Sweet Sounds From Heaven

The kid and her grandmother side kick counted the schools the youngster had attended from 1^st through 12^th grade, and came up with twenty-one. Five of those years, she stayed in the same school. The other seven were a blur. Not surprising, because she moved frequently. What is surprising, is that she graduated high school period. Later in life, even after college, she had continual nightmares of falling short of completion. Everything from inability to find her classroom, botching the exam, missing the bus, losing her homework, tardiness, studying the wrong stuff, other duties keeping her at bay, and arriving some place other than school. Always reaching for that diploma that said, “you made it.”

Going to school in a one room school house, which included seven grades, this first grader knew everyone. She was related to lots of them. Life was easy. No problems here. Just learning to read and write was the only mission. The next year she was relocated to Brooklyn, Wow! What an antithesis. No corn fields to play in, no yards at all. Concrete everywhere. She thought kids were born with wheels on their feet. Later to discover the wonder of roller skating. Everything was so different.

Everyone walked everywhere, which is why the sidewalks were about as wide as a railroad car is long. School was ten winding blocks away. She was shown the way once, then on her own. The brick building was tall enough to almost reach the clouds. Her classroom was on the sixth floor. All the kids were given dog tags to wear with name and address. If anyone got lost, whoever found them just placed them in the mailbox and they would arrive back with their own folks, she figured. Nevertheless, so different from the mountains from which she came.

Attending school from Montreal to Miami, she was always the new kid. That was the hardest part of all. Everyone staring at her, wondering why is she here. And when they heard her talk, thinking, Good Lord! Where did she come from. She didn’t look like them, act like them and certainly did not sound like them.

Amazingly, she began to blend in. She was surprisingly adaptable. After a few relocates and some humble humiliations, she caught on rather quickly. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. You’re here kid, do the best you can with what you’ve got. It may take some practice, but try to talk like they talk. Yous guys in the north and y’all in the south. Even with her best efforts, she still got stares. She might get the words right, but her accent gave her away. She just had this drawl that distinguished her from the crowd.

Oh well, she would not be here long. Soon enough she would move and the whole thing would start all over again. The school in Miami was shaped like an octopus. All the corridors looked alike from the hub. One would think those intelligent school administrators would label the tunnels. English, Math, Spanish, Cafeteria, they did not. By the time she found her class, often it was over. She began buying junk food on the two mile hike to school so her stomach would not speak out of turn. That was one time she was happy to move, which she did one month after school started.

The best thing about living in Hershey, Pa. was the trip to the chocolate factory. The absolutely biggest bowl she had ever seen with chocolate beating against the glass sides. She’s thinking, if that thing should break, we’d not only be chocolate covered, but have the best food fight ever. In retrospect, I guess, if you die in chocolate, you still die.

One other occasion she was glad to relocate was when she failed the eight grade. Her family moved from Bristol, Tenn. to Allentown, Pa. and shortly thereafter to Catasauqua, Pa., the prettiest little town she had ever seen. The only down side to the quaint little town was this little old lady who apparently was half-witted. She walked real fast and could over take anyone walking to school or just anywhere. She often scared us. She was harmless, just so darn fast. She was upon you before you knew it. Surprise! Than gone just as quickly. Rumor had it that she was related to the founding fathers of Catasauqua, and therefore left loose.

All these adjustments were beneficial to the kid in the long run. God takes everything that happens to us and makes it work out for our good. She learned that there’s more than one way to skin a cat. He made her a chameleon. She could mix with the best of them. The rich and poor were no different, somehow. They were all just people. People who needed acceptance and love. People, who though diverse, are actually the same. The financially wealthy without Jesus are just poor people with money. The impoverished with Jesus are truly rich and CAN climb the ladder of financial success because of HIS Wisdom.

Are you a chameleon? Does anyone know that you are HIS disciple? If it were illegal to be a Christian, would you be let go for lack of evidence? Or would they say, “I know she’s been with Jesus. They speak the same language, and they have the same undeniable accent.” Would your attitude and actions give you away? Let’s stick so close to our Master until we master HIS way of doing things. Until it’s indisputable that we have been with HIM and we are HIS.

You know Peter also had this accent problem. Took him some humble humiliations, but he finally got it right. “Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard and one maid came up to him and said, You were also with Jesus the Galilean! But he denied it falsely before them all, saying, I do not know what you mean. And when he had gone out to the porch, another maid saw him and she said to the bystanders. This fellow was with Jesus the Nazarene! And again he denied it and disowned Him with an oath, saying I do not know the Man! After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, You certainly are one of them too, for even YOUR ACCENT betrays you. Then Peter began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, I do not even know the Man! Matthew 26: 69-74.”

