Blessed are the peacemakers!

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. Peace is always possible, if a peacemaker is involved. God doesn't desire for any man to be destroyed, but desires that all would be saved. Only Satan seeks to destroy. The humble can always pray grace to rain on our lives. Abraham did plead with God, and God saved righteous Lot, but destroyed Sodom and Gomorra. God knows how to separate the righteous from the ungodly.

I have seen grace melt the heart of a most hardened man because his daughter, my wife, prayed for him. He had slipped into a coma from a self-inflicted wound. He had rejected the witnessing of a preacher friend while he was conscious, but my preacher friend persisted in visiting Walt after he went into a coma.  He was finally able to share the gospel to the now quiet Walt. As my preacher friend prayed the sinner's prayer to his comatose body, my preachers friend asked for a sign that my father in law believed, and Walt, my father n law, sat up and stared, then layed back down. My friend went through the sinners prayer again, and asked for another sign, and again,   Walt arose out of his coma, stared at my friend, then laid back down. He died soon after. I believe he was saved by the skin of his teeth, the smoke of hell on his garments, because my wife was pleading with God to save her adopted father.

Another true story comes to mind, of Chief Lone Eagle, a World Champion wrestler who gave his heart to God. He went back on his commitment, but then his wife came down with cancer. He renewed his commitment, and miraculously, his wife's cancer went into remission. I was with my Dad when Dad convinced him to pour all his liquor down the drain.

His testimony was in demand, and he travelled to different churches in full dress, white deer-hide outfit and full eagle feather headdress. He was an authentic Chief. He sang a verse or two of I Come to the Garden Alone. I accompanied him on the piano. 

I heard later that he went back to drinking again. Chief was working on the huge dike that processed lake water for the Calumet area. I drove by it daily on my way to work.The forklift drivers were bustling to get the fresh cement out to the end of the dike. Chief was working as a laborer. The fork lift driver didn't see Chief. The fork lift went over the edge into 60 feet of murky water, pinning Chief to the bottom. A crane operator dropped a hook 60 feet down, hoping against hope to hook the fork lift. The hook was lifted, holding the forklift and clinging to it was the Chief.

Chief said he prayed while pinned to the bottom and surrendered his heart again to Jesus. Like Jonah, God heard him in the depths of that lake.

The next time I saw Chief he was sitting up front at a Zone Youth Revival. I was the pianist. Every time I marched to the piano, Chief would proudly proclaim, That's my boy! On Saturday the zone took up a food pounding and love offering for my family. Chief was up front in the crowd, beaming. I am convinced he held true to that final commitment.