I believe God has had His hand on my father and mother since 
        they  were  born. Although I can only acquaint you  with  a  tiny 
        portion of how God has worked with my parents and spared them, by 
        His kindness, I do have on record some of the events as they have 
        told  them to me.  If it had not been for God's  faithfulness,  I 
        would  not be here to share with you this walk with Jesus.  It is 
        truly only by God's grace that we have come this far.
        
             Dad  never tired of telling me how God  miraculously  spared 
        him from death when he was but a youngster:
        
               "Daddy  and Uncle Pete were going for gravel one day,"  he 
             recalls,  "and  you might remember the old  gravel  wagons-- 
             they were long, heavy-bedded constructions with huge wheels.  
             One sat up pretty high in them.
        
               "Well, I was sitting between Dad and Uncle Pete, and since 
             I was only two-and-a-half to three years old, Daddy told his 
             brother,  `Now Pete, I want you to take care of Eldon.'   So 
             he was trying to hold on to me as we jolted along.
        
               "Suddenly,  with  the big team pulling hard  against  that 
             heavy  load of gravel, the wheel came off on the  right-hand 
             side.  The wagon dropped fast and hit the ground with such a 
             jolt that Uncle Pete was hurled into the fence.  I must have 
             been  thrown forward directly under the horses, because  the 
             first thing Pete remembers seeing when he stopped moving was 
             the freshly-shod hoof of the huge mare coming down right  on 
             my  head.   Of  course, the horse was  excited  and  nervous 
             because  of  the accident. That hoof would have  crushed  my 
             head like a mallet."
        
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             "But  quicker than lightning," Uncle Pete told  me,  "faster 
        than I have ever moved, my hand shot out, grabbed hold of Eldon's 
        foot, and pulled him out of the way just as the mare's hoof  came 
        down." He told me a number of times that something far beyond him 
        helped  him to get Dad out of there.  Granddad had always  chided 
        Uncle  Pete  for  being slow and poky, but he  never  teased  him  
        again after that day.  Dad was spared only through the mercies of 
        the Lord.
        
             About  a  year or two later my  father  experienced  another 
        miraculous deliverance from death, this time through prayer. When 
        the  large  work  horse he was riding stumbled,  Dad  suffered  a 
        severe  fall on his neck and back.  At first there didn't  appear 
        to  be  any  permanent injury, but the next  day  he  experienced 
        difficulty in walking.  At evening time, while helping his father 
        feed the pigs, his legs buckled under him.  Unable to get up, he 
        was carried to the house by his father.
        
             Dr. Chenoweth took much time in examining him, I understand, 
        concluding  that Dad had a creeping paralysis as a result of  his 
        fall.  He informed my grandfather William and grandmother  Esther 
        Helm that their sixth child possibly might get better, but  could 
        get  worse; and Dad's condition worsened.  He began to  lose  the 
        use of one part of his body and then of another.  Soon he  wasn't 
        able to talk, and then he couldn't swallow.  Though they kept him 
        alive by injecting food and medicine into him, hardly a muscle of 
        his  body  moved.   Even his eyelids  were  lifeless.   Only  his 
        breathing  continued, slow and shallow.  Three doctors said  that 
        he could not live.
        
             But Dad had an aunt, his mother's sister, who lived fourteen 
        miles away in Muncie.  Aunt Zelpe lived close to God: she  talked 
        with God.  One day she appeared at the farmhouse door.  "The Holy 
        Spirit has revealed to me," she told William and Esther, "that if 
        I  come  and pray for Eldon's healing, he  will  live.   William, 
        would you have any objection if I pray for your son?"
        
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             Grandfather  replied.   "No--Dr.  Chenoweth  and  the  other 
        doctors have given him up.  He is at the edge of death now."
        
