The Cattle Truck Miracle

My friend Author Sharon Connell (http://www.amazon.com/author/sharonkconnell) shared a travel miracle story.

 

Kathy, I have a travel story that involves my move from Des Plaines, IL to Pensacola, FL when I went to Bible school there.

My son and his wife traveled from Pensacola to Des Plaines to help me move. We loaded the cars with my daughter's bicycle mounted on top of Ron's vehicle (fortunately, he was an avid bicyclist at the time and had a rack). 

 

We took off in the wee hours of the morning, a fourteen to fifteen hour journey to Pensacola. I followed Ron's vehicle from the start. If I wanted to stop somewhere, I'd flash my lights and he'd pull off the road to see what I wanted. All went well as we traveled from Illinois, through Indiana, to Tennessee, until dusk. 

 

We'd been following a cattle trailer pulled by one of those heavy-duty pickup trucks for many miles. If I remember right, there were about six to eight head of cattle in the trailer. It was as if we were playing leapfrog. He'd pull around us, and a little while later, we'd pull around him. We stopped at the same place for lunch and dinner that the cattle hauling pickup did each time.

 

After our last stop, my vehicle started to act up. We were in the middle of the Smoky Mountains, up and down the rolling hills, when my engine began to lose power. I also lost the lights. Ron apparently was in a conversation with his wife and hadn't noticed our car falling behind, nor did he hear the weak horn when I blew it. I told my daughter, Heatherlyn, then ten years old, to start praying because we were never going to make it up the next hill.

 

I'd been watching the reflectors on my daughter's bike spin as Ron traveled ahead of us. Now the reflectors were barely seen as my headlights dimmed to almost nothing. There were no other cars around, and the truck with the cattle trailer had passed us and moved on a little while ago. I prayed that my son would notice we weren't behind him anymore, but I had no idea how he'd find us unless he got off the road, entered the other direction, and then retraced the journey. I also had no idea how long it would be, and it was getting dark.

 

As my car started up the last hill, I pulled off onto the shoulder, and the engine died. My daughter and I prayed and asked God for His help. I was at the point of tears, but didn't want to cry and scare Heatherlyn. When I lifted my head, I saw Ron's car, driving backward on the shoulder, coming over the rolling hilltop in front of us, bike pedal reflectors spinning like mad. Praise God!

 

After I told Ron what happened, he tried the starter on my car, and it started right up. Huh? Lights came on, and everything seemed normal. He got out of the car and said he had no idea what was wrong. I said, I didn't either. He suggested we get off the highway at the next exit so he could find some light and check the engine. We did that, but he still couldn't find anything wrong, and the car didn't slow down again or lose the lights.

 

We decided to proceed with our journey to Pensacola and trust God to get us there. Ron said he'd follow us for the rest of the journey, and we took off. 

 

About half an hour later, what little traffic had accumulated on the road since we reentered had stopped. When we neared, we saw the highway patrol blocking everything in both directions, and some of the officers trying to round up cows in the median strip. The truck and trailer we'd been playing leapfrog with earlier was also in the median strip, the trailer on its side. Apparently, the driver had swerved to miss something running across the road, and the trailer toppled over onto the median strip in the process. No one was hurt in the accident, and all the cows were uninjured. Another praise God.

 

Not only had God kept us from being involved, and possibly injured, in this accident by giving my car a hiccup, but He protected the driver and the animals. 

 

I'll never forget that night. I used this incident in one of the scenes in my very first published novel. Another blessing. And a miracle. 

Grace and Truth, To Be United with Christ, John 15:1-8

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

 

Of course, a branch lying on the ground, not connected to the vine, will bear no fruit. Yet, Jesus says that if we sign on to be in his vineyard, we can bear much fruit and give glory to God.

 

Some of these words may sound harsh, but Jesus’ deep desire is that we stay with him.

 

Lord, prune me so that I will be more effective for you. Thank you that you allow me to ask you whatever I want. 

Walking in New York City

After my family trip story last week, my friend Nina shared her and her husband’s recent trip with me.

 

Dave and I went to New York City for a few days. It had its glitches-

 

Dave was impatiently waiting in the taxi queue at JFK airport and I was on my phone when he suddenly said, “Quick, I got us an Uber!” And before I could say anything or ask questions, a man was loading my suitcase into the back of an SUV.  It was.... a fake Uber and it was quite the harrowing trip to our hotel.

 

Traffic was at a standstill so our driver pulled onto the shoulder and raced past everyone on his illegal lane.  Yikes.  I texted Dave- "We are in a FAKE UBER." Texted him NOT to pay by credit card, and that one should always, always use the Uber app.  Now we were in a stranger's car, illegally speeding towards Manhattan. It cost more than a cab, too. But, we survived.

