“Hello, Mrs. B!” yelled Terry flashing a semi-toothless grin as he pulled up into my pine needle driveway on his dilapidated bike.
“Well, hello, Terry. It’s good to see you! I’d invite you in, but I’m busy cleaning the pine trees out of my gutters along with the pine needles.” I literally had saplings growing in them. That's what you get for not cleaning out your guttters very often.
I was on a ladder when I said this and my gloved hand was pulling stuff out in bunches.
Terry parked his bike and walked over to where I was working. He was about 4 feet tall and had sandy blonde hair. He and his two brothers, Daniel and Josh lived down the street and we just referred to them as: “the Jernigans”. I fondly called them, “Terry and the Pirates.”
“Mrs. B, I have a question for ya.”
“You do? What is it?” I was not really paying much attention to him.
“Aren’t you movin’ to Orlando soon?”
“Yeah, in a few more days we are. Actually, we’re moving to Oviedo near Orlando.
“Mrs. B!” He said with a crescendo in his voice, “that’s where my rich Uncle lives! And it’s a really big house!”
“Your uncle? I didn’t know you had an uncle.”
“Yeah, and he lives in Winter Springs.”
“But, that’s not where we are going. That’s the next town.”
“Yeah, but it’s near him.”
“Right. So what?”
“Well, when you see him, will you say “hello” to him for me?’
“What? Hello? I don’t know where you uncle lives and I doubt I will meet him, Terry.”
“Yeah, you will. And when you do, tell him Terry says “hello.”
“But, Terry, that’s impossible! I’ll never meet him…Orlando is a big place. Lots of people live there.”
He smiled broadly again. “Yes, you will, Mrs B. Yes, you will…”
He got on his bike and was gone in a flash.
I told my husband Bob about it at the dinner table and he just shook his head and said, “Those Jernigans are always coming up with something goofy. I wouldn’t believe a word he says.”
A few days later we left and said good-bye to the place we had called home for over 13 years. My heart was breaking within me and I wondered if this was the Lord’s will.
Three and a half hours later, we arrived in Oviedo to start our new life in Central Florida. We moved into the house and first thing we did was look through the phone book for a church.
There was one church called Gospel Light Baptist that was located in Winter Park. This was on the other side of Oviedo in the opposite direction of Winter Springs.
We didn’t make it on Sunday because we were worn out from moving, but the very next Wednesday, we decided to go to the little church for their Mid-week Prayer Meeting. We entered the front door to a small auditorium where there was a group there of about 20 people. We sat through the service and the Pastor introduced us as a couple who had just moved to Oviedo from Yulee.
After church, a pleasant looking middle-aged man came up to us. “Glad to have you folks visiting our church. Where did you say you were from?”
“Between Yulee and Fernandina Beach. We lived sort of out in the woods. They called it Nassauville.”
He smiled broadly. “Well, you know, that’s funny.”
“Why?” I said.
“I’m from there, you know. And my three nephews still live there.”
Suddenly, I remembered my encounter with Terry and couldn’t resist the temptation.
“Don’t tell me you are “the rich uncle in Orlando!”
He laughed.
“Well, they call me that but I’m not really that rich! We just have a nice house, but we worked very hard for it and still are working hard. By the way, my name is Stan Walker.”
I just stood there in shock. “You have got to be kidding. You’re the uncle of Terry Jernigan?”
“Yep, I sure am. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
We both shook his hand, but we couldn’t believe it.
I don’t know what the moral of this story is could be except maybe to take children seriously when they speak.
And believe in Divine Providence….
