JUST THINKING!

“Learning to Trust” Ephesians 1:18 Let me introduce you to Robert (Bob) A. Carter. Bob lived to be 100 years old. He is a Pearl Harbor and Battle of Midway survivor. He is my hero and should be an American Hero. Bob was on the destroyer USS Hammann, when it was sunk during the Battle of Midway. He got on a raft with about 15 other men. Nineteen hours later when Bob was rescued, the three men on top of the raft were dead and there were only four men hanging on to the rope on the side. When I asked Bob years ago what happened to the other eight men that were hanging on to the rope he said, “They would just lose hope that we would ever be rescued and they would turn loose of the rope and drift off from the raft and drown.” None of them had had time to put on a life vest when the Hammann was torpedoed. The battleship sank in a record time. I remember asking Bob when he told me this story why he hung on. He told me because he knew he would not die. I asked him how. This was his story as best as I can remember: “David, when I was 19 years old, I was on the USS Tennessee when the bombing of Pearl Harbor began. I watched my best friend lose his life. I watched the admiral of the (battleship) USS West Virginia vaporize before my eyes. I watched many good, brave men die fighting for freedom. Weeks later, after I had recovered from shrapnel wounds to my legs and the USS Tennessee was back in the states for repair, God spoke to me and told me that I would not die in this war. “I believe what God told me, and not long after that they were looking for volunteers to go back to Pearl Harbor to help with the cleanup. I went. While there, they asked for volunteers to go on night maneuvers on the USS Yorktown and I volunteered. That was the ship I was on in the Battle of Midway. It was torpedoed, and that is why we were on the USS Hammann when it sank. I never hesitated volunteering because I believed in God, so I not only had hope we would be rescued; I knew we would.” Wow! That is the only word that comes to mind. Bob Carter was a a dying breed in the US today. There were not too many Pearl Harbor survivors still living when he told me all of this. Before long, they will all be gone. I visited Bob in Dallas for the last time in 2018. Although he hasn’t seen me since I have had cancer, he knew me right away. I asked him if someone had told him I was coming because I told his son. He said no, but he pointed to our church newsletter which I sent him and said, “I knew that when I read that David Simmons was getting a three-month sabbatical, I knew he was coming to see me. I not only hoped he would - I knew he would.” We embraced for several minutes and then we spent 3 ½ hours catching up and remembering. I took him pictures of my family. He has always cherished pictures. I never saw Bob again in person, but, as I told him before I left, I know that I will see him in heaven. It was funny that he introduced Peggy and I to many people and he introduced me as his pastor. I was honored. Now, my time with Mr. Bob has got me to Just Thinking! Bob listened to the voice of God and believed. He wasn’t afraid because not only did he hear and believe, but he had hope. Do we practice that type of hope in our lives? We seem to lose hope whenever we hear bad news. We “freak out” not sure how we will handle it or what we will do. Yet, God promises us that He will always take care of us. He will always be there. There is nothing on earth that can steal our hope, yet we allow so many things to do it. Any circumstance that interrupts our nice life causes us to lose hope. Well, I don’t know about you, but when God says it, I believe it and have hope. Hope from God is not a wish or guess. Hope from God is a sure thing. Paul wrote, “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people.” God’s hope is real. I am reminded of the quote from the movie “The Shawshank Redemption.” The quote is in a letter from Andy Dufresne, the escaped convict, to his best friend that is a recent parolee, Ellis Boyd Redding. Red finds the letter which was hidden many years earlier and ends with this quote, “Hope is a good thing, maybe the best thing, and no good thing ever dies.” God's hope never dies! When God gives you something to hope for then you should never fret, just believe. It worked for Robert (Bob) A. Carter. It can work for you!