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You are here: Home / Archives for story-harvest

Unexpected Tears

February 20, 2019 By admin

“Don’t touch anything without your gloves on!” shouted our trip leader.

A group of us inhaled one last deep breath of fresh air before entering another moldy home. Dinner time was approaching, my energy was vanishing, and the last thing I wanted to do was haul out loads of grungy items. Within ten minutes, I was covered in sweat. This was not my idea of a relaxing Spring Break.

I was a young, outgoing, and single-minded teenager. My view of Spring Break consisted of going to the beach, and shopping, instead here I was doing this grimy, dirty work.

“Jana, are you just going to stand there? I need help carrying this bed-frame outside,” a classmate of mine said.

I snapped out of my daydream, yet could not shake off my grouchy mood. Instead of working hard, I kept thinking about my friends enjoying their break without me. I obviously did not want to be cleaning out filthy houses in New Orleans! The true reason I agreed to participate? Because I still needed community service hours to meet school requirements.

Hurricane Katrina had taken place months before our visit, but New Orleans still needed desperate help. Each home we entered reeked, making my eyes burn and stomach churn. The waterline reached clear up to the ceiling in most the homes. Piles of individual’s belongings were smothered in grime. Our job consisted of clearing everything out, and then completely gutting the house.

I walked into a bedroom and started to clean out the closet. I reached into the closet, grabbed a mangled up jacket, and instantly froze in my tracks. I owned that exact same jacket. The room felt eerie, lonely, and cold, it was just me and that jacket. As I peered into the closet, I saw numerous items that were just like mine. How would I feel if my closet had been destroyed? Tears immediately sprang to my eyes. In that moment of silence, I thanked God for what I do have.

People’s belongings, memories, and meaningful items were washed away in hurricane Katrina. There I stood, observing the destruction firsthand. I became ashamed with my self-indulgence, begging God to veer me away from my egocentric viewpoint.

I knew God had put me in that moldy room at that exact moment. He knew how stubborn I was being. Through Him I learned to see the world through a whole new perspective, and appreciate the blessings He has provided.

Jana Kubrock Carter writes from the Pacific Northwest.

The post Unexpected Tears appeared first on Answers for Me.

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Article excerpt posted on en.intercer.net from Answers for Me.

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Filed Under: News and Feeds, Vegetarian recipes Tagged With: answers for me, beach, closet, destruction, homes, house, most-the-homes, pacific, selfish, story-harvest, upset, willing to help

Highway Thoughts

January 14, 2019 By admin

“Dad, why are you pulling over?” I asked, as our blue SUV came to a stop on the side of the highway.

“The radiator’s overheated,” he replied.

I felt a knot in my stomach. We had worked too hard for this to happen. My brother Michael, a couple friends and I had been traveling for almost 18 hours straight from our college in Washington to California. Now we were driving with my dad to Leoni Meadows Camp, where 400 high school students would be arriving in a few hours for a weekend Bible retreat. Michael, Dean, Gabby and I were the band. God had given us a job to do.

Honestly, I was frustrated about the car. These sorts of things always happen when God gave us a job to do. My brother and I had made the same trek a few years earlier, and it turned out to be one of the most stressful weekends of my life. We missed our flight, took a frantic drive to another airport, had two flat tires, and a near-death experience involving a foot-long wrench whizzing by me while I stood by the side of the road. I was not ready for another one of these weekends.

We piled out of the car, and Dad checked under the hood. “Our radiator did overheat,” he confirmed. “We need water to cool it down.”

We didn’t have any with us. We needed a miracle.

We got in a circle and prayed. I hoped that God would provide, but, secretly, I didn’t see a way out of this mess.

We glanced around and noticed a little stream down the bank by the side of the road, complete with a break in the fence to provide access to it. We found an empty water jug in the trunk of the car and used it to fill the radiator with fresh, cool water, and a few minutes later Dad decided to see if the car would start. I paid attention, hopeful that this would be the miracle we had asked for.

My dad turned the key… and nothing.

I felt dejected. And slightly unsurprised. After our escapade two years ago, I kind of expected we’d be stuck here forever.

With nothing left to do except wait, we decided to run through the songs for that night. But as we started singing the last song, something inside of me felt different.

We sang the words, “Our God is greater / our God is stronger / God you are higher than any other / our God is healer / awesome in power/ our God,” but it didn’t feel like practice. I felt connected to God in a way that I hadn’t felt before. I didn’t even think about our situation, I just let the worry go. For those five minutes, it was all about God.

When we finished Dad tried the key one more time. We heard an unexpected sound – the engine starting – and suddenly I knew that I had just witnessed something amazing. Our God really is greater than whatever is working against us. He’s bigger than our secrets, our fears, and our bad attitudes. And that day I learned that he wants nothing more than to take care of us.

