WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN – INSTALLMENT FOUR

Does it really annoy you when people bring out their photos of their kids or grandkids to show them off?  Well, sorry, but I just have to share this photo of little Samuel - eight weeks old,  already. I can't help grinning from ear to ear every time I see this picture.  Each time I talk to my daughter Laurel on the phone, I tell her, "Tell Samuel his Papa and his Grandma love Him."  "Tell him that Jesus loves Him too."

WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN – INSTALLMENT FOUR

So what’s with the ticker tape?

         When I saw that fluffy dead bird in Hawaii, just when I was so miserable and thought I couldn’t possibly continue riding in the heat and up the hills, God showed me that first dead bird. Then I saw ticker tape passing through my head.  Twice in my life the Lord has caused a vision of  ticker tape passing  through my head.  The first time it happened was years ago when the Lord was impressing on me that I needed to write a letter to the wife of Bob’s boss.  She had lung cancer and was very ill.  She didn’t know the Lord and He impressed upon my heart that I was to write her a letter and explain the way she could have salvation and eternal life with Him.  I didn’t want to write that letter.  My husband Bob was not a Christian at the time and I knew he would be very angry if I sent his boss’s wife such a letter.  He would have said to me, “Who are you to inflict your religious beliefs on someone else?”  I really  didn’t want to write that letter and I had no idea what I would write in such a letter. 

         Looking back now, I see that the Lord was determined that I do just that, even though I was like a donkey with my front feet braced in front of me.  The interesting thing was that it was the middle of winter and for some reason which I can’t remember, we had to go to the cabin at Lake Tahoe to repair something or some such thing.  Bob’s boss had retired and he and his wife were living at Lake Tahoe.  That Sunday night, on our way home from the cabin, we stopped to have a short visit with them.  We arrived home in Hughson and were in bed by eleven pm. As I lay in bed thinking about all that I had to do the next morning, getting the kids up and ready for school and other errands that I had to do, the strangest thing happened.  All of a sudden, even though it was dark in the room and I had my eyes closed, I saw ticker tape passing through my head, going from one side and out the other.  On the ticker tape many verses from Scripture were written.  I felt that the Lord was impressing upon me that I needed to get up and write a letter to this woman whom we had just left a few hours before. 

         I got up from bed and went to my desk in the living room.  The scripture was just flooding my brain and the weird thing was that I didn’t know those verses by heart so it was strange that they were there.  The verses came coming so fast and I was afraid I would forget them, so I didn’t even take the time to grab a piece of paper, but wrote them on the desk blotter.  After a time, they stopped coming.  I knew in my heart that I was supposed to write that letter and I really didn’t want to.  By this time it was late and I had to get up early so I made the Lord a one-side deal.  It was one-side because I made the deal but He certainly didn’t come into the room and shake my hand and say, “Sounds good to me, Barb.”  I remember saying quietly to the ceiling of the living room, “How about this Lord – it’s late and I promise I’ll write the letter this week.  Right now I need to get my sleep.”

            I’m ashamed to admit that three weeks later, I still hadn’t written the letter.  Looking back now, I realize that the Lord was determined that I do just that.  How did He get my attention?  We received a call from the neighbor at Lake Tahoe that a pipe had broken and water was spurting out from the pipe and freezing.  She was afraid we’d suffer some water damage.  It was a Saturday morning so we hurried back to Tahoe.   By Sunday, the repairs were completed and we decided to stop and see Bob’s former boss and his wife on our way out of town.  After the visit, we drove home, arriving late.   We arrived home in Hughson and were in bed by eleven pm. As I lay in bed thinking about all that I had to do the next morning, getting the kids up and ready for school and other errands that I had to do, here came the ticker tape again with the verses of Scripture.  Everything happened exactly the same as it had three weeks ago, including the visit with the man and his wife, arriving home late, lying in bed thinking about what I had to do the next day and the ticker tape going through my head.  If was as if, to get my attention, the Lord repeated everything exactly, sort of like “same time-same station”.  Well, it did get my attention.  I got up from bed, went back to the desk and prayed for the Lord to help me write the letter.  That letter was instrumental in the woman realizing the need for a Savior and she ultimately accepted Christ as her Lord and Savior and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that when she died she knew she would be seeing the Lord and would have eternal life.   God used the ticker tape to get my attention and cause me to obey Him!