In the summer of 1949 the Martha Ann Bakery, where my dad worked, went out of business.  For several months Dad looked for another job, but couldn't find anything where he could support his family of six.  Finally, he was offered a job as a bar tender in a night club called the News Orleans Room, but it was in Kansas City.  So, in late November of 1949 Mom and Dad loaded the six of us into a 1941 Plymouth and we moved from Enid, Oklahoma to Kansas City Missouri.

We rented a two bedroom house in the poorer part of Kansas City.  On New Years Eve of 1949, Mom had developed a lot of pain in one of her ears.  We found out later it was an ear infection.  We didn't have enough money to send her to a doctor.  All we could afford was aspirin.  In those days you could buy aspirin in little tins of nine.  It probably only cost about a nickel, but that was a lot to us then.  At any rate, Mom asked me, as the oldest son, to go to this little mom and pops grocery store to get some aspirin.  It was only about four blocks away if I cut through an alley.  Otherwise it would be a couple of blocks more.  It was night, it was cold, it was pouring down rain.  And it was very dark, especially in that alley.  But, I decided to take the alley so I could get back faster.  I was eight years old.  And every eight year old boy knew that monsters stayed in alleys on cold, rainy nights.  And they would jump out and get little boys and eat them.  Now your only chance is to walk fast, but don't run.  And "never" look up.  In reality, there's only one sure fire method to keep monsters from gettin you.  You must be under a blanket.  Monsters can't penetrate blankets.  You can't even let a toe stick out from under that blanket, or they'll be on you like flies on a picnic potato salad.  Of course, I didn't have a blanket with me, so I was hot footing it through that alley, as fast as I could go without running, my eyes fixed firmly on the ground.  And, to my great surprise, I made it to the store.  I got the aspirins, but knew I had just been lucky, and would never make it back home alive.  I started out through that alley again, walking as fast as my little legs would carry me, with my eyes glued to the ground.  All of a sudden I saw what I thought was a dollar.  It was rolled up real tight.  When I picked it up, I realized the one was a ten.  So, I put it in my pocket, thinking ten dollars might really help Mom if I made it back alive.  Well, by the grace of God, I did get home.  I gave Mom the aspirin and the ten dollars.  She unrolled it and found that it wasn't a ten dollar bill, there were ten of them.  They were soaking wet and Mom laid them across the top of her dresser to let them dry out.

The next day, on New Years day, they called a doctor.  And, he came to the house.  Doctors actually did that in those days, even on holidays.  He called a prescription in to a pharmacist.  The pharmacist would actually open up on holidays to help you in those days.  I've had people tell me how lucky I was to have found that money just when we needed it.  But, over the years I've come to realize that there was no luck involved.  We had a great need that we couldn't fulfill.  So, God walked with me down that alley and did as He always does.  "My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."  Philippians 4:19 (NKJ).  Some two thousand years ago all of us had a great need that we couldn't fulfill or pay for ourselves.  So, as He did on New Years Eve of 1949, and as He has done countless times since in my life, and I suspect in your lives too, our Heavenly Father took care of our need for us.  He sent His Son, Jesus to pay for our salvation 

That $100.00 wasn't an answer to prayer, because I didn't pray for it.  I don't believe either of my parents prayed for it.  I never heard Dad pray to that point and I could only remember Mom praying once.  But, a loving Heavenly Father saw our need and provided it, even though none of us had been saved at that time.  "Christ died for us while we were still sinners.  This demonstrates God's love for us."  Romans 5:8 (NKJ).