Stories

[sobrohusfat]

I have seen such evidence twice, at the birth of my Daughter, and the birth of my son, seeing them take their first breaths gave me the impression that there must be a higher power....

Then I went back to being Agnostic.

[sobrohusfat]

The Battle of Blood River South Africa Dec. 16 1838 5000 Zulu Warriors Vs 500 Settlers (men, women and children). Week pevious the wagon train had been surounded by the Zulu Warriors. The Settlers made a lager or wagon train circle and placed thorny type of vegitation for protection around the outside of the circle. The Settlers then prayed for 7 days and 7 nights. They made a covenant with God that if God delivered them from the battle. They would build a church in his hounor and declare a holiday for the day of the battle.
The battle commenced on Dec. 16 1838, Settlers with single shot rifles and Zulus with 3' spears. Everytime a Settler took a shot they had to reload for another shot. The Settlers were out numbered 10-1. The Battle went on all day. At the end of the Battle, not one Settler was killed or hurt. Nethier were thier animals. On the other hand, the Zulus lost about 3000 Warriors. A truce meeting was held with the Settlers and the Zulu Chiefs. When asked why the Zulus lost so many Warriors. The Chiefs told them that they couldn't penetrate the cloud of mist that surrounded the Settlers. But the Settlers told the Zulu Chiefs that it was a sunny day saw no mist cloud!
The Settlers held to thier end of the covenant and built a Catherdal in the centre of Johannesburg S.A. with a hole in the ceiling. And on Dec. 16 of evey year, the rays of the sun shine directly down on a Bible. And Dec. 16 is a National Holiday in South Africa. This story was relayed to me by a church Minister from S.A.

[sobrohusfat]

Driving north of Boston Bar on the #1 Hwy heading to Kamloops driving a 1979 firebird during winter conditions back in the early 80's. Long line of cars behind plow truck. It was my turn to pass. I passed and just got by the plow truck when I with my wife started to do donuts in the middle of the #1 I guess I hit ice. We were starting to go over a cliff. I yelled we going over just as I said that I looked out the back window and what looked like a large hand stopping us. We had to get out of my side of the car very carefully. People stopped to see if we were ok. They said to us that we should have gone over the cliff. So I'm not sure if it was divine intervention or just luck. But I can still see that hand stopping us to this day.

[sobrohusfat]

Another kinda wierd expierence by my wife and I was in 1980. We were living in Vancouver. We were asleep when I was awoken by a fluttering noise. I looked up and saw a dove fly out of the wall. It was holding a piece of jewlery from its beek with a picture. My wife woke up and pointed to the dove as it circles the outside of the bed then disappeared into the wall on her side. We both said what the hell was that. The picture was of our brother inlaw. He died 1 week later in a car accident in Burns Lake. Not sure of the meaning of it. I only told his 2 daughters and my sister inlaw about it last christmas. Very wierd. what would the meaning of the dove?

[sobrohusfat]

My wife had a cool unexplained story of the first time she traveled as a young lady:

She went to Texas to study at Keith Greens 'Last Days Ministies'.
Because there were so many problems with cults at that time, it was difficult for Canadians to cross the border in the early eighties if they were going to participate in anything to do with religion. She was cautioned that she might have problems and having never left Kelowna she was nervous enough without the added concern of being turned back at the border by the Customs gestapo. She prayed constantly about it. She flew to Calgary and went to the U.S. Customs desk before her flight south. Although the Calgary airport was a busy place she found herself alone as she nervously aproached the customs officer seated behind the counter, busy shuffling & stamping a bunch of paperwork.

Without looking up he motioned for her to approach. She noticed he was a large good looking muscular man with wavy sandy hair and chiseled features.
Not looking up he asked:
"where are you going?"
"Texas"
"what is the purpose of your visit?"
"Uh , well ... i'm going to the 'last days ministries' bible school"
"Isn't that the school run by David Wilkerson?"
"yes, it is"
still not looking up he stamps her papers and says:
"well you say hi to Davy for me, have a nice trip" and sends her on her way.

Of the half dozen Canadians that were on their way to 'Last Days Ministries' she was the only one to arrive. All the others had been denied entry into the States. The school staff enquired as to how she managed to get through.
"It was easy, no problem through Calgary, at such-n-such a time, on such-n-such a date,..." she went on to describe the striking size and features of the man who had been so friendly.

The staff left to make some phone calls to figure out who this helpful man was and to try helping those who'd been denied by diverting them through Calgary.