When we have been with Jesus, our accent will give us away. Glory to God! Let’s Just Plead Guilty! We’re in Good Company! When folks can’t tell where HE ends and we begin, we’re in good shape. Let’s keep pressing in until we are molded in HIS Image.

The young couple had moved into town to be closer to the hospital. She was pregnant and due three days after Christmas. It was an exciting time in their lives. The first child, the first grandchild and first great grandchild. Folks on both sides of the family were very excited.

She visited her doctor regularly and followed his orders completely. Very careful about what she did. She didn’t even let the weight gain bother her, knowing this was temporary. The important thing to consider was the well being and development and delivery of the baby. Hallelujah! Everyone was excited and Christmas could not come soon enough.

The baby’s room was being prepared and decorated. The baby showers and gifts. All the planning and anticipation any soon to be mother experiences. A life changing event was on the horizon. Babies change everything and she knew that. A transformed life was in the very air she breathed.

Christmas morning she was greeted by several family members bearing gifts. They had it all planned. She was still in bed. Surprised and truly warmed by their love for her and the soon arrival of the baby, she got up and headed for the shower. On the way to the bathroom, some serious cramping occurred, so she took a quick shower and was driven to the hospital.

Placed in a small room with only her grandmother allowed, she labored alone. She did not know what to expect, but she did expect some attention. She got none. The nurses were having a party of their own, after all, it was Christmas Day. Who wants to work on Christmas Day? No doctors were even around. Her contractions were very serious from the start and grew increasingly worse as the day advanced. Her grandmother, who had delivered 9 children at home, could only shake her head and wring her hands, wishing she could help, knowing she could not.

She thought she would die, but knew people had babies every day. This had to be normal, she was thinking. Finally around 5:00pm the doctor came in to check on patients. Suddenly there was a flurry of activity. Immediately she had more attention than was appreciated. Rolled into the delivery room under all the bright lights. No doubt, given drugs to induce delivery and did within 30 minutes. Relieved in every way, she smiled.

The first words she heard from the hospital staff were, “Mrs. M., your baby was born dead, do you want to see her?” In absolute shock, and mind boggled from the stark presentation, she uttered a bewildered “no.” End of conversation. She was placed in a private room under supervision. It was a long night and this was just the beginning. Deep depression set in. Lots of questions and no answers. No one could help her. Everyone tried. Surely, this was a bad dream. But reality set in when two days later, she was sent home empty handed.

Originally, she had no plans to return to work after the baby came. Now, things were different. She needed some routine that would take her attention off of her recent knock out punch. Work was the answer. Everyone was very kind and did not speak of the trial she had just gone through. Things seemed fairly normal on the outside, the inside was a different story. Her coworkers were smart enough to know she needed time. Boy, did she ever.

Anger is a difficult emotion to properly deal with. Though she dealt with it daily, some days were tougher than others. Even though her baby was born dead, others had pictures of their children on their desk. On the really bad days, somehow she wanted to slam the pictures face down. Thank God she never did. The hurt was raging a fierce battle inside of her. God had started His healing process and it was going to be a while coming.

Somehow, she knew that reaching out and helping others was part of the healing she so desperately needed. Her coworker was planning a birthday party for her seven year old daughter. She engaged in and helped with the planning. Enjoying this interaction, she was asked to spend the night. Surprised at her response, she accepted the offer. The little seven year old was thrilled, and of course, had to sleep with her grown-up guest.

Watching all the little girls play brought healing to her severely damaged heart. The healing was taking place, and now was on the fast track. Who knew that reaching out and helping a little girl have a special birthday would be entwined with so much Heavenly Healing. Only God, I’d say. By no stretch of the imagination was she healed, but she was headed in the right direction. Now she was confident it would not rain always. The sun would shine again. The seething anger was gone. It was just a matter of time, and she would be almost well.

Today, I can say with great confidence that God is Faithful! It will soon be 34 years since that mishap. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 says it best. “Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Mercies, and the God of all Comfort. Who Comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to Comfort them which are in any trouble, by the Comfort wherewith we ourselves are Comforted of God.”

