SUDDENLY THIS HAPPENED

SUDDENLY THIS HAPPENED
5-26-2024

One beautiful summer day in July 1979 something happened that started me on a quest to find out how this supernatural event took place. My child was 3 years old. We had just arrived home from work after my wife, and I picked up our daughter from the home of the lady who watched her week each day. The first thing I would do when I got home I would jump out of my suit and tie and put on my work jeans and old shirt, get into my old pickup truck and ride out to the pasture, work on the fence, and check on the cattle. We did not have many neighbors but recently a new family from California moved into a large home across the highway from our little ranch house. They had just finished having a new swimming pool put in behind their house. Wanting to be good neighbors they invited my family to come swim, and we did so that weekend.
As I was jumping into my jeans, I heard our cattle dog, Boots barking. Well, he never barked unless someone was coming up the drive to our house. I worked my way over to the bedroom window and looked out but couldn't see any vehicles; although, Boots was eagerly warning us something was wrong. He would bark looking across the road and then turn barking back toward the house. That is when I caught a glimpse of the
top of my little girl's head running across the highway headed toward the new neighbor's home. Scared and feeling rushed I hollered out to my wife, "The baby is running across the road." Her mother was in the hall restroom, when I screamed out the danger she jumped out into the middle of the hallway, pulled up her jeans and sprinted out the door and up the drive toward the neighbors. I stood outside waiting for their return. Then I saw her mother walking over the highway fussing as the baby girl cried. Soon as we were close enough to talk, she angrily reported that our daughter was standing at the edge of the swimming pool when she found her. Now, we realized that if she had jumped into the swimming pool without us knowing she would have drowned before being found. Thanks to our dog, Boots, we had been spared a great deal of guilt and despair. I was amazed that the dog knew she was not supposed to go over that way without us; but how did he know to vigorously alarm us?
Years later when my daughter was 13, I really began to understand that God had His angels watching over our children. You know how teenagers can get! She wanted to go on a date. I told her; "Well, I'm not having any boy come pick you up and take you on a date. I'll take you to the movies I want to meet this guy. Then I'll pick you up." I made her promise me she would not get in his car or go with him anywhere else. She had to stay in the movie until I came to get her. She replied, "Oh, I'll do what you asked Daddy, I'll do it."
I meet the boy, and I did not feel too sure about him, but I'm trusting G3D and my daughter. A couple of hours later while home watching T.V. G3D suddenly speaks, "You know, parents always run late picking their kids up." I thought about that for a minute. I knew it was not enough to hear G3D we must know what He means, and that takes years. He was basically saying "Go pick her up early."
So, I arrived 20 minutes early. The entire mall is locked up except the exit doors from the movies so I watch everybody come out, and I'm parked at the curb right in front of the doors so I could see everyone coming out, but I didn't see my daughter. Suddenly, she comes running up to the side of the car. She jumps in the car crying, saying this boy dropped her off on the side of the road. I said, "Wait a minute. You told me you wouldn't leave the movie house."

She began to tell me how they went for a drive and he dumped her on the side of the road. I reminder her about the promise she made to me vowing not to leave the movies. Then she said, "I know Daddy, but-." I said, "But nothing. I want his parents to know and I'm going to call them. No boy is going to do that to my daughter."
As we're driving home, we passed our house. She said, "We just passed the house." I said, "I know, we're going up to the church I am going to call his parents." I was the pastor of the church back then.
She said, "But you can't do that Daddy. You don't know their phone number."
She was feeling confident, thinking I was blowing smoke and not really going to call his parents. We both knew she had never given me their number. As we went into my little office I picked up the trashcan and put it on the desk. I started digging through it. And she's getting a little haughty, you know. She's thinking she's got me over a barrel. I picked out of the can this little piece of paper and turn it around to show it to her.
"Look, is that his number?" She turned white! I mean chalk. I said, "You have one more chance. You tell me the truth about everything that happened. Everything you've done, or I'm calling them." She broke, confessed to everything.
After we had a heart-to-heart talk, I found out what the problem was. The reason she got so rebellious was because her baby sister was close to being delivered and she was afraid she was going to lose her daddy to this new baby. Of course, we knew that wasn't going to happen. After Savannah was born I was not able to hold our newborn because my oldest daughter was holding her all the time!