             So I am told that Aunt Zelpe moved into the Helm  household, 
        spending  most of her waking hours by my father's bedside.   This 
        was  to be her vigil of intercessory prayer for days to come:  an 
        assignment she had never before attempted and was never called to 
        repeat  for  anyone else in her lifetime.  It is  said  that  she 
        would rub my fathers frail body and pray until she would collapse 
        to  the floor in exhaustion.  But in spite of her  ministrations, 
        his condition worsened.  His flesh was hardly noticeable  against 
        the protruding frame of his skeleton.
        
             Uncle  Pete shared with me fifty years later that  on  three 
        occasions they called the family around my father's bedside:  "If 
        you  want to see Eldon alive," they said, "you'll have to  hurry, 
        because it won't be long and he will be gone."  Yet he lived  on, 
        even  when it became too painful to continue injecting  him  with 
        food and medicine.
        
             One morning God revealed to Aunt Zelpe that the boy would be 
        healed  if  his mother would yield her heart to Jesus.   She  was 
        thrilled  with the revelation and tried to speak with her  sister 
        concerning her soul.  But Esther seemed to sense something of the 
        nature of Zelpe's purpose and managed to avoid her for some time.  
        She  would see her sister coming and go another way  through  the 
        house.   Finally, Aunt Zelpe confronted her at the  door  leading 
        into the hallway.  "Now Esther," she said, "do you want this boy 
        to live?"

             Of course, my grandmother was perturbed by this question and 
        replied, "Why yes, Zelpe, you know I do."
        
             "Well,"  her sister said kindly but firmly, "you  must  give 
        your life to Jesus so I can pray and have faith for this baby  to 
        be  raised  up."  Immediately Grandmother Esther dropped  to  her 
        knees  and  asked Jesus to forgive her and come into  her  heart.  
        Praying  through  to  victory, she was converted  and  became  so 
        happy, she shouted nearly all over the house.  Esther was just  a 
        little woman, a short Dutch
        
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        woman,  but she was unable to contain the joy she  experienced in 
        Jesus  that day.  I have heard it said that whenever there was  a 
        cottage  prayer meeting, my grandmother was often heard to  shout 
        for joy in Jesus.
        
             Since  her  sister had fulfilled her part in  God's leading,
        Zelpe  returned to her intercession with renewed strength.   Each 
        day  she  would pray for a specific part of my father's  body  to 
        receive help.  She would first tell the family how she was  going 
        to  pray, and God would answer according to her prayer.   On  the 
        third  morning she announced, "Eldon will call for  something  to 
        eat within the next twenty-four hours.  I'm going to pray for his 
        appetite  and  his voice to return."  All day she  prayed.   Then 
        that afternoon,  a wonderful miracle took place--my  father,  who 
        hadn't been able to speak or swallow for many days, whispered, "I 
        would like some crackers and tea."
        
             My  grandparents  were beside themselves  with  joy!   Since 
        there  was no tea in the house and not a cracker was to be  found 
        either,  William  told Uncle Pete to saddle old Clyde  (the  same 
        horse  Dad was riding when he fell) and ride as fast as  possible 
        the  two  miles into Windsor for tea and  crackers.   Later  that 
        night,  Grandfather was holding my daddy in his arms,  thankfully 
        feeding him crackers and tea.
        
             People  came from around that area to see the boy who was  a 
        living  miracle.   As a very little girl, my  mother  can  recall 
        standing  between  the carriage wheels when her  grandmother  and 
        grandfather  Dickson said, " We have just returned from seeing  a 
        little boy who was raised up from the edge of death by a life  of 
        trust  and faith in Jesus."  She later reminisced, "Little did  I 
        know that that young boy would grow up to become my husband,  the 
        father of our six sons."
        
             God spoke a prophecy through Aunt Zelpe at the time of  this 
        miraculous healing.  She declared: "This young man is going to be 
        a man of God; and his faith, or that of his seed, will circle the 
        globe."   We are believing God to someday see this fulfilled,  by 
        His grace and only for His glory.
        
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