses returned with him.
Again the people gathered and said, “Old man, you were right. The disappearance of your horse is not a misfortune. It has indeed proved to be a blessing.”
The old man said, “Again you are going too far. Just say the horse came back. Who knows whether its return is a blessing or not? When you read a single word, how can you judge the whole book?”
The people did not say much, but they knew he was wrong. After all, twelve beautiful horses had come.
The old man’s only son started to train the wild horses. But a week later he fell from a horse and broke his legs. The people gathered and gain they judged. “You’re right! Getting twelve horses was a misfortune. Your son, who is your only support, has lost the use of his legs. No you are poorer than ever.”
The old man said, “you are obsessed with judgment. Only say my son has broken his legs. Nobody knows whether this is a misfortune or a blessing. Life comes in fragments and more is never revealed.”
After a few weeks the country went to war. All the young men in town were forced into the military. Only the old man’s son was left, because he was crippled. The whole town cried because they knew most of the young men would never return. They said to the old man, “you were right. This is a blessing. Your son may be crippled, but he is still with you. Our sons are gone forever.”
The old man said again, “Nobody knows! Say only this: Your sons have entered the army and my son has not. We can’t know whether it is a blessing or a misfortune. Stop judging or you will always be obsessed with fragments and live in faulty conclusions.”
I say listen to God’s word and know that all things will become a blessing through our LOVE for HIM~
Romans 8:28: “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
