By JIM Gore |
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AT the end of summer , I agreed to meet the CMA Lifeline Riders chapter out of Fayetteville , Arkansas , to watch the Great Passion Play in Eureka Springs . I left my home on a small farm near Purdy , Missouri , and was driving on paved farm roads toward Monett to pick up my date for the evening , the lovely Miss Gabrielle . As I was driving , I passed a mule on the side of the road , which had his head hung over the fence and a pistol in his mouth . I thought to myself , did I see what I just saw ? I continued driving because I was running late .
When I picked up Gabrielle , I told her what I had seen . She said , let β s go back by there . When we arrived , the mule was about 100 feet back in the wooded field , eating grass . I looked down in the grass where he had been standing , and the pistol was in the grass . Picking it up , I noticed that it had a steel barrel but was not a regular gun . I took it with me , planning on following up .
The next day I showed the gun to my son-in-law Dallas , and he said it was an air pistol that shot pellets and cocked it open to show me . I said , well , I better take it back and see if I can find who owns it .
I drove back to the location and pulled into a long driveway at a house next to the field . Getting out of my car , I elected not to carry the pistol in my hand as I approached the house . A woman came around the house and asked if she could help me . I asked her if the mule in the field next to her home was her
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mule . She said , β Oh my gosh , what has he done now ?β I told her about seeing the mule with the pistol in his mouth and that I had the pistol in my car . She said that she rented the house and that it probably belonged to her landlord , who owned the land next door and the mule . She said that he used to live there and had a bunch of sons , and they had probably left it over there . I asked her if she would give the pistol to him , and she said she would .
As I got ready to leave , I asked her if I could ask her a question . She said , β Yes β. I said , β If you died tonight , where would you go ?β She thought she would go to heaven . When I asked her why , her answer was vague . I asked her if I could share with her how she could be sure ; she said yes .
I began to share the Gospel , and she stopped me and said , β Are you one of those Christian motorcycle people ?β She had noticed the CMA logo on the side of my Durango . I said yes , I was part of the Christian Motorcyclists Association . She said her son had been killed on his Harley a couple of months ago on Highway 248 , east of Cassville . I said , β Did he have a younger boy on the back of his motorcycle who was also killed ?β She said yes , he was a family friend and was like another son to her . I told her that I was familiar with the accident .
She said that this week had been very hard but also good . A group in town had raised money for a memorial to her son . It had brought back
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all the memories flooding over her . She said she had moved there with all her children this past year following an ugly divorce , and then her son and friend were killed .
I prayed with her for God β s peace and comfort that He would watch over her and protect her and her children . I also gave thanks for their lives and for the group who raised the memorial . When I finished praying , she hugged me . I told her it was no accident that the Lord had sent me to pray with her , and He had to do something to get me to stop .
I asked her if I could finish sharing about Jesus , and she said yes . When I finished , I asked if she would like to pray to accept Jesus as her Lord and Savior . She said β Yes ,β and I led her in the prayer of salvation / recommitment . Then , she gave me the correct answers to my questions about where and why she would go to heaven . She hugged me again . I invited her and her kids to come to our church , and I hope to see them soon . CMA
Jim Gore is an Area Rep for Arkansas .
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