Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door and
knock. If anyone hears my voice
and opens the door, I will come in...
My name is G.W. Darsey. I retired in January 1998 from a textile plant, after 38 years with some of the best co-workers a person could ever have. June and I had been married for about 18 years and we had been saving for retirement. She was planning on retiring in a couple of years. We had a lot of plans: plans to travel, to visit relatives that lived out of state, to take a cruise (if she could talk me into it). God had been so good to us. Our home, land, automobiles were paid for. The only bills we had were just everyday monthly bills. We were very involved in working for the church and trying to do God's will. June and I just wanted to enjoy our good life. We thought we had it made, BUT THAT WAS ABOUT TO CHANGE.
On May 1st 1999, I awoke with a lot of anticipation. My son-in-law had delivered a very large bulldozer and a track backhoe. We were going after a beaver dam that was backing water up on my wood shop. We were going to burst the dam and dig a deep ditch through my property to re-route the creek. After being busy as a beaver and working all day, I was very tired. I took a shower, read my Sunday school lesson and around 10pm went to bed. My granddaughter also turned in, but my wife stayed up and called her dad and talked from 11 to 11:30pm. Then she and my grandson went to sleep. June woke me up at 12:11am and said that someone was ringing the doorbell. I told her that I was so tired and for her to see who was at the door. She came running back yelling that the house was on fire. I don't even remember putting my pants on, but I did. I ran to the den and the fire was burning through the ceiling at the door between the kitchen and den. I grabbed a pan of water to throw on it, then ran to get a water hose. I told my wife that it's too big for us and to call 911. I ran to get my two grandchildren out and smoke was beginning to fill the house. The grandchildren started panicking, but I helped to calm them down. The phones were dead, so June jumped into the car and went to our daughter's house to call. Our son-in-law moved the truck away from the flames as family and friends gathered around to offer help.
As the firemen put the fire out, we went to my sister's house and spent the night thinking that it really wasn't that bad. The morning light told a different story. The whole house was ruined from smoke and water damage. I was shocked to see that over half of the inside of my house was completely burned. In our den everything was burned to ashes, except for one thing. A friend from the church found a page from a Guidepost Christmas card that had a picture of Mary and Joseph holding Jesus. The card read, "For unto us a child is given... and his name shall be called Wonderful." My heart was breaking as I looked through the ashes of my memories. I began to question God, why would you let this happen to us? The fire chief told me what a miracle it was that we were alive. He said most families just die from the smoke and that we were only 5 minutes away from death when the doorbell rang. As I turned and looked at my precious wife and grandkids, God taught me how unimportant material things were. God had saved 4 lives from the flames. How could I shake my fist at God, when we had just been moments away from a fiery death? I really believe that God rang the doorbell to save me and my family.
God continued to pour out His love and blessings on us as family and friends pitched in to help. A friend that is in the smoke and water damage business got a group from the church and along with family and friends, cleaned our furniture. We are forever grateful. We had 3 of our girls working untold hours listing items for insurance and cleaning things that were special to my wife. My son and I started building the new house on June 6th 1999 and we moved in on September 1st 1999.
I personally want to thank all of our family, including my sons-in-law, grandchildren, friends and church family that God so graciously placed in our lives. We love you. You have touched us and my prayer is that God will grant me the good health and talent to minister to others as I have been ministered to.
If you are reading this and don’t know Jesus. I urge you to ask Jesus into your life today. Don’t put it off. Just as God rang the doorbell to save us from a fiery death, God is ringing the doorbell of your heart to save you from a fiery hell. Will you answer the door and let Jesus save you? Do it today.... Don’t put it off.
God Bless,
GW Darsey