YOU NEVER KNOW
/You Never Know…
DARK STREETBY JUSTIN CAMPBELL CREATIVE COMMONS FLICKR
The Journal Newspaper said her crumpled, bruised body was found under some bushes. She was walking home late from a friend’s house when the rapist attacked. How afraid she must have been I thought! After I read the rest of the gruesome story, fear wrapped its cold arms around me. Even though I could see my house from the front picture window of the house where I babysat, I still felt afraid.
You never know when you're going to die.
They said it was the first homicide the the small city of Fairfield, Ohio. A state of shock hung heavy over the community as we struggled to understand why a human being would commit such a horrible act. Knowing the perpetrator was probably still around, gave us extra concern in the evenings.
For the rest of the summer before sunrise I walked fast to my babysitting job, carrying a big stick. I locked all the doors and the windows after the mother left for work. Over time the murder updates shrunk to a corner on the back page of the newspaper.
You never know how God will use a tragedy to inspire you to pray.
By the end of the summer I hoped to have the last amount of money I needed to buy something I really wanted. My mom felt confident about it, so she set up an appointment two weeks before school started. Since the murder, I was back praying like I did after I got saved. God was only a breath away and my fears had taken a back seat.
The first day at school my friends couldn’t figure out why I looked different. I just smiled and didn’t say a word. It was fun having a secret, but best of all I was not having the pain nor the headaches. Finally, my friends figured it out and the excitement died down for them but not for me. I couldn’t believe how blessed I was to be able to earn and own my very own pair of… contact lenses.
You never know what special blessing God has up His sleeve for His own!
I babied those contact lenses for twenty years! (Yes, I only had one pair.) I could see everything crystal clear plus the boys noticed me more! I almost killed my roommate in college when she accidentally froze my contacts! The old radiator made our dormitory room so hot it caused her to crack open the window that happen to be near my contact storage case. The freezing room woke me up and when I squeezed my nostrils together with my fingers, the hairs in my nose crunched.
While the sink in the restroom filled with warm water I slowly unscrewed the lid on my hourglass contact case. I knew my roommate had sabotaged my contact lenses and I was going to kill her! I could feel steam rising off the top of my head!
Evidently, she got hot on the top bunk, that she chose first before I got here, where all the heat goes up if you know your science, I was going to lose not only a way to see better but I was going to lose three years of hard earned money babysitting! Now my five-hundred dollar pair of contacts was buried beneath solid ice! I didn’t know if I was going to have a funeral for my contacts or a funeral for my roommate, Linda.
While the case floated in the warm water I prayed: Lord, please let my contacts be okay…but if they aren’t…help me not to cry! I held my breath as I opened one side of the case. The soaking solution still had floating shards of ice, but the contact lens seemed okay—I cried anyway and thanked God for the miracle!
You never know how long, hard contact lenses will last!
Little did I know that ten years later I would still be wearing this same pair of contact lenses. I would be married to Sandy Storrie and we would be missionaries to the deaf and blind in St. Augustine, Florida. One weekend we went to afootball game and some deaf students sat behind us while some blind students sat in the front of us. One deaf girl asked me, “Mrs. Storrie, is the band playing, yet? We don’t feel the music vibrations.”
I spoke aloud so the blind could hear and I signed, “The band is practicing but not playing fully, yet.”
“Oh, sorry to bother you. Thanks,” the deaf girl said.
“No problem.” I signed back.
You never know when you will be at the right place at the right time to help a friend.
About that time two blind, high school students turned around and asked, “Mr. Storrie, we hear the band playing, but where’s the football team?”
Realizing the situation, my hubby smiled as he signed and said, “The football team is now beginning to line up for their big entrance onto the football field.”
Meanwhile, a deaf girl behind us was observing and finally understood our contoveraial situation of communicating with two worlds. She signed to us, “Mr. and Mrs. Storrie, I feel sorry for you. It must be hard working with the deaf and blind, especially when we are together at the same time asking questions! We all must be a pain in the butt!”
I signed back to her and said, “It’s okay because God helps us with patience. And, no, you are not a pain in the butt. You are a blessing!”
A blind guy overheard our answer to the deaf and he asked: “Did you hear what happened at the prom last dance with the blind and deaf dancing on the floor?”
“No, what happened?” my hubby asked.
“All evening, the deaf kept asking, “Is the music playing? Is the music playing? And, the blind kept asking, “Are they dancing? Are they dancing?”We all erupted into laughter. I love to hear deaf people laugh because they laugh just like us!
You never know when you’re going to hear a funny explanation of your ministry or job.
When the football game was over we gathered up our things to leave. When I looked to the left my left contact popped out. I froze and told Sandy so he checked my coat, scarf, and the benches, but nothing. It was too dark to look anymore without a flashlight, so we left.
I grabbed Sandy’s arm and I tried hard not to cry. In the car all I thought about was how could we afford to buy a new pair of lenses on a missionary salary with no optometrist insurance coverage? My prescription glasses were ten years old!
You never know when you’re faith in God is going to be tested.
After we got home we prayed. I felt a little silly praying for a contact lens to survive the night out in the elements but I did anyway and I felt at peace. The next morning my heart sank when I saw it had rained most the night. Regardless, I still had the urge to go back to the football field.
Sandy asked, “Do you want to go back and look some more?”
You never know when God will answer your prayer so trust Him.
“Okay”, I said, “it won’t hurt to look.”
On the way, I thanked God for whatever He was going to do. (Satan said I was a fool to go search for a needle in a haystack.) When we got there we walked to where we sat the night before. Sandy climbed the bleachers to look. I started to follow him but I heard the Lord say, “Look in the grass.” I quickly obeyed and I looked down at the grass. Within ten seconds I saw my contact lens sitting on top of a blade of grass, as if saying, “Here I am, Kathy! Isn’t God wonderful to keep me here all night just for you?”
You never know when God is going to give you a miracle.
(I’m crying now as I write this remembering when He saved my contact lens.)
“I found it, Sandy!” I said as I reached down and gingerly picked it up as if it were a diamond. I never felt so loved by God in all my life. I slipped it safely into my contact case and screwed on the lid! On the way home I couldn’t stop thanking Jesus and laughing through my tears of joy!
You never know when God is going to let DNA solve a murder.
Later in the 1990s I was watching the show, “America’s Most Wanted” and I heard them say an old murder case from Fairfield, Ohio had been solved by mistake. The young man who killed the blonde girl in Fairfield had been caught after 30 years when he killed again in another state. When his DNA was entered into the data base it matched both murders.
You never know when or if you will have this offer again to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savoir. So, what do you believe? Do you believe Jesus is sinless Son of God? Do you believe He died on the cross for your sins? If you are sorry for your sins and you want to be saved and go to Heaven when you die say your own prayer or this prayer, only if it's from your heart:
Dear Lord Jesus,
I believe you are the sinless, Son of God, born of a virgin over 2000 years ago. I believe you died on the cross for all my sins of the past, present and future. Jesus, you are welcome to come into my heart to save me of my sin and live in me, forever. Amen.