 

We took a train from Grand Central Station one morning, up to Connecticut just so I could add one more state to my list.  Greenwich, CT is a pretty, tidy town but very, very wealthy.

 

How wealthy? Oh, we had a laugh later after we stopped into a second hand clothing store.  I wouldn't dare call it a thrift store because I picked up a used designer purse and looked at the little paper sales tag. $1559.  For a little pink purse. Gulp.  The gently used blouses started at $270.... and we said Good Day and walked quickly out of there!

 

We did get sandwiches for lunch and thankfully, those were not designer sandwiches, but it was a good fresh mozzarella and ripe tomato sandwich on crusty French bread.  Then we walked back to the train. I like that public transportation is so easy there- a train every 20 minutes back to the city.

 

I like to collect scents and smells and I'm glad my sense of smell is back. The smell of rain, of hot dogs and pretzels and the smell of horses and grass in Central Park. And often, the smell of weed.  It's legal and everywhere, more so than the occasional whiff of cigarette smoke on city streets.  I don't think we could go a block without the smell of pot coming from some corner or next to a shop or alleyway.

 

We got a lot of walking done, went to a few museums, and went to a musical- Six, about the six wives of Henry the eighth, told by six women in modern, diva pop style. Dave chose it and it was lively and fun and we were able to walk back to our hotel afterwards.

 

We were walking in the rain, single file, on the crowded sidewalk on the rainiest of Wednesdays when I had something odd happen. A man, coming in the opposite direction, grew frustrated by the slower people in front of him. He crossed to our side of the sidewalk and struck my umbrella as hard as he could, causing me to stumble.  Dave and I were stunned. Why would he do that? I wasn't in the way, wasn't stopped on the sidewalk. We chalked it up to him having personal problems and went on.  Then, on Friday, we were eating take out Cuban sandwiches at a little table on a sidewalk quite close to a city intersection. An older lady was getting ready to step out and across at the signal when a man came flying along on his bicycle in the wrong direction in the bike lane. The lady called out, "Hey, you almost hit me! You are going the wrong way!" And at hearing that, the man dismounted his bike, flung it down into the bike lane and stormed over to the woman. Swore and screamed at her. Spat on her. And then gave her a tremendous shove and stomped back to his bike. Bystanders and the woman and her husband were all stunned.

 

He rode off. The woman stared at him for a minute and continued on her way. Wow, I said to Dave, things could have been a lot worse for me.  Out of all the pleasant memories, the show, the walking to Grand Central Station, Central Park and the many thousands of perfectly decent people we passed and sometimes talked with, those two guys stick in my mind.  They are now part of the story of the trip, as much as the pilot in uniform who sat between us on the flight to New York, telling us wistfully that he was retiring at the end of the month, having reached the mandatory age limit for pilots.  I asked him what his favorite place to fly into was. “Aruba,” he said with a smile. 

First Family Trip since 2020

The last time we went on a family trip was in early March, 2020, right as things were closing down because of covid.

 

My mother recently moved into a senior living center, so we decided to go see her a couple weeks ago, and Caleb and Sarah said they wanted to go too.

 

We got a minivan, so we could be more comfortable. Sarah and Caleb, with his guide dog Hammy, sat in the back, Ping-Hwei in one of the middle seats, and Murray and I in the front.

 

Hammy is a very good dog, but he did sneak forward a few times, to just sit and watch Murray drive. Sometimes he moved forward with his head and shoulders between Murray and me, until Murray said, “The dog just licked my arm.”

 

After we’d traveled for a few hours and stopped, Sarah told me indignantly, “Caleb fed Hammy back there, and he slobbered all over me.”

 

As we got to Mom’s place Ping-Hwei said happily, “There’s the big dummy.” He and my brother Rodney have affectionately called each other that ever since they first met. I think it comes from the old TV show “Sanford and Son.” I was so glad the big dummy came to visit Mom while we were there.

 

It was often a crazy trip, trouble with the tail lights on the car, so that every time we started up again, Murray had to get out and make sure they were on. Trouble with the heat being on in the very back, even when Murray had the air conditioner on. Crazy hilly curvy country roads, busy city streets, trouble ordering food, no signs to be found on Mom’s building or our hotel.

 

We got up at two o’clock Saturday morning to leave early, so by the time we went to bed that night, we’d been up for twenty hours, and some of us were getting pretty grouchy. Yes! Me. I’ve got my hand up! But I was better the second night, and we had great hotel rooms with lovely breakfast provided, another thing we’d missed since we hadn’t been on a trip.