One thing learned through life’s experiences is that life is not fair, but God is Just. He is Just Wonderful to Help Us. Hebrews 4:16 tells us how. “Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the throne of grace…the throne of God’s unmerited favor; that we may receive Mercy for our failures and find Grace to Help in Good Time for every need…appropriate Help and Well-Timed Help, Coming Just When We Need It.”

My daughter is in heaven. We’ll have a lot of catching up to do and all of Eternity in which to do it. Don’t let Life’s Knock Out Punches make you bitter. Let them make you better. God’s counting on us to show the world how to be winners, and with His Help we can. One of my favorite scriptures is 1 Corinthians 15:57, “But thanks be to God Who gives us the victory making us conquerors through our Lord Jesus Christ.” So, hang in there, and let the Son shine on you. He wants to rain blessings down on your parade.

God had completely melted her heart. For the first time this angry, fearful, abandoned, rejected, very injured girl felt loved and found new hope in this world. Her whole world had just changed. God had revealed Himself to her in a very special way. Letting her know she was forgiven and she was HIS. HE had Chosen Her for HIMSELF. She slept with sweet peace, a brand new experience.

She immediately forgave everyone who had ever hurt her and really meant it. She was free. All the anger and it’s side effect were gone. Living in a small shanty, she felt rich. All she wanted to do was please God. Prayer was her daily routine and she grew accustomed to hearing God’s voice.

HE began speaking to her about going to Johnson, a small community about 35 mile away and ministering to some old friends. She immediately put up walls. All her friends had heard through the grape vine about her new faith life and stayed away in crowds. These girls were no different. She was not rude with God but figured HE must be mistaken. Can anything good come out of Johnson? Nevertheless, she kept hearing the same thing every time she fellowshipped with Him. HE NEVER CHANGED.

After about 6 weeks of this, she was losing her peace and this wonderful honeymoon like relationship seemed to be changing. She really did not know what to do. She knew God still loved her, but somehow things were not warm and fuzzy like before. Finally, she said, “OK God, I’ll go just to get YOU off my back.” Now, she had to figure out how to make it happen without letting these girls know she was on a heavenly mission.

She made the phone call and asked if she could come out and spend the afternoon with them. She had also made a shorts outfit for the daughter, soon having a birthday. All seemed innocent enough. She wasn’t excited, but somehow anxious to get this thing over with. Her relationship with God was very important. If this pleased Him, she would do it. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to see these girlfriends. They just no longer had anything in common. Nor was she afraid she would be out numbered. There was a strength inside of her that could take on an army and win. She just didn’t understand what God was up to.

She arrived with gift in hand and the afternoon was actually quite pleasant. Both girls seemed pleased to see her. Nothing much had changed in their lives. However she saw them in a new light. She was full of compassion and kind of felt sorry for them. If they could only see what was going on inside of her.

They still smoked dope and offered to share, however she politely turned down their proposal. She was not moved by their actions, however. She settled in and flowed with these old friends quite well. Surprised at her freedom and their acceptance. More than anything, she was pleased that God would probably never again bug her about going to Johnson. She smiled all the way home knowing that she had accomplished the mission. How could her going there make any difference? She was about to find out. Both of these girls shared the same name, Linda.

Real early the following morning, Linda T. knocked on my door. Kind of surprised to see her. We had just spent yesterday afternoon together. She was crying and said, “Sandy, I want what you’ve got.” I said, “come on in, it’s free.” She came in. I shared the Word with her. We prayed together and she received Jesus as her Savior.

We fellowshipped only a short while as she was in town to do laundry. She was sent home with a Bible and a mini book on the Holy Spirit. She was a new creature and full of power. She shared with our mutual friend, Linda S. You know what happened. Now we all have something in common, or should I say Someone in Common, Jesus. What a wonderful Life.

Have you ever noticed that God does not necessarily give us the BIG picture, just a glimpse. He already had a church right there in their back yard. He had this whole thing planned before either Linda was in their mother’s womb. Linda T. and I talked recently and she is still serving God and thankful for my visit nearly 30 years ago. Still has her first Bible. We are all thankful that God does not give up on us when we have a “throw in the towel” attitude. He still has a plan beyond our wildest dreams.

Trusting this Wonderful unseen by the natural eye Friend is an ongoing experience. He still does not give up on us, and we are thankful. We will never quit Trusting Him and that is settled. One of my favorite scriptures is found in the Book of Ephesians 3:20. “Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we dare ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.” And to that, I can only say, “Amen!”