military

 by Water

The Miracle Sparrow

Matthew 10:29-31 reads as follows: “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.”

That little bird that is so abundant throughout the world is considered to be a nuisance by my people: builds nests where he isn’t wanted, makes a mess on a shiny new car or expensive farm implement, and is considered worthless by the general public.

In the year 1969, my wife, Cathy had been to the Logansport hospital for surgery, and had just been to Fort Wayne for special chemotherapy treatments. The report was heartbreaking: she was pronounced terminally ill with colon cancer. The one source of happiness for our 12-year daughter Donna Kay as well as Cathy and I was that she could return home.

One evening, we had chosen for devotions the scriptures listed above. We marveled that our very busy God would know when a lowly, insignificant sparrow would fall to the ground. Yet that is what the Scripture said, and it was to be interpreted as such. It was a true test of faith. We felt very humble, but we were greatly inspired by the thirty-first verse that said, “Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.” Cathy and I both were lifted up by those words.

I was working at Grissom Air Force Base at that time. The very next day, at work, I was rolling a 55-gallon drum across a 300-foot long concrete apron. The drum was full and heavy, and after rolling it approximately 50 feet, I had stopped to catch my breath. At that instant, a pretty sparrow landed on the barrel. He tilted his head upward and looked straight up at me. From surprise, even amazement, I reached down and grasped him in one hand. I said, “Hey, little fellow, what are you doing down here? You better get going.” In one easy motion, I tossed him into the air. He took flight from a height of about 15 feet and flew to the grassy area, about 25 feet away. There he landed, sat for approximately one minute, and fell over dead.

It was not until that instant that I remembered the scripture of the previous evening: “One of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.” I was overwhelmed with emotion to realize that God had actually carried out for us what we had marveled at on the previous evening! He had assured us that He was with us!

Naturally, I related the incident to Cathy that evening. She didn’t say a word, but just smiled and squeezed my hand! She knew and was ready, if it was God’s will, to take the step of her journey. This was true despite her wanting to raise Donna Kay, and despite the fact that she was happy at home.

Approximately three weeks later, she was awarded her Heavenly reward.

 

About the Author

Harry Dishon is a retired veteran living in Howard County. He and his wife Joan recently recorded some of Harry’s recollections as a child and as a soldier, and we are honored to be able to share these memories with you. Periodically, we will post selections from Harry’s writings on our Military Appreciation page, so please come back and share some of Harry’s insights and memories.
 

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 by Water

Answered Prayer

Mankind sometimes questions God’s very existence. That fact is understandable because God works in such supernatural ways compared to the ways of mankind. Humanity must have a very deep faith to believe fully in the miracles of God.

Let’s examine a true and beautiful event that God caused to happen in my mother’s life.

After my basic training, I attended special training school as a surgical technician. Graduation from that made me eligible for duty overseas. A large cadre of us troops varying in vocations was transferred to Los Angeles to prepare for deployment oversees. A huge ocean liner loaded with troops sailed westward toward a destination we knew not where. We sailed and we sailed for nearly thirty days.

In the meantime, back at home, mothers will be loving mothers. They worried about the safety of their beloved sons.

My mother was one of many who were concerned. This was easily understandable after nearly thirty trips to the mailbox hoping for a letter and finding—nothing!

One morning at the breakfast table, Mom said to Dad, “I know where Harry is!”

Dad didn’t take her very seriously and said laughingly, “How could you know that? We haven’t heard from him.”

Mom continued, “I had a dream last night and three times I heard the words, ‘INDIA, INDIA, INDIA.’ That is where he is.”

Dad still had little belief in what he had heard and said, “India isn’t even a battlefront.” But he said no more, because he was a man of Godly faith.

Meanwhile we on the large ship sailed on and on, past stops at Wellington, New Zealand, and Perth, Australia—forty-three days total.

Back at home, a couple of weeks after Mom had the dream, they received a letter from me postmarked Apo, Bombay, India.

God truly is awesome.

 

About the Author

Harry Dishon is a retired veteran living in Howard County. He and his wife Joan recently recorded some of Harry’s recollections as a child and as a soldier, and we are honored to be able to share these memories with you. Periodically, we will post selections from Harry’s writings on our Military Appreciation page, so please come back and share some of Harry’s insights and memories.
 

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 by Water

The Fifty-Cent Coin

What would be, could be, should be the primary observations of an advanced senior “kid”? Life is a smorgasbord of gladness, sadness, and everywhere in between. Not one person knows when they are youngsters what their fate shall be. Let us go traveling with one such character and find out the results.

The 10-year-old lad was normal in every way: energetic, inquisitive, full of imagination. He also had some mischief not too well hidden in his character.

His parents lived in rural Indiana where, in the summer time, the grass grows rapidly. When the neighbor lady asked if he would be interested in mowing her lawn with a reward of 50 cents, he (his name was Harry) was in “Seventh Heaven.”

At that time, the lawn mowers were reel type and had to be pushed by hand to operate, but that was “AOK.” Harry had energy to spare. The first mowing complete, he was paid a big, shiny, new 50-cent coin. He was as proud of it as he would be of a thousand-dollar bill!

What to do with it? He trusted it to his pocket until he got home and very proudly showed it to his mom and dad.

After that came playtime outside, and he still had his new 50-cent coin that was not in safekeeping. Harry thought, “If I put it in my mouth, I won’t lose it.” (Dumb as he was, he put it in his mouth!)

He went on playing for a while–until he needed to swallow. Yep, you guessed it: the big coin squeezed down his throat and lodged. It would not come up, nor was there room for it to go on down. Harry was badly scared! He went running into the house to Mom. Mom looked in his mouth and could see nothing. Then she became scared that the coin would turn sideways and choke him to death.  Mom found Dad immediately and they quickly concluded that the closest doctor was at Young America, three-and-a-half miles away. Dad ignored the speed limit getting there!

Dr. Lybrook was immediately in great sympathy with the parents. He said, “The coin is lodged in his throat edgewise. He can breathe all right now. If I go to messing with it without a good instrument to get it out, it might turn flat wise and choke him to death. We better go to the Kokomo Clinic that can handle a situation like that. You, Bill, follow me. We will go over to Road 22 and go in on that.”

With that, they were off, dust flying so thick that Dad could scarcely see. They felt safe, though, because Dad was an excellent driver: he drove buses for an automobile dealer.

They had progressed a ways on dusty S. R. 22 (22 had not yet been paved) when Harry suddenly yelled, “Mom, roll the window down; I’m sick!” She did, and none too soon. Harry’s head popped out the window and he barfed violently. He knew the guilty coin came with everything else. He yelped to Mom and Dad, “The 50-cent coin came up and out the window!”

Dad quickly analyzed the situation and said, “We’ve got to go catch and stop the Doc, and then look for the coin.” With that, the accelerator was hard against the floor and we were moving on. After a mile or so, we caught up with Doc and stopped him. He grinned and quickly replied, “Thank God! We have to find that coin. Bill, take us back where you think the coin is.”

Dad and Mom both knew approximately where to stop, and the hunt was on. All of us looked on the roadside and in the grass. Suddenly Harry yelped, “Here it is, here it is!” Sure enough, there it was! Proof that it actually was out!

Two cars of extremely thankful people went home happy, a divine answer to a loving mother’s prayer!

 

About the Author

Harry Dishon is a retired veteran living in Howard County. He and his wife Joan recently recorded some of Harry’s recollections as a child and as a soldier, and we are honored to be able to share these memories with you. Periodically, we will post selections from Harry’s writings on our Military Appreciation page, so please come back and share some of Harry’s insights and memories.
 

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