Fate, Fire and a Teenage Girl: Part 1: The Mysterious Stranger

At the age of 15 I got saved on the sidewalk. I’ve told the story about how a girl read a tract to me called “The Four Spiritual Laws” outside my high school and I accepted Christ. She advised me to attend their New Life meetings. This is the story of what happened after that. I did not know the Bible at all or where to begin as a Christian so these were my first attempts at figuring it all out. I did not understand at that point what God’s will was or anything about God so my language wasn’t very Christian yet.

 So these are my insights about it written in my own hand. It was July 20, 1971: a very turbulent time for our country and for me. At that time, I was recovering from my father’s death and still attending the Catholic Church.

These are my own words to tell the story for you with some fixing of language and punctuation here and there - from many years ago.

Remember fate?

Since my father died two years ago, fate has definitely been in control of my life. Whenever I want something, I get it. And so, 3 months ago I went to Rome because I wished I could go and God answered my wish. When I came back I wished for something else: I could go to a religious meeting that was more worthy of attending than the boring New Life meetings at the Winter Park Youth Center. I was disillusioned with their approach. Something was missing. I quit going when I came back from Rome. So I read the Bible and figured I could understand God more by reading it than going to those meetings anyway.

Then one day I learned that the Gardeners, our neighbors, were involved in a religious movement concerning the Holy Spirit and its gifts. Walt Gardener wanted to pray over my Aunt Dorothy who was in a wheelchair. I didn’t know exactly what “pray over” meant but I knew it had something to do with casting out devils. At first, I didn’t believe too much in it. Meanwhile, Mr. Gardner visited Aunt Dorothy to pray over her but she was too busy to let him do it. Maybe in a month or so he will try again.

So I continued to read the Bible and read about the Acts of the Apostles. “Boy!” I thought, “Those apostles really did wonderful things. I wish that I had lived back then when the glory of Christ was so real and such wonderful things happened.”

 So Fate decided that I would have my way.

One day I decided to go over to Mr. Gardener’s house because Mom had dropped Grandma off there to help Mrs. Gardener, Aileen, with her sewing. So I walked in and told Grandma that Mom was waiting out in the car for her. Grandma answered: “Tell her to come back and get me after she returns from the store. I’m not done yet.”

“Ok,” I answered, “and I’ll stay here with you until then.” (I said that I knowing strange things sometimes happened at the Gardener’s house and a crazy-looking van was parked in the driveway…) So I went and told Mom and walked back in again. Some people were there who were getting ready to leave – a mother and two small children.

Grandma was saying, “I want this young man to pray over me.” She pointed to a strange looking guy. I say “strange” not because he looked really strange but rather because of the wild look in his eyes. (They were blue by the way and he had wavy blonde hair…) We walked into the family room and he asked Grandma: “Where does it hurt?”

“Like a doctor, I thought.” Then I thought: “Some kinda nut.”

So then he prayed over her.

“Ahhh,” I thought again. “He must be one of those Jesus-freak-children-of-God-type nuts!”

Then Mom came in and he prayed over her and ordered out the spirits of loneliness and frustration. He howled at the top of his voice: “Jesus, touch her!” (It was at this moment my mother accepted Christ.)

Mom started to cry. He also prayed over me and I got very excited and hot and my hands went numb.

“Wow,” I thought, “He’s very strange, indeed.”

That night, Mrs. Gardner said, there would be a prayer meeting and “the man” would be there to speak.  So we decided to go and find out more about him…(to be continued.)