Birth of the Blue Missile

Well Captin,
here's what you have been waiting for. Not the end of the story but the reason I walk in a confident knowing that Dad has it covered.



At this point, he had used the rifle ammo up and switched to the 12-guage, which had since been fixed. He sent rifled slugs whizzing past me through the laurel bushes. At this point I was so angry that I was cutting through the tree with single strokes, sending some pieces clear over the cabin. After I finished cutting the tree into pieces, I gathered them up and was bringing them to where the fire was, again catty corner from the cabin. At this point he asked me “Hey Jew Boy, where are your grandparents from?” My response was again “America”. A few more shots and he asked, “Hey Jew Boy, where are your great grandparents from”. My response was “Europe”. They had come over from Germany long before things went bad over there. Now he’s got about a quarter of the gallon of shine left and he’s run out of rifled slugs. So he switches to birdshot and asks, “Where in Europe?” I responded with reluctance, “Germany”. His response was very quick, “So what we have here is a commie Jew! I think I’ll kill me a commie Jew before lunch.”

At this time I knew that he was serious and things were taking a turn for the worse. My back was turned to him and without turning I replied, “ Why don’t you let me cook you lunch first?” There was a pause and then he replied, “No, I think I’ll get it over with.” In a voice that had changed noticeably. When I turned around and looked at him, all of the shine was gone and he had the shotgun leveled right at me. His countenance had also changed, and it was apparent that I was now dealing with something more than just a drunk mountain man. I knew inside of me I Was dealing with the devil himself, and he really was going to pull the trigger. The first thing that went through my mind was that all he had in the gun was birdshot, and at that distance, even a number of rounds would not be instantly fatal. So I took the ax and held it right under the head, in a non-threatening manner, and slowly walked across the camp up to him until the shotgun was against my chest.

I then said to him, “If you’re going to kill me, kill me, but I have no intention of bleeding to death in the Tennessee mountains.” I have to say in retrospect there was a great peace within me and I was quite sure that I was going to get to meet Jesus that day! For I had obeyed God and had a clear heart and conscience. With fire in his eyes he replied, “What happens if I do?” To which I replied, “I go to heaven and you clean up the mess.” He then said, “How do you know?” With what I’m sure was a smile on my face I replied, “I just got baptized, and I haven’t been laid yet!”

Now what happened next was a shock to me, having never seen the power of God at work. The power of God knocked him backwards, still in the chair, still holding the gun with his finger on the trigger, and without the gun going off. When he hit the ground he dropped the shotgun and at this point he started to weep uncontrollably. Within less than a minute, the others broke through the bushes coming towards camp with Fred yelling, “What’s the hell’s going on here? It sounded like World War III! There must not be a living thing within miles of here!” I still hadn’t moved and was just beginning to understand what had just happened. I told TJ what had occurred and he took John, and put him in the station wagon and said he was going to take him back to the farm.

Fed then said that seeing as I had shown some interest in seeing the woods and learning about Fred’s other occupation, which was picking wild ginseng, he would show me around. Since there was plenty of daylight left, this sounded pretty good to me, so off we went. Now Fred only carried a 22cal. Rifle for what he called “protection” He said if we met a bear it would only sting enough to make the bear think about not attacking us. He was a very good shot, proving this by having picked off last night’s squirrel in mid air jumping from tree to tree. Fred was about two paces behind me as we went down the trail, when all of a sudden he said, “FREEZE!” I thought, Oh no here we go again. I froze and Fred took his rifle and put it about two feet in front of me and fired it against the ground, making almost no sound at all.

He then took his rifle and lifted the four foot copperhead snake he had just killed and draped it over the bush by the trail saying “This will let others know they are in the area.” If I had taken the next step I would have been bitten by the snake. Praise God for delivering me from death three times in two days! I will say at that point God had my attention. We then had a great time exploring the woods the rest of the day. That night we all went back to the farm to stay the night. The next morning when I awoke, there was John sitting on the porch with TJ’s mom. He said that he had been crying for about twenty four hours, and that he really was going to kill me back at camp. He said he was never going to drink and use guns again and that he was really sorry. I accepted his apology, and forgave him in the name of Jesus, life goes on.

Let me say something here, for all you religious folks that just had their world shattered. I didn’t speak the bible at the devil I spoke what God had spoken to me, no matter how colorful; there is supernatural power in confidently speaking the words with authority God has given you. But remember this, they only have power if they are your words coming from inside of you. Once God’s words become your words nothing can stand against you.

And yes the story continues...
Andrew