In memory of my Grandfather, Paul, I wish to pass along this story as Paul had told it to many listeners during his lifetime. Paul died in 1999.
During the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, we had droughts, no rain (in late summers and fall seasons) for five years. Thus, all the farmers in, a southern county of Maryland, had depleted any or all surplus feed for their cattle, and feed was high in price because it was scarce.
An uncle of mine, Roger, who was bout 76 years old, had a small farm. On this farm, Uncle Roger raised a small herd of cattle of which he prized very highly. Now due to the continued drought, he knew he could not feed his cattle unless we got some rain because his hay, barley and wheat crops had all failed. He must depend on a good corn crop, which needed rain. The corn stalks were firing, that is, drying up clear to the shoot, the stalks where large enough and the shoot was there, but for the ear of corn to grain out, it must have rain.
So, Uncle Roger knelt down right there in the cornfield and prayed for rain, telling God just how badly he needed it. As he finished his prayer he said, “Now God show me you heard my prayer”. Then, Uncle Roger got up and walked back toward his house, he looked up in the heavens, the sky was real clear, only one little cloud off to his left, no sign of any rain. But, just before Uncle Roger got to the porch of his house, there was a flash of lightning and a roll of thunder, which startled him. He said, “It is so hot, I guess that was heat lightning”, but before he could reach the house a beautiful fresh shower of rain was falling, enough so that, if you would have been standing in it you would have gotten good and wet. As Uncle Roger went in the house he went straight to his bedroom and knelt and thanked God for the lovely rain. He was sure God had heard his prayer.
The corn matured very nicely, and as it ripen, Uncle Roger cut and tied the stalks together. After finishing cutting all the stalks, he disked the ground. Then, Uncle Roger called me and asked, “If I would sow the field in wheat”. I asked, “Do you have the seed, fertilizer, and grass seed ready?” And he replied, “Yes”. So, I drove my tractor and drill down to his farm and sowed the field for him.
Afterwards, Uncle Roger went to shucking his corn. One day, after several weeks of shucking his corn, my phone rang; it was Uncle Roger. He said, “You must come down right away”. As I hung up the phone, I said to my wife, “I wonder what the trouble is down there, he sounds like he is crying”. You see his first wife had died in an automobile accident and Uncle Roger had remarried a woman some years younger and sometimes they did not get along too well. My wife said, “I guess you will find out when you get there”
As I drove up to his garage, Uncle Roger was standing out front, holding this ear of corn, shaking and crying and said, “Look what God has done for me”. He then handed the corn to me.
Uncle Roger told me how he had prayed for rain, how God had heard and answered by giving a good soaking rain; which my uncle figured was the answer to his prayer, but God had gone further. He also gave this perfect ear of corn with this perfect cross. Uncle Roger took me up in the field to show me just where he was shucking. That day, he had completed shucking one bundle of stalks and had re-tied that bundle and laid it aside. Uncle Roger was then about half way through the second bundle, when he shucked out this ear of corn and as he went to throw it on the pile, this ear of corn shook in his hand; but he was already in the process of throwing it and the ear fell on the other side of the pile. Bewildered, Uncle Roger got up and walked around the pile and found this beautiful ear of corn. He said, “As I looked around, I was standing just about where I knelt to pray”. I have never seen anyone so elated in my life, crying and shaking for joy.
So, I say again, “God surely does hear and answers prayers. Here is proof. Praise His Holy Name, Amen.