They came back later and said:
"No one from customs at the Calgary airport knows anyone working there that even remotely fits that description...not on duty then, not ever..."

- insert theme from twilight zone now -

[sobrohusfat]

Ahem...my brushes with god. Yes, I can distinctly remember 3 offhand, but they are all riddled with holes, I'm saddened to report.
1.) Needed rugby boots as I'd made the first team. Family was too poor to oblige. Told to pray(to the LDS flavoured god at that time, who was new to us). POOF!! Boots(second hand) were at the end of my bed the following morning. Me, overjoyed. Told by mother and guy at Sunday School that it was a miracle. Secretly(and with big dose of guilt) did not believe any of that.
2.) Walking to a birthday party with brothers and Mother. Mother told us that she had forgotten the matches, and could not afford to buy matches to light the candles(part of her responsibility at this 'community-based' party). Group prayer-time on corner of main street. Prayers finished, continued walking 10 metres before finding a book of matches in gutter. Bingo! Back in the '70's you could find boxes/books of matches everywhere on the street, but the next Sunday a big hoo-haa was made out of this as part of the service: I was so proud.
3.) Brother lost his favourite Dinky toy car in sand of beach in Penang, Malaysia. Group prayer. Found car. Guess who got the credit? He was now an international player, in my mind; Australia and Malaysia. Cool!

[sobrohusfat]

Thinking that God (as a deity)exists almost always come down to some kind of personal experience. Personal experience is rarely evidence and is extremely unlikely to convince anyone of the existence of God. I do not perceive God as a being, entity or intelligent force distinct or separate from human experience. On that note I have a story which may relate to the topic.

On a pleasant day in my garden I was being very mindful of the concept of Love(This was for me a sort of waking meditation). I could sense (and/or was visualizing) waves of positive energy radiating outwards from myself. I became aware of a sensation of being enveloped in a powerful feeling of peace and joy which I have no doubt if I was a Christian I would describe as 'the Holy Spirit'.

[sobrohusfat]

occationally a thread like this could be allowed to take us where it leads in spite of the title couldn't it?

I've got a few stories from my travels and time with the Yukon Smokejumpers. As a young man I despised pious religious people and their twisted history but i never outright dismissed the possibility of God as i would, say, elves & fairys and other obvious fiction. How could I possibly know if the existence of God was true or not...had other things on my mind anyways; Looking for adventure mainly...the next opportunity to get laid more specifically. The following isn't life and death stuff but was the first to make me pause and wonder, if only breifly, then straight back to my affore mentioned pursuits.

Hot day on the train in southern italy, rolling north to switzerland my sister (19) and I (18) met a girl from Corsica (21) we whined a bit about the heat and the crowds everywhere we went and she agreed. She told us we should get off at the next stop with her and transfer to a train to the coast and on to Isola D'Elba by boat. She had been told it was an out of the way little island where she would find the peace & quiet she was hoping for. Turns out whoever told her that must have had memories from a couple generations back cause the place was packed with tourists.

Loaded with our packs, we walked up and down the streets being given the "no room at the Inn here, but try this other place down the road..." We walked for what seemed like hours and finally realized we were hooped. Took a break at the only table available in a small cafe. Not long after a finely dressed, properly groomed, middle aged man apoached our table, pointed to our packs and asked if we were having difficulty finding accomodations. The Corsican answered that we were, to which he offered to go make some phone calls on our behalf (no cell phones back then) and off he went.

We were extatic, believing we had been delivered from our predicament, until another man approached the table. This man had creased, weather beaten skin, tattered clothes and a general rough appearance that made him instantly suspect in my eyes.

"That man that was just here talking to you, did he offer you a place to stay?"

yeah, so what?

"Well, you do as you please, but just so you know, he's the local drug Lord and he'll help you alright, then next thing you know he'll ask you to take a parcell over to the mainland and by then you'll owe him...Tell you what, my mother has a house up in the hills. She never does this but I'll call her and see if she'll let you stay there tonight." and off he went.

Now I was stressing out - who do you believe, the guy who looks like a decent man in a fine suit who could turn out to be serious trouble, or some hillbilly who wants to take you, you're sister and another young girl up into the hills to a house that may or may not have a bunch more 'bandits' waiting for easy pickins. We decided to take a chance with door number two and turns out the man was sincere. His little old mama (who was born there and had never left the island) was amazed that we'd come from Canada and had actually seen Rome.

I pondered the multitude of puny details that lead up to that man being at the right place at the right time, and his willingness to interveen on our behalf which may have saved us a whole pile of trouble.

