Letters to Laura
Story after Story of How God Touches the Lives of Everyday People—Every Day
by
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Dear Laura, Thursday, September 03, 2009
. . . Finally, after dark, a car with three teenage boys stopped. I got in the back seat on the passenger side. I told them where I was going and the driver replied, “In an hour we’ll be in Nashville.” Nashville is 100 miles Northwest of Chattanooga. Oh, oh, they all had been drinking. The driver displayed that bravado which comes from not having enough to be silly, but enough to lack good judgment. Sure enough he sped up to 100 miles per hour. This was going to be scary.
I sat there, staring at the road as if my sober vigilance had the power to save us. I dreaded Battle Mountain with the highway’s winding climb up over the summit then back down again. What could I do?
When a person is drunk, his reason is gone. Preaching, pleading, prodding tend to worsen things. How many young people have been hauled out of the senseless wreckage of a car driven by a drunk driver? How often have the passengers, held by their crazy captor at the wheel, been fatally trapped? How many have gone to their death pleading with the driver to slow down? In all likelihood the driver speeds up, showing off his superior driving ability, and perhaps relishing the fun of scaring his passengers to death—and that’s what happens—they are scared until death.
I couldn’t ask to get out, what if I triggered some deadly reaction? “Lord, please protect me,” I prayed. Then I thought of my options. I could sit there all scared and helpless. If we crashed, I would die terrorized. If, on the other hand, I went to sleep and we crashed, I would die, sleeping. With that simple logic, I committed my life to Christ and got comfortable. . .
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About the Book
Letters to Laura started as a single letter telling how God saved a life, but the letters continued, becoming a series of stories of survival that amazed even the author. Cal has survived a garage door blowing off the wall, near electrocution, wild rides as a hitchhiker, escape from being run down in traffic, an encounter with a wild badger, and more—more than he had realized until writing these letters to Laura. Cal shares his candid conversations with a God who gets involved. He gets mad at God, apologizes, asks favors, and confides, expecting a response—yet finding the unexpected.
Each letter is one or more stories of deliverance, humiliation, success, wonder, or sobering reality. Cal is honest as he reconstructs what really happened, yet is completely amazed at how carefully God has guided and guarded his life, all his life. “I should not be here. I just wanted to encourage Laura, but these letters have encouraged me. I had not realized how many times my life has been saved,” is his wondering discovery.
About the Author
Cal Shrock has been a truck driver, bus driver, electrician, electronics technician, and academy math teacher, among other things. Cal enjoys Bible study, philosophy, and writing, and is a reflective thinker. His sometimes unusual insights and his drive to answer the question, “What must I do to be saved?” are woven throughout his writings. He loves to share his discoveries with whoever will listen. It is his hope that you will not only enjoy his stories but see the goodness of God, and place your faith more completely in His care.
Cal lives near Yreka in Northern California on two and a half country acres with his wife, Sheilla, and enjoys being Grandpa.