THE MIRACLEOne September day down in the hills of Kentucky in Hazard County, a sweet little blonde haired baby girl was born to a coal miner and his wife, Marilyn. It was their first child to be born and they were both so very proud of her. There would be more babies to follow after her. Five brothers and two sisters would complete their family. Though one of her brothers would pass away at the age of only three.
Ruth often spoke of little Danny very lovingly as her sweet little baby brother with blonde curly hair and big blue eyes and of how the times back then were so hard due to the great depression. Doctors were very hard to come by then and even if there was one nearby, most people were not fortunate enough to afford to go and recieve treatment. Danny had passed away in the middle of the night of pnemonia and they found him the following morning in his crib.
Some years then had passed and another one of Ruth's sibblings had fallen ill. This time it was her baby sister Deborah. No one was really sure what was causing her illness or even how bad off she actually was but whatever it was came upon her quite suddenly. As Deborah lied there in her bed, under careful watch, they noticed that her breathing had become quite slowed and that her lips and nails were beginning to turn blue.
"Run and get Pappy," Ruth's mother called out to the boys and at lightning speed, Joe and Ronnie were off to fetch their Pappy.
Now Pappy lived about a mile or so down the road and the two boys were totally out of breath by the time they had reached Pappy's place.
Pappy wasn't known in those parts to be a very religious or church going man but, he was known for having great faith. It was said that one time when someones house had caught fire, that Pappy knelt down right there in the front yard and uttered a prayer and the fire went right out as if someone had turned off a light switch. So Pappy was very highly respected for his relationship that he had kept on-going with the Lord.
It was just as far back to the house, where Deborah lay ill, on foot but they hurried as best they could. When they had finally made it back the news wasn't good.
As they approached the house, they were met just outside the door by Ruth and her other younger sister, Hazel. "Daddy said we've lost her," they were told.
Deborah
"Oh Lord," Pappy sighed, "where is she?" They took him into their young sister's bedroom where little Deborah was lying. Her breathing had completely been halted and her little feet and hands had turned totally blue. Their Mommy was holding Deborah's head in her lap, tears streaming down her face. Pappy had the look of desperation on his face. He knelt down beside them there at the bed and placed his hand on little Deborah's forehead. The room fell completely silent.
"Dear heavenly Father," Pappy began, "let this here child live. Please dear Lord, in the precious name of Jesus, let this child live."
It was a simple prayer but somehow it reached heaven's ears as little Deborah's breathing slowly returned back to normal along with her color and her eyes began to flutter. Everyone there had just witnessed another miracle and it would never be forgotten. The story would be passed down from generation to generation and everytime I personally have heard it and no matter from whom, it has always remained the same.
THE CALLING
Now Ruth's father Henry Harles, was a very hard worker. He was also one heck of a ball player and catcher. Yet he duely noted the facts of the things that he had seen. Ruth along with the rest of the family took notice that he was beginning to read and study his bible quite often. Times were improving somewhat then but coal mining was in essence, very hard work. Word had it, that just up north in Ohio, the job market was starting to boom. Harles had often thought about pulling up roots and relocating there but this would take a tremendous amout of money to just pack up and relocate his entire family, so he started to put back what he could here and there.
He started going to church regularly too and during the time he was trying to save to move the family up into Ohio, the Lord began dealing with him about the ministry. This deeply concerned him. He realized that he wasn't that well educated and really didn't know a real great deal about the bible and religion but he did know what he had seen God do. Meanwhile, the Cincinnati Reds organization had caught wind of his hitting and catching skills and had sent talent scouts down into his neck of the woods to watch him play.
He finally decided to speak to his wife about his feelings and the fact that he was concerned that there may be a calling in his life. He wanted to find out just what her opinion would be about what he had been feeling in the spirit. One day he sat her down to talk it over with her.
"I feel that the Lord is calling me to do work for Him," he told her, "I know I don't have a great deal of education and I don't even know all that much about the Word or even how to go about preaching it to people and I just needed to know what you think about all this?"
" Well, I think all that is just fine," Marilyn told him, "maybe the Lord will really be able to use you."
Harles nodded his head and smiled. "You know Merrell? I never did really think about it that way," he told her.
Having his goals then set, Harles and Merilyn began to work even harder and to save up more and more money. Everything was starting to falling into place for them as they'd planned. They were both about to make the big move.
Thats when the letter came in the mail. It was from the Cincinnati Reds. They actually wanted to give him a try out to fill their catching position. Now another tuff decision had to be made.
To be continued...