...And learned something about judging a book and its cover.

[averagejoe]

Thank you!

[sobrohusfat]

The bit that got my attention most was that wild animals were at one with the people; like a lion(or some big carnivorous cat) dozing next to a couple that had birds sitting on them.

That brings to mind the bit that got my attention from a recounting of events during the great oregon wildfires of 1910:

This was not your typical fire season. It was a conflagration event of 'biblical proportion' that ravaged huge tracks of territory and took many human lives & countless critters. There was a settlement at the valley floor on a large open meadow where many of the local settlers managed to take refuge as the fire quickly consumed the surrounding mountains. The small structure that was there soon filled to capacity forcing the rest to camp out in the meadow. They told of witnessing deer, elk, lynx, bears, wolves and a host of other creatures also seeking salvation in the only refuge left. For 3 days as the fire raged on all around them;
"...ancient animosities were suspended with people and animals of all kinds surviving together in close quarters without incident."
When the smoke cleared they all went their seperate ways and resumed the natural order of things.

How cool is that!

p.s. for those who care, i know this has zero relevance to the topic but hey, i've yet to extinguish every trait of my rebelious nature oh but wait...i suppose more than one survivor would have dissagreed with the 'zero relevance' bit.

[unclemarty]

Just finished printing out invoices and really should be going to bed but, you know, have to feed my forum addiction. Yes, I know, i'm a weak little man.

first year as a believer I had conversations with a 70 something year old man who told me of his experiences praying for some of the sick and dying at KGH over some 30 years. He said most of the time his visits were simply a source of comfort for those at deaths door but, in a handfull of terminal cases that baffled the doctors and contradicted all confirmed tests and diagnosis, the person was discharged shortly after showing no more signs of their desease or tumors.

Like most, i despise the fraudulant charlatans who use faith healings to dupe the gullible. This humble elderly gentleman however was, in my fairly critical judgement, not a flake or a kook. His extraordinary experiences did not happen in the public eye and the glory that was subsequently attributed to God was his only reward.

It was with him in mind that I approached the waitress who i'd overheard talking about her neice who'd been recently admitted to the hospital with an unknown illness. She (the neice) was apparently in seriously bad shape and the doctors were running a series of tests to determine the cause.

"I overheard you talking about your neice who's in the hospital, will you give me her name?, I know a man i think may be able to help her."

Without asking me any questions about myself or who this 'helpfull' person would be, she told me the girls name and carried on with her duties. I left to go find the old man. I wanted to bring him to see the girl with the remote chance that i'd see, with my own eyes, something legitimately extraordinary. Turns out he'd gone out of town and wouldn't be back for another week or so. This left me in a bit of a bind. Do i wait for his return or do I go to see the girl without him. After all, if i truly believed God's ability to heal, He certainly did not depend on the old man's presence.

Contrary to what some of my posts here may suggest, I've always had an aversion to the embarassment that comes from being humilliated or perceived as the kind of 'religious freak' for which i held bitter contempt. And if it was my little girl laying there sick, I would have had zero patience for any religious fool showing up at her hospital room door. Those things would have normally been enough to deter me from further action, except for a few nagging coincidences that, together, compelled me to overcome my fears:

1) following my 6pm - 6am night shift i had, that morning, decided to go for 'breakfast' at some random eatery other than my usual Denny's fare. A place i'd never been before where i ended up overhearing the waitress's conversation
2) never wanting to appear to be a religious freak, i'd never been seen in public with a bible. That morning while getting out of the car to go eat, i realized i'd forgotten to buy the morning newspaper but saw my bible on the passenger seat and thought "ah, who cares, nobody in there knows me anyways" and brought it inside for something to read.
3)waiting for my order to be prepared, and with my coffee and reading material in hand, i randomly flopped open the good book and began reading (hold on while i google this passage...)
Don't be lazy, read it and see why, combined with everything else, this coincidence made me ask about the neice.:

Matthew 9:10 (The Message)
Later when Jesus was eating supper at Matthew's house with his close followers, a lot of disreputable characters came and joined them. When the Pharisees saw him keeping this kind of company, they had a fit, and lit into Jesus' followers. "What kind of example is this from your Teacher, acting cozy with crooks and riffraff?"
Jesus, overhearing, shot back, "Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? Go figure out what this Scripture means: 'I'm after mercy, not religion.' I'm here to invite outsiders, not coddle insiders..."