 

When we checked out Monday morning, the manager talked with us, just being polite, and Murray told him that Caleb used to work for another hotel chain. Caleb and the manager spent some time discussing how things had been different for both hotels for a while when covid was severe.

 

On our second day with Mom, we played two games of Scrabble. Sarah said she’d just watch, and Ping-Hwei did, too, but Caleb, Murray, Mom and I played. Murray kept getting a lot of points for each turn and Sarah said “What!” then, “You’re cheating,” and Ping-Hwei said, “Cheating.”

 

Another time, Sarah seemed to be trying to help Murray, and she said, “I don’t know why, but this time I’m rooting for Dad.”

 

Once Mom had to leave and go back to her room for a minute, so she told Sarah to play for her, and Sarah and Murray managed to get a triple word score for Mom. Murray won both games, but Mom was in second place at least once.

 

On Sunday night we visited Murray’s brother Myles’s and his family Heather and Melissa, and Murray’s brother Aaron came too. We had a lovely visit. Pizza dinner. And, happily, Melissa made a pumpkin cake with cream cheese icing from scratch. We were kind of full, but I said, “Oh, we’re definitely staying for dessert.”

 

Melissa has two six month old puppies, half poodle and half schnauzer. “Schnoodles,” Myles said. They were very excited, and wanted to play with Hammy. Even when Caleb let Hammy loose, he didn’t spend much time with the puppies, but when one of the puppies put his feet on my leg, Hammy quickly stood up and shoved his head on my lap, reminding me who was the dog I was supposed to be paying attention to.

 

I brought one of my braille Bible volumes to read along the drive, to help keep Murray up to date with his reading through the Bible in a year. Once when we stopped Caleb asked, “Was that Isaiah you were reading earlier? I thought it sounded like Isaiah.”

 

It was Isaiah.

 

It was so good to see Mom and Rodney. And even though we had some craziness on the trip, I love the people I got to share it with. 

Guest Author, Kathy Cretsinger

 Kathy Cretsinger is a good friend and a wonderful story-maker. I am loving this series.

 

Thank you, Kathy, for inviting me to be on your blog. I love this book, but I say this about each book I write.

Several years ago, I began writing a series set in Shady Valley, Tennessee. This is my husband’s home community. It is not a town with only around 800 residents, five churches, one caution-light, one general store, one Dollar General Store, and one restaurant. There’s not much there, but the people are wonderful.

I decided to bring people into the valley instead of writing about the people in the valley. The series title is Nothing Shady Ever Happens in Shady Valley. The first book is Bogged Down by Murder. It’s available on Amazon. You can also purchase it from my website, www.kathycretsinger.com/books.

Bobbed Down by Murder introduces us to some of the crazy characters we’ll see in the remaining series. With that book finished, I decided to bring gold doubloons into the land-locked valley. The title of the book is Death by Doubloons, and the main characters are Liberty Garcia, Matt Sluder, and the cast from the first book. The book releases October 5, 2022, and you can also order it from my website, www.kathycretsinger.com/books. When you click on the book cover, you will go directly to Amazon. Both the print book and the eBook are on pre order now.

The next book will release in 2023 and the name of it is Dead Ringer. I’m working hard to finish it asap. My plans are to complete the manuscript by the first of the year because there is another one after it, Murder and Goat Yoga. Kathy will know the release date of these later.

My husband and I have been married for almost 60 years. We live in Kentucky, but we were both born and raised in the hills of Tennessee. We’ve lived in Kentucky for several years. We have two grown children, four grandchildren, and maybe we’ll have great-grandchildren soon. Who knows?

For several years, I owned a publishing company. I loved working with writers, but macular degeneration kept me from seeing well enough to do all the computer work. I still enjoy working with promising authors.

Several months ago, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. It is not an aggressive cancer, and it was found early. Ladies, please do a yearly mammogram. That’s how mine was found. I am looking forward to my last radiation treatment. I have a good prognosis. I am so thankful for that.

Enough about me. I love talking to people about my writing. My email is kathycretsinger@gmail.com. You can also reach me through my website. I do a monthly blog, “Eighty and Loving It.” Life is too short to be sad about your age. Admit it and enjoy it.

Thank you for reading my wanderings. I do that a lot. I hope you will purchase the book and give a nice review on Amazon. Reviews mean a lot to a writer.

Thanks, Kathy for letting me bend the ears of your readers.

Death by Doubloons

Cuban-American Liberty Garcia is a recipe creator for Smart Living Enterprise. Someone wants the gold doubloons she received from her father, a treasure hunter, after his murder.