Heather Bradley-Robbins writes from the Pacific Northwest.

The post Highway Thoughts appeared first on Answers for Me.

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Article excerpt posted on en.intercer.net from Answers for Me.

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Filed Under: Dear God, News and Feeds Tagged With: airport, answers for me, bible, car trouble, god's leading, leoni-meadows, road, road travel, sang-the-words, story-harvest, under-the-hood

Highway to My Heart

January 8, 2019 By admin

It was a beautiful, sunny day. I had the music up, the window rolled down, and was tapping my finger on the steering wheel as I cruised along the highway. The Christian radio station I was tuned in to started another praise-worship song that I liked. Suddenly, in my mind, the focus of the song flipped. My eyes welled up with tears, and I had to pull off to the side of the road …

Rewind << I was nine years old when I first stepped into the baptismal tank, along with several other students from my school. We had studied all the beliefs and doctrines of the church; but, at least for me, the knowledge had reached my head, but not really touched my heart.

Life carried on. I went on through high school, college, and began a career and a family. I wasn’t rebellious — outwardly. I was ‘good’ and was attending church regularly. My kids were in church. My wife and I volunteered with various church ministries. Yet, something (Someone) was missing.

Skip Forward >> Now, parked along the side of the highway, with tears streaming down my face, I really heard the lyrics for the first time. It was as if Jesus was singing this song directly to me!

Draw me close to you
never let me go
I’d lay it all down again
to hear you say that I’m your Friend

You are My desire
no one else will do
’cause nothing else could take your place
to feel the warmth of your embrace
Help me find the way
[to] bring me back to you

You’re all I want
You’re all I’ve ever needed
You’re all I want
Help me know you are near

He desired me! He needed me! The warmth of His embrace enveloped me …

Jesus still desires, needs, and embraces me today, and I Him!

The post Highway to My Heart appeared first on Answers for Me.

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Article excerpt posted on en.intercer.net from Answers for Me.

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Filed Under: Dear God, News and Feeds Tagged With: along-the-side, answers for me, christian, conviction, friend, highway, jesus, music, story-harvest, streaming-down, students

The Bear Tree

December 31, 2018 By admin

When I was a teenager, my parents, twin sister Laura and I lived in a 100-year-old, remodeled ranch house on 40 acres of rolling hills at the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas. The drive home from town took an hour on a long, winding road through the mountains. The four of us saw lots of wildlife, especially on evening drives. Creatures always seemed to appear in those twilight hours.

Most people get anxious when they see animals dart onto the road, but we loved it. We spied everything from raccoons and bands of coyotes to red foxes and bobcats. Once, we even spotted a mountain lion. I remember one late summer night vividly. We had turned onto the last stretch of road, four miles of gravel that led up to our house, but we had yet to see any animals.

Knowing how disappointed we were not to have spied an animal, dad prayed out loud, “Father, we ask that you would bless us with a sight of Your creation, Amen.”

As he prayed, I silently added my own request to see another mountain lion.

From our less-than-ideal vantage point in the backseat, Laura and I huddled together with our eyes fixed on the illuminated portion of the road. As we wound our way through forest and field, however, we did not spy a single solitary creature.

Odd, I thought, we’ve always seen something by now.

Then, as our gray car rounded a bend, I spotted a dark figure to our right.

“What’s that?” I asked, leaning forward to point at the rounded shape outlined in the ominous darkness.
“It looks like a big bear!” Laura chimed in excitedly.

Our parents started to chuckle as the bear shape morphed into an old oak log, and Laura and I sat back in disappointment.

Now we were halfway up the gravel drive lined with the darkened silhouette of oak and pine trees, and I tried to concentrate on looking for animals. My eyes felt weary of staring and I wondered if God would answer our prayer that night.

We rounded another long bend in the road. Then another. Still nothing. Climbing up a short hill, we could see the roof of our two-story white home.

Then, less than a quarter mile from home, Mom gasped, “Look, girls! Black bears!”

In a tall, shaggy pine tree on the lefthand side of the road, three furry faces looked down at us. Laura and I sat speechless. She and I turned to each other, our jaws dropped in awe.

It was three bear cubs.

Dad stopped the car in the middle of the road, and we sat with our headlights on bright about 20 feet from the base of that lodgepole pine. The cubs were one-fourth of the way up the tree and looked a little bewildered as they peered out at us. We sat and stared at the three cubs for a couple of minutes. Bears usually have two cubs in a litter, so seeing three felt especially remarkable.

At one point, Dad peered over the steering wheel to look for the mother bear. As far as we could tell in the pitch black around us, mama bear wasn’t nearby. Just three cubs who now seemed anxious to move out of the limelight.

