The Ohio Independent Baptist, October 1966

What God Hath Wrought By Rev. Jos. C. Chapman Re\-. Jo eph C. Chapman. the author of thi. article is pastor of the Fir t Baptist Church, Gallipolis~ Ohio. We believe that thi te timony will warm yo11r l1eart. We ay a hearty "Amen!" to that which our brother ha ~ritten. It wa New Years Eve, December 3 J , 1965, and our family and a teen– aged friend from Gallipolis were re– turning home planning to arrive in plenty of time for our much publi– cized Watch Night ervice to be held at the church that night. We had been vi iting our relatives over the Christ– mas holidays, and had started in plenty of time to avoid rushing to get home in time for the special services. After about two hours on the high– way, leaving New York City via the ew Jersey Turnpike, going south, I thought I would spend a little time in prayer. My wife was still awake, but the kids were sound asleep. I recall praying for many, many things - just having a heart-to-heart talk with my dear Saviour. I prayed for un– saved friends, missionaries, many churches and their pastors just as Hanna of old did ' '. . . pouring out my heart before the Lord.' ' I no sooner said, ' 'Amen," than a great cloud of smoke and dust suddenly appeared before me. My wife scream– ed ' 'stop!" not knowing what was in the cloud. We had not seen any patches of fog for it was a clear, dark morning, about 6: 00 a.m. Im– mediately I applied the brakes as fast as I could, and as soon as I did, we plowed into the underneath part of this tremendous tractor-trailer loaded with steel, at a speed of ap– proximately 50 miles per hour. The truck blocked the entire three Janes of the turnpike. Another car had plowed into it just before I did , hut I did not sec it. I got out of the car as quickly as pos ible , a isted the others in getting out and at the . a111e ti111e endeavorc(I ' to catch tl1e flow of blood fron1 a ,,ere gash i r1 n1)' head w}1ere l l1ad l1it 1l1c wi11dsl1ielcl . W wer all so111e– "' hat cal 111 , yet in a t ate of . l1<JCl'. Wonderful Verse! aturally, I thought of n lot f tl , i ng , 1,111 tl1e l..1ord l1rougl1t 011e v r o1 cri J,tl11e to 111~ a , , ry f 111iliar 11 And ,~, i 11ow tl1at all ' ,, tl ing \\ or1' t getJ1er for g L t.J. • • it c uld J1 a,, 1, e11 i1J tant d atl1 ' f r all of u , 1,ut I a11 111or and n r c n ,jnced , ,er)' day tl1at o l' 1,u1 p , \I\ 11 111 r e111ingl) 1 g I r TH OHIO INDEPENDENT BAPTIST Rev. Jos C. Chapman bad, are for us, and we hould never a. k the Lord "Why? , nor argt1e with Him. There was a real calmness in1- mediately after the accident, with each one helping the others. We th ank the Lord that Dianna 6, David 12, and hirley 15, were unhurt. My wife was banged up a lit tle and felt it for a couple of days. Judy 17, and Janice Rose 15, had head laceration re– quiring stitches. They tell me that I got the worst of it, for which I can truth[ully say, ' 'I am glad it wa, I in tead of one of the other .' Since I had to get to the hospi t,11 and not wait for the an1bulance, a kind couple rushed Jud y, Janice and me to the nearest toll-gate where we met the ambulance. In pite of weak– ness, as a result of lo of blood, I had a chance to talk with the cot1ple abot1t the things of the Lord and qt1oted to then1 the cri pttire of Ro– mans 8:28. After spendi ng n1oc;t of the day' in the ho pital undergoing treatn1ent, we were released and taken back to tamf orcl. C'onnect1ct1t, by relative~ who can1e to get tis in tv. o c;tat1on wagon . After about a two-v.,cck period of cclnvale':)cencc, we were ,tll pretty well back into the work \VC lo\'C ')0 ,veil - ser\' ing Oltt Wonclerft1l l.. <lrcl. We tl1ank ,t)d that nc) C<) 11lJ)ltcation\ arose. Wonderful lord! A s a rcst1lt of tl1t,; acciclcnt \V l1a\' c ·11 lllall)' e, 1 itlence >f tilt; ,vork )r r,t1r l~or l i11 tl1c 11 art a11ct Ii\' s cf ottr goocl t)COJJl e }1 r ir1 ,·1llir)oli~, a ,v II a i11 01l1er l1t1rcl1 ,, 11 )1 ' t\' l1earcl t)i ot1r a cicl 111 . l l1c l1t1r 11 at •a J l i 1' l l i \\ · 1 ,, ond r J tt 11 ' 11- s i LI :> rat~, ll >t l1 Jlldt ri ,111 a11 I i11 v r ' tl1 r ,, a},, i11 111aki11g it , ca ) a it,I f r \t an 1 in ist 1 that , J) , . 1·1k tir g lO t 1d 1i11 r u1 rat111g. We h,tve seen the Lord , ork in heart anc.l l ivec;; of many people - one hy one - anti we have c;;cc n a c;;tcacly gr<)V. th 111 anc.1 thro11gh our St1n(lay . chool and Church. Before and affer our accident other n1embers of our church have ex– perienced erious accident , and we believe that thi has left such an im– pact on the church that it ha caused God' people to be brought cloc;;er to Him, with the un aved giving con– siderable thought to their soul . ' de - tiny. We have een victory in the live of many people. We can truthfully say that only the Lord' miraculou healing power brought us through the recovery stage o completely and in such a hort time. We can all ay, from the depth of our hearts, "PRAI E THE LORD, A D GREAT THI G HE HATH DO E!" Ye , we do know that "All thing work together for good to them that love God to them who are the called according to his purpose." (Ron1an 8: 28). 125 Years of Preaching the Gospel A very pecial Anniver ary Day i being held by the Ambro e Bapti t Church, Fayette on Llnday. October 9. Gue t peaker for the day v.,ill he a forn1er pa tor the Rev. Albert 1. O trander. Thi i the church· 125 th year of proclain1ing the Word of od. Member of the church w i. h to c · tend a cordial invitation t ther~ to fellow hip with them throt1ghot1t the day and al at the noon hot1r. l1a ket dinner \\J 1 ll he . ervec.i in t hL l1a en1ent. The 111l1r \C Bapti'-ll ht1rch ,, n..-; C\t,1hl1~h tl l ay 26. ll 1 -tl. tl ll(l– (ittion to the cht1rch strt1ctt1rc ,, l1, co111pletcti in 1961. Re,. ]()h11 \\' ar 1c11 i'-1 the precer1t pt1\to1. 0 rob r l t) I() Re,,. . Ot111,\l(i ll)ff,1l. l'tittl11 () I the Oh il) I 11tlepentlet1t B,t 11- t 1'-;t , ,, 111 l1e l1L1ltl1ng ~\ ,erie~ t.'l 111L~et- 111g, Gospel Tracts for People Who ' 'Can't Witness! ' ' See how they open door:> for you 10 ~hare the go:,pel with your neighbors • . • and people around 1he ~,arid! Get >'our FREE packet of gospel tracts and copy of the Bible Tracts Bui I 11n by writing today to· BIBLE TRACTS, INC. Bo 508 - 0 pt. 0 ·106 Waterloo, lo a 5070 Over 81 n1il lion tracts distributed to date. OCTOBER 1966, PAGE 11