Just a Touch
As he finished saying this, a local official appeared, bowed politely, and said, "My daughter has just now died. If you come and touch her, she will live." Jesus got up and went with him, his disciples following along.
Just then a woman who had hemorrhaged for twelve years slipped in from behind and lightly touched his robe. She was thinking to herself, "If I can just put a finger on his robe, I'll get well." Jesus turned—caught her at it. Then he reassured her: "Courage, daughter. You took a risk of faith, and now you're well." The woman was well from then on.

By now they had arrived at the house of the town official, and pushed their way through the gossips looking for a story and the neighbors bringing in casseroles. Jesus was abrupt: "Clear out! This girl isn't dead. She's sleeping." They told him he didn't know what he was talking about. But when Jesus had gotten rid of the crowd, he went in, took the girl's hand, and pulled her to her feet—alive. The news was soon out, and traveled throughout the region.

Become What You Believe
As Jesus left the house, he was followed by two blind men crying out, "Mercy, Son of David! Mercy on us!" When Jesus got home, the blind men went in with him. Jesus said to them, "Do you really believe I can do this?" They said, "Why, yes, Master!"
He touched their eyes and said, "Become what you believe." It happened. They saw. Then Jesus became very stern. "Don't let a soul know how this happened." But they were hardly out the door before they started blabbing it to everyone they met.

Right after that, as the blind men were leaving, a man who had been struck speechless by an evil spirit was brought to Jesus. As soon as Jesus threw the evil tormenting spirit out, the man talked away just as if he'd been talking all his life. The people were up on their feet applauding: "There's never been anything like this in Israel!"

The Pharisees were left sputtering, "Hocus-pocus. It's nothing but hocus-pocus. He's probably made a pact with the Devil."

Then Jesus made a circuit of all the towns and villages. He taught in their meeting places, reported kingdom news, and healed their diseased bodies, healed their bruised and hurt lives. When he looked out over the crowds, his heart broke. So confused and aimless they were, like sheep with no shepherd. "What a huge harvest!" he said to his disciples. "How few workers! On your knees and pray for harvest hands!"

Healing after healing and here's this waitress talking about her neice and there's the old man praying for people at the hospital with the rare case getting mysteriously healed. In my freshly born_again zeal i figured it had to be done.

I found the girl's room and there she was sitting in bed looking pale and frail with her mom at the foot of the bed and a young boy sitting at her bedside. The mom looked at me, standing in the doorway and asked if she could help me. I told her the whole story of how i came to hear about the girl, the old man being out of town, and if it was ok with her, i'd like to pray for her daughter. She not only agreed but left the room to go downstairs and have a smoke.

I sat down next to the girl with the bible opened to Mathew 9:10 and read to her everything i'd been reading when i heard about her. I then told her that i believed that Jesus is not dead but alive and well and that he's still willing and able to heal us. I took her hand and, as I'm no great "man of God" with all the right words to say, I prayed a clumsy little prayer for God, who knows every cell in her body, to right what'd gone wrong.

Well, the sky didn't open up and no angels showed up to illuminate the room. Instead, the girl (still pale and frail) and her brother just sat there starring at me in silence. I mumbled something about hoping she gets better soon and beat a hasty retreat out of the room and into my car where i emediately proceeded to light up a smoke and turn on the radio.

Months later, my fiancee and I wandered into that same eatery for breakfast. As she poured us coffee i asked the waitress how her neice was doing. She looked at me for a moment and said: "waitaminute...you're the guy aren't you!?...in the days after you left the hospital she gradually started getting better and was discharged shortly after. she (the neice) said she was glad you'd come to see her and that no one had ever prayed for her before."

In the meantime, the test results had come back. This girl wasn't suffering from the flu, she had contracted the 'flesh eating desease' and was sent home with only minor weakness in her lungs.

This story may be insignificant to many, but to me, it means alot. ...and maybe to one young girl too.

[sobrohusfat]

In 1987 Leduc, AB had the second worst tornado in Canadian history rip though. (The worst tornado was in Regina in 1912.) 27 people were killed. A neighbour lady was watching one baby that day in a trailer park that got ripped to pieces. Everything was flattened. The first emergency person on scene that day was a police officer, and he ran over to the flattened rubble where a "fire fighter" emerged from the rubble and handed the baby to the police officer. The officer in turn took the crying baby back to his car, which was full of the wounded by then. He put the baby on his lap and drove to the hospital. Everyone there that day say the "fire fighter" but no one knows who he was. It was really mystifying because no fire fighters were on scene yet.

I heard an interview on CBC radio in Edmonton last summer with the police man and the then baby (now an adult). She got to thank the policeman for first time for saving her on the 20th anniversary. But who they really wanted to thank was the mystery man. Who was he?

