VIGNETTES +
I Who would believe that one day while cutting the five acres of grass on a very hot dry summer day; I was just thinking, not praying, it would be great to have a cloud too give some shade for awhile. A cloud formed over our farm and I had shade while I was cutting the grass sitting on a hot mower. Al, my neighbor, came over and handed me a cold bottle of beer and I wasn’t even thinking of drinking a beer at that time. God does more than we think, in my very humble opinion. That night Tom Skilling on the WGN channel showed a weather segment with a high right over the center of Frankfort.
II. Who would believe the sun came out on an icy winter afternoon only on our driveway just before a common carrier showed up to pick up a skid being shipped from our location. We do not have a shipping dock only an asphalt driveway and a walk behind lift truck, which does not go through ice or in snow. The sun melted all the ice from the shipping door to the back of the truck. The sun beat down thru a thick blanket of fog and melted the ice only where we needed to drive the lift truck, which has only three small wheels non-pneumatic wheels. Two small wheels at the end of the forward legs and one larger drive wheel in the center of the unit under the battery area. Crown forklift brand like you might see in a food warehouse like Costco or Sam’s. The sun melted the ice only at our location, and not anywhere else then visible thru the fog at our location at that time.
III. While driving to Burlington, New Jersey, which is near Philadelphia from Illinois to deliver a machine, we sold, to an established customer. We had spent the previous night in the fog of the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. We were blessed the night before having arrived just in time to catch the Chicago bulls and Michael Jordan on the cable TV. Having been lost, for hours, in the fog off of PA 920. We figured out that we were traveling parallel to I-80 we would surely find a motel, which we finally did. It had continued to rain the whole way from Illinois for were traveling with the storm. That next morning while on the road again, Chris Gambino said: “I’d kiss the ground right now if it would stop raining.” I said: “Be careful for what you pray for.” Chris said laughingly: “You know it is not going to stop raining right now.” At that moment we broke into a sun lit valley just south of Allentown, Pennsylvania at 70 miles an hour. It stopped raining and the sun came out for only one minute, or approx. one mile. Chris’ brother, Nick, who was with us on that trip enjoyed the moment also.
IV. For several years now I have watching a huge church or what I thought to be a mega church being built along the southbound exit ramp of I-57 & US 30 in Mattson, Illinois.
Last fall at a visitation, of my wife’s uncle Stanley ( I also new Stanley before I met my future wife. For Stanley was an almost daily acquaintance, driving for American Freightways. Stanley made pick-ups at Noesting Pin Ticket Co. Inc. Where I was the plant manager for several years. At our wedding in 1965 we both looked at each other and said: “what are you doing here?”)
I took the occasion to ask one of my nieces, who is an ordained minister at a near by church, in Mattson, if she knew about this huge church, under construction, that I had been driving past for several months. She informed me of the following:
Her pastor, in Beecher, went to the farmer who owned the land and told, repeat told, this elderly men that the lord has told him to build a church at this location. The farmer then told this pastor very firmly: “That this land was his kids future inheritance and it is not for sale.” The pastor insisted and then asked, “What would you want for this land?” The farmer joking said: “I would have to win the lottery before I ever sold this land.” The pastor then left his business card with the farmer, who must have kept the business card for some reason. Three days later, the pastor received a phone call from the farmer who had just won the Illinois lottery the day before.
The farmer then sold the land to “Believers Church” for ten cents on dollar of the real total current market value of the land and former farm.
V. After I was telling my eldest daughter about how busy we have become and the physical toll on my then 60-year-old body, this was during my continued recovery from prostate surgery. (All males get yourself a “PSA” blood test for prostate cancer if you are over 31 years old. this is not a “typeo”. I know of two men who had it at 31 years of age contracted prostate cancer. One was Dr. John Archer’s patient in Virginia and the other is Bill G. My daughter then told me that one of her dear friends in her math teacher department had a dad without medical insurance. He was willing to work part time to secure medical insurance. He is the same man who is referred to in the story on this web site under the title “florescent”. He has, and still has; his own hair styling business and I now get free haircuts. Stay with me on this: We were finally able to get Mr. “C” health insurance, but upon seeing the cost of over $9m per year. I was relying upset privately, but I had given my word as a man and a practicing Christian. (M=1,000, k= kilowatt. MM= 1 million for all of you uneducated folks)
Here is the reason for this story: one month after I paid the premium to colonial life insurance they sold their health care division to blue cross blue shield of Illinois now we pay $5,406.00 per year. That is a yearly savings of $3,714.00. So god is always faithful to those who know him.
Still another blessing from this hiring of “Mr. “C” is that we hired another fantastic worker. That man mark is his brother-in-law, a retired truck driver. Mark Manganese works here at least once a week and also now delivers to us any size or amount of wooden pallets whenever we need or ask for them.
- Suggested reading: 1776 By: David McCullough Published by: Simon & Schuster.
(David McCullough is in white capital letters above the red 1776 on the blue cover) To see the miracles done by our creator, the blessed trinity during the fight for our liberty in 1776 here in the USA which is fantastic.
Links
PRO-LIFE
Slavery is repulsive because it treats human beings as property to be
disposed of at the will of another. It was morally absurd in the 18OO'S
to
say: "I AM PERSONALLY OPPOSED TO OWNING SLAVES AND WOULD NEVER OWN
ANY
MYSELF, BUT I CAN'T FORCE MY MORAL VIEWS ON OTHERS." Today people
use the
same argument regarding abortion. Slavery was wrong then and abortion
is
wrong now.
"Without the generosity of my blood Brother-In-Christ Mike this site would not be possible." Best, George