OPINION

OPINION | MASTERSON ONLINE: Nods from God

The extraordinary events over my own lifetime led me to conclude that, while we can't pretend to know the ways of our creator, his involvement in our lives is readily apparent when we open our eyes and ears to recognize it.

Yes, I understand there are those who don't believe God intervenes at critical periods of our existence to perhaps answer our most earnest desires and prayers. The reasons behind their disbelief and disappointment are purely a matter of choice.

We all can agree this life is fragile and temporary. Some are here for much shorter stays than others. Yet that fact tends to become lost should we lose the love and emotional association of loved ones. A premature death understandably can seem more of a harsh personal affront than any act of a benevolent creator.

For untold millions, a divine presence has intervened during their lives at crucial moments that don't always involve longevity.

I've become convinced, based on my multiple experiences, that it matters if we open ourselves to intentionally accepting God's will and unconditionally inviting his involvement in our lives.

And so it's come to pass in the latter half of my career that I value the experiences of readers convinced that their remarkable experiences I've labeled GodNods.

It's also become important to me to share others' experience in the hope they might help readers recognize seemingly miraculous events in their own lives.

Today, I'm sharing Lynn Garside's accounts. The resident of Garfield wrote recently to express gratitude for columns about GodNods and disclose three experiences she attributes to such intervention, referring to them as her "angel stories" and "God moments."

Lynn, a widow, says that before her marriage in the summer of 1973, she was working in Topeka, Kan., after surrendering her will to the creator's.

"One evening after work, we decided to drive to Waverly for a prayer meeting. ... I remember our friend Ellen was driving; I was in the middle. My cousin Mary was on my right. There were no seat belts in that old car.

"I recall looking down, reading a letter from my little sister, then looking up to see a red convertible that was passing a car over the hill and coming straight toward us.

"Suddenly ... with no screams, no jolts side-to-side, just suddenly, we found ourselves around, over or through the red car. It was still on the same side of the road, but by then had traveled behind us. I turned around to look, and said, 'Ellen! How in the world did you get around that car?'

"She said she had instantly lost control over the steering wheel. Something had jerked it out of her hands! It was so anticlimactic because it happened in a split second. We agreed something supernatural had happened, and we all praised God at the prayer meeting that night! Each of us over the years agree to the same story and are amazed at how God protected us that afternoon!"

Her second story also involved protection. "After Lenny and I were married, living in the bottom apartment of an old ramshackle house on Oak Street in Platteville, Wis., we'd had an argument like married couples often do, and he insisted I sleep on the couch in the living room.

"I remember comforting myself by recalling Romans 8: 'We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.'"

About 3 a.m. Lynn heard a loud knock at the kitchen door, which was their home's only exit, since their waterbed was up against the door to the foyer in the bedroom.

"I went to the door, opened it, and looked out, but no one was there," she said. "I first looked left, out towards the street, then right, to the back of the alley, then left again.

"I'm glad I decided to look right once more because I saw fire streaming down from the porch above, where stairs climbed to another apartment. Apparently those renters had left, leaving behind a grill that still contained active coals. They had leaked and caught their porch on fire."

Lynn rushed to call the fire department. "Then I woke Lenny and ran out of the building, knocking on the other apartment doors. No one else had wakened them, and I never did see who'd wakened me by knocking on our door.

"Needless to say, Lenny and I held each other closer, shaking, as the firemen put out the fire. We went back to bed with argument forgotten.

"God has watched over me so many times in so many different ways," she added.

Her third GodNod occurred when she, Lenny, and friends decided to go caving.

They had set up camp at Devil's Den State Park, and went exploring in one of the non-commercial caves so many others before them had visited.

"It meant taking flashlights, and following each other through a keyhole-type crevasse that led far back into the cavern. I had forgotten all the climbing we'd done to get ever deeper into the cavern.

"At one point, the three guys decided to explore a horizontal-type crevasse, while the girls just thought that was ridiculous. One girl started getting really claustrophobic and insisted she needed to get out.

"I was acting all brave, and said 'I'll lead us out.' But I didn't have the flashlight. I was able to somewhat see where I was going as they were behind me and the light bounced off the walls of the cave.

"Not being very smart, I kept walking faster, further ahead, when suddenly, strong 'hands' pushed against my chest. They had stopped me from going even an inch further." Lynn recalls turning at the waist and saying, "You'd better hand me the flashlight, because I can't see very well up here."

She said she took the light and shined its beam down at her feet. She was stunned to see the toes of her tennis shoes were on the very lip of a dropoff of at least four feet. She'd forgotten this was a steep wall they'd had to climb when heading into the cave.

"I showed the girls the dropoff, and as soon as we got back to camp, I got out my Bible and showed them the verse from Psalm 91 she'd been reading. It read in part how we live within the shadow of the Almighty, sheltered by the God who is above all gods."

She said the passage continues, "He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I am trusting Him. For He rescues you from every trap and protects you from the fatal plague. He will shield you with His wings ... His faithful promises are your armor. Now you don't need to be afraid of the dark anymore, nor fear the dangers of the day; nor dread the plagues of darkness, nor disasters in the morning."

So much of our lives are subject to personal belief and interpretation, which Lynn's GodNods exemplify.

It's been my experience that those who undergo seemingly miraculous events explain them in one of two ways. They either dismiss them as coincidence, or attribute them to God nodding in their direction for reasons they really can't logically explain.

Either way, most rational adults understand that in this vast universe, there is so much about existence we cannot see, feel, hear, taste or touch.

Now go out into the world and treat everyone you meet exactly like you want them to treat you.

Mike Masterson is a longtime Arkansas journalist, was editor of three Arkansas dailies and headed the master's journalism program at Ohio State University. Email him at mmasterson@arkansasonline.com.

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