Liberty escapes to Shady Valley, Tennessee, and meets Matt Sluder, a server at the town’s one and only eatery, the Raceway Restaurant. When the person pursuing her comes too close, Matt is hired to protect Liberty.

How many times can a murderer try to kill Liberty? How badly do they want the gold? Liberty is determined to keep her father’s doubloons. But will she?

After all, nothing shady ever happens in Shady Valley.

Psalm 10, God Cares

The writer of this Psalm knows God hears when his people call out to him, yet he is willing to cry out with doubts in time of trouble.

 

He talks with the Lord, telling him of the terrible things the wicked are doing to the weak and how the wicked care nothing for God. And, in the end, he knows the Lord will help those who cry out to him.

 

1: Why, Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

2: In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak, who are caught in the schemes he devises.

3: He boasts about the cravings of his heart; he blesses the greedy and reviles the Lord.

4: In his pride the wicked man does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.

5: His ways are always prosperous; your laws are rejected by him; he sneers at all his enemies.

6: He says to himself, “Nothing will ever shake me.” He swears, “No one will ever do me harm.”

7: His mouth is full of lies and threats; trouble and evil are under his tongue.

8: He lies in wait near the villages; from ambush he murders the innocent. His eyes watch in secret for his victims;

9: like a lion in cover he lies in wait. He lies in wait to catch the helpless; he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net.

10: His victims are crushed, they collapse; they fall under his strength.

11: He says to himself, “God will never notice; he covers his face and never sees.”

12: Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God. Do not forget the helpless.

13: Why does the wicked man revile God? Why does he say to himself, “He won’t call me to account”?

14: But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted; you consider their grief and take it in hand. The victims commit themselves to you; you are the helper of the fatherless.

15: Break the arm of the wicked man; call the evildoer to account for his wickedness that would not otherwise be found out.

16: The Lord is King for ever and ever; the nations will perish from his land.

17: You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,

18: defending the fatherless and the oppressed, so that mere earthly mortals will never again strike terror.

 

Lord, help me to daily commit myself to you. Thank you that you care about what I care about, that you encourage me, that you are my Father. 

Sweet Memories, Made My Lips Twitch

January 19, 1999: Murray told the kids this morning that he has an interview this week, and Rebecca seemed concerned. She said, "Good." Then she said, "Maybe they'd like you better if you didn't tease so much." Then she thought some more and said, "What are you going to wear? I don't like when people wear a tie with a shirt that doesn't button."

 

January 22, 1999: I was writing on the braille writer the other day, and from upstairs I heard Caleb say excitedly, "Hey, Mom's writing on the braille writer almost as fast as Mrs. H.!" (She is his special teacher for visually impaired kids at school.)

 

The other night Rhoda got outside. Ping-Hwei told Murray, "Baba, Rhoda is in out."

 

February 2, 1999: This morning Sarah told Murray, "Every day I try -- I don't always remember -- but I try to have a long talk with Jesus."

 

Later Sarah was talking about giving prizes to kids in her class, talking in many fast sentences. Murray told her he hoped he got a prize, and in the middle of her explanation she stopped to say, "I'm your prize," then continued.

 

February 6, 1999: Rebecca was looking at her new spelling list last night, which were mostly with prefixes. "They're all perplexes," she told me.

 

February 9, 1999: Last week, Angel (the youngest cat) was licking Ping-Hwei, and he said, "That is tickle!"

 

February 11, 1999: A week or so ago the kids were talking about when Murray had an accident once in Alabama. Caleb told Rebecca that Daddy had accidently pulled out in front of another lady and she'd run into him. Rebecca asked, "Didn't the lady mind?" Caleb said thoughtfully, "Well, I don't think she liked it."

 

The other night Sarah told me and Caleb that there were some kids in her class at school who knew she had blind people in her family, and she said that they didn't think blind people could do anything. Indignantly Caleb asked, "Well, Sarah, did you tell them?"

 

Yesterday Sarah was taking a shower in the morning, and suddenly she called for Murray to come up to her. What did she need? "Daddy I hope you're not mad, but we had a wrapped sucker at school yesterday." (We have a rule that if the kids get wrapped candy at school, they're supposed to bring it home and we will dispense it or eat it ourselves, as we see fit.) Sarah went on: "I forgot the rule, and I ate it." "What color was it?" Murray asked. "Red," she answered. "Oooooh, I hope you enjoyed it!" Murray said, closed the door and left.

 

February 17, 1999: The other night Sarah was waiting in the hall for Murray to carry her to bed. Ping-Hwei went upstairs and said to her, "Sarah, tell me good-night."

 

The other day Rebecca was getting ready to take a shower. She asked me to get her a new towel. "Get me a big furry one," she said.