Finally, dad put our car into drive and we continued on. We talked about the bear cubs the rest of the drive home. A neighboring rancher had told my dad that bears occasionally roamed the area, but we had never seen any before. We definitely did not expect to see triplet cubs.

That night as we pulled in front of the house, my dad remarked on how God loves to bless us, and how that bear sighting was another reminder of God’s faithfulness. We never saw bears again, but every time we see that tall, shaggy pine tree, it reminds us that God answered our simple prayer.

Lindsey Faith Hoyt writes from Northern Nevada.

The post The Bear Tree appeared first on Answers for Me.

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Article excerpt posted on en.intercer.net from Answers for Me.

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Filed Under: Healthy Living, News and Feeds Tagged With: answers for me, bear cubs, driving, headlights, house, laura, mountains, remarked-on-how, road, roamed-the-area, story-harvest

I’m Gonna Die

December 19, 2018 By admin

When I was growing up, my weekends felt boring and ritualistic. Since my dad is a pastor, we went to church, and then my parents spent the better part of the afternoon taking a nap. But that isn’t what I wanted to do after church. I wanted to explore in God’s beautiful world with my friends, not entertain myself while my parents slept. One weekend after the service ended, my best friend, Cody, said, “Want to come hiking with my family this afternoon?”

Yes! Finally I would escape the boredom I knew awaited me if I went home. This was my opportunity to explore and have the adventure I had been waiting for. I happily accepted Cody’s invitation, and we all piled into his family’s sedan and drove into the heart of the El Dorado National Forest.

We headed for our favorite hiking trail. We loved it because the hike ended on the top of a peak in the Sierra Nevada mountain range that had a panoramic view of the Sacramento Valley. Its crowning feature was an eight-story waterfall — fueled by a large river — that cascaded over the edge of a cliff and fell onto boulders at the foot of the mountain. It both scared me and drew me in.

Cody’s family had a border collie that they brought along. After we pulled to a stop, he leaped out of the car shivering with energy and excitement. I adored him. I had never owned a dog, despite my obsession with them. As we set off on our hike, I followed behind him, watching him explore and sniff at the base of rocks and tree stumps. As we neared the mountain’s summit, the border collie sensed that we were close to the rushing water that fueled the deafening falls, and he ran circles around us, wagging his tail in excitement. He saw the water first and sprinted toward it without hesitation, and I, caring for nothing but the chance to watch him leap in, ran full speed behind him to the water’s edge.

I changed pace to a light jog as the dog slowed down in search for a place to jump into the water. The banks of the river were made up of huge granite boulders covered in slimy green moss. To avoid slipping I played hop scotch, dodging moss-covered areas as I trotted along the riverbank. Suddenly, I heard yelling behind me. My friends were screaming words of warning to me. I whirled around to hear them better. As I turned, I put my foot directly on one of the slimy patches of wet moss. My feet slid out from under me and I fell back onto the slope of the boulder. As I slid down the steep face of the rock I felt a rush of pain. The rough and uneven surface of the boulder scraped against my back and shoulders, tearing my shirt and cutting into my skin making me bleed. I had only a millisecond to comprehend the perilous situation I was in before I plunged into the frigid current and was swept from safety.

Rushing water enveloped me. There were rocks everywhere jutting out of the river and I smashed helplessly against them as the current tossed me against everything in its way. No matter what I did, I couldn’t avoid the rocks. I couldn’t scream. I couldn’t call out for help. The current simply carried me away as if I were merely a piece of driftwood. “There’s nothing I can do to save myself,” I thought.

Every time I bobbed above the waterline, I could see that I was drawing closer and closer to the edge of the falls. Though I only had a few tangible thoughts, all of them were cries of fear and desperation. I was sure that I was going to die. Slamming against rocks, the rushing water and other river debris disoriented me and left bruises all over my body. The helpless struggle to stay above the water to avoid obstacles made me feel more exhausted than I had ever been. As the current swept me close to the edge where a watery abyss and certain death awaited me, I smashed into branches from a tree that had fallen and was submerged in the river. The branches entangled my arms and legs, keeping me from going over the falls. I was so exhausted that I couldn’t even pull myself out. All I could do was let the branches hold me safely long enough for my friends to make a human chain to reach me.

Until I get to heaven, I will not know if my guardian angel orchestrated the tree’s location and position. What I do know is this: God had a plan for me, a plan I had not yet discovered. He watches over me everywhere I go and keeps me safe, according to His will.

Jonathan Hager writes from Northern California.

The post I’m Gonna Die appeared first on Answers for Me.

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Article excerpt posted on en.intercer.net from Answers for Me.

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Filed Under: News and Feeds, Vegetarian recipes Tagged With: answers for me, forest, protetion, rushing, sacramento, story-harvest, trust, water

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