[Corneliousrooster]

li

In 1987 Leduc, AB had the second worst tornado in Canadian history rip though. (The worst tornado was in Regina in 1912.) 27 people were killed. A neighbour lady was watching one baby that day in a trailer park that got ripped to pieces. Everything was flattened. The first emergency person on scene that day was a police officer, and he ran over to the flattened rubble where a "fire fighter" emerged from the rubble and handed the baby to the police officer. The officer in turn took the crying baby back to his car, which was full of the wounded by then. He put the baby on his lap and drove to the hospital. Everyone there that day say the "fire fighter" but no one knows who he was. It was really mystifying because no fire fighters were on scene yet.

I heard an interview on CBC radio in Edmonton last summer with the police man and the then baby (now an adult). She got to thank the policeman for first time for saving her on the 20th anniversary. But who they really wanted to thank was the mystery man. Who was he?

This day was known as "BLACK SUNDAY"

Remember Sodom and Gomorrah??? trailer parks are just the modern day version of these. Cesspools of unwed sin livers, *bleep* children, abuse both physical and mental, drugs, alcohol. God was just "cleaning up" a little corner of alberta and sending a message to all the sinners to beware his wraith. Realizing that killing an(other) innocent baby was bad for PR, he sent from the heavens - "Fireman angel" (God decided to retire the wings and make angels appear to be public servants) to recue the baby. God did not want to have the angel go un noticed so he made sure to use "Fireman Angel" instead of "Policeman Angel" so that the masses could continue to be convinced of his mysterious Divine miracles. and everybody lived happily ever after. The End.

[sobrohusfat]

... But who they really wanted to thank was the mystery man. Who was he?

Reminds me of the story a man i know who told of a visit to a friends place. The place was set back off the highway (down a long driveway). He arrived with his wife, young daughter and toddler son. Everyone was busy chatting and catching up while the host showed them around the place. At some point someone noticed the toddler was no longer with them. A frantic search began and, as minutes passed, became more and more frantic. Every part of the property was covered and the boy appeared to have vanished. With a sinking feeling the dad pulled back the pool cover and discovered the body of his son at the bottom. He must have wandered onto what seemed like a solid surface, fell through, and had the cover close back up above. They pulled him out and as the mom tried several times to revive him, dad prayed.

Up the driveway rode a biker who calmly walked up to the group, knelt down and proceeded to give the boy a couple breaths that seemed to do it. The boy sputtered, coughed and puked, and began breathing again. The biker smiled, got back on his Harley and rode off "into the sunset".
What they can't understand is how a guy riding by would have noticed the group, recognised something was wrong, and come by to assist, especially from such a long distance from the highway. In any case he showed up at the right place, at the right time and they are eternally gratefull.

No one knows for sure how long the boy was submerged but he made a full recovery and suffers no effects from the incident. Praise the Lord!!

[sobrohusfat]

The best story i know of came from not a believer, not even an atheist but a 100% full fledged Satanist.

A preacher was working at his office when he received a call from an irate satanist who had a problem with some of the things the preacher had been saying about that particular "social club". Satan's man proceeded to berate God's guy with every manner of obsenety, curse, and verbal abuse. Preacher man sat silently as Satanist continued with a description of the unimaginable pain and suffering he intended to inflict on the religious freek's wife and kids.

When a break in the evil rant finaly came he responded by saying:
"So, you don't really understand scripture do you? If you did you'd already know that every curse and foul thing you intend for me and my family, God will actually turn to blessings ...so why don't you just take a deep breath, clear your thoughts and have another go.
...oh and by the way God wants me to tell you that He's coming to get you."
The enraged Satanist puked out a final verbal assault and slammed the phone down. The preacher then prayed for the man.

The next week the Preacher answered the phone and heared a familliar voice:
"Uh...you probably remember me, I'm the one who phoned you last week to curse you and your family. I just wanted you to know that i'm sorry about that."

"Oh!?"

"Yeah, my friends and I got together after the phone call at the usual place where we hold our rituals to envoke Satan's power and to plan your demise when out of the pentagram fire, Jesus appeared and spoke to us. We all fell where we stood and everyone of us is now a changed man.
I just thought you'd like to know He really was coming to get me...thanks."

So, maybe i was wrong about the whole personal 'humility' pre-requisite to God revealing Himself. Maybe sometimes sincere interceeding prayer is all it takes.
Rooster, I sure hope he's coming to get you too.