June 2018 SPECIAL EDITION January 2016 Issue | Page 8

JANUARY 2016

The VOL Church staff wishes you a blessed new year!

(Continued from page 1)

see their priest, Father Jim. A spokesman, Caleb
Winter, spoke for the group. “Father, what can we
do? It seems like God has abandoned us.” Father Jim
responded. “Caleb, God never abandons us. We have
to have faith. Let’s get together this Saturday and
we’ll have a prayer service. Spread the word, and tell
people to bring with them an article of faith.”
Saturday came. Standing in a field with dust
practically choking them, the people of Concord
prayed. Then, Father Jim said, “Hold up your articles
of faith.” Everywhere, Bibles, rosaries and statues of
Jesus were lifted to the heavens. Father Jim shouted
at the top of his lungs, “Lord, witness our faith. Let
the rains come.” However, nothing but the
continuation of the swirling dust happened.
At the back of the crowd, seven-year-old
Samantha Twyler demonstrated her faith. Samantha
said, “I have faith, Jesus. I believe. So, I brought a
special article of faith.” Samantha raised an umbrella.
The crowd murmured. The people of Concord
understood. Samantha’s faith eclipsed theirs. They
were impressed. With renewed hope, the people
looked at the sky. Nothing, though, happened. Their
hearts sank.

Samantha wasn’t finished. She sank to her
knees. She prayed. “Jesus, we don’t like this. We’re
kind of mad at you. But, Mama tells me you always
give us what we need. So, we’ll figure out how to learn
from this drought how to be better people.” Everyone
else also sank to their knees.
Six days later, for the first time in almost 13months, rain fell on Concord, Oklahoma, a changed
community. As a result of Samantha’s prayer, men and
women, girls and boys, old and young had a new
appreciation of what faith is. During the six days since
the prayer service, the people of Concord had stopped
grumbling. They still felt devastated, but they reached
out to each other. Despite their own struggles, each
person in the town looked for and helped a person
worse off.
My sisters and brothers, faith isn’t feeling so
deeply that what we want will be given to us by God.
Faith is doing the right thing, loving and serving others,
even when we don’t get what we want, even when our
feelings are raw.
Let’s be faith-filled, not only during 2016 but
for the rest of our lives.

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