There was nothing Mickey Mouse, or insignificant, about the miracle that led to this October 5, 1992, Honeymoon at Sea photo. It was the real McCoy, the true genuine article. I knew, full well, that I could never have set sail with my beautiful new bride without a promise from God having come true. It left me extremely thankful, wonderfully joyful, and completely in awe for all He had done to truly make the impossible, possible.
When Sharon and I boarded the ship, not even two years had passed since I first broke the bombshell wedding announcement to my parents that I was getting married. Talk about explosive news! It was screaming front-page headline crazy! They knew I wasn't dating anyone and hadn't dated in over six years. How then could I possibly know when I was to be married when there wasn't even a bride-to-be in the picture? I answered that question in my last two posts titled Beyond Believing and Mission Impossible. But what happened next would take my Mission Impossible story to Mission More Impossible!
It was several months after my near-death experience (NDE), sometime in early 1991, when my mother telephoned me with some very strange and extremely bizarre news. Her next-door neighbor, Peggy Williams, told her that someone from church had called to inform her that "Robert Haas" had a heart attack. That's all she knew. She relayed the information to my mother who then immediately called me.
When I first heard the startling news, I didn't quite know what to make of it. My parents were the only two people who knew about my NDE from months earlier and how it started with a gripping pain in my chest and my belief that I was having a heart attack. If no one else knew this, then who on earth had made the telephone call to my mother's neighbor? The only logical conclusion seemed completely out of this world, or could it actually be true? Was it a call from heaven? Had an angel, in fact, made the call. I believe it was!
A less miraculous explanation would include someone mistakenly dialing a wrong number that just happened to reach, of all people, my mother's neighbor. Then, by an extremely high coincidence, the person who had the heart attack just happened to have my name. What are the chances of that happening? The odds are even greater when you factor in that the heart attack news matched what happened to me at the beginning of my NDE. It would be more impossible to believe that this was all just a coincidence. Taking the two possible scenarios into consideration, I could only speculate on the purpose and reason for the call. There was only one answer that made any sense: My NDE wasn't all about me. It apparently was meant to be shared for a purpose, and that's exactly what I did next.
I knew I had to call someone to talk to about all this, but who? My situation reminded me of the theme song from the Ghostbusters movie. "If there's something strange...If there's something weird...Who you gonna call?" I picked up the phone and dialed Jerry Garrard! Who better to give me spiritual guidance than my own pastor at Celebration Baptist Church? I asked if he would make a house call, which he did.
It was good to speak with a disinterested party who could objectively examine, without bias, all the facts of my NDE. This included the symbols I had seen. I could only imagine what Jerry was thinking and how it must have sounded to him as he listened to my story. Maybe a little weird, possibly crazy, a touch of the bizarre, or just plain strange. The fact that it may actually have been a phone call from heaven that prompted me to talk to him—now that's unbelievable. Trying to explain all these very unusual circumstances has me pondering what it must have been like for the disciples as they tried to tell others about seeing Jesus walking on water. "And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were frightened, saying, 'It is a Ghost!' And they cried out for fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, 'Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid'" (Matthew 14:26-27).
The disciples would have had a much easier time telling a campfire ghost story than trying to convince anyone that Jesus really walked on water. Nobody walks on water! That didn't happen! That couldn't happen! That's impossible! Nobody's going to believe that! Maybe the disciples should have stuck to a spooky ghost story, but they didn't, did they? They knew the truth of the miracle they had seen. It really was Jesus, not a ghost, who had walked on water. Even Peter, during a very brief moment of complete doubtless faith, had done the same!
I too had my own miracle story to tell. By also claiming to believe that an angel called my mother's neighbor, well, it definitely makes this part of my story even more impossible to believe or corroborate. This is especially true because, years later, the neighbor wouldn't even remember the call. Not at all. While she may have forgotten, I never would. How could I? This is what got me to step out of the proverbial boat and trust Jesus for a miracle. Despite being completely unbelievable, these are the facts. This is the truth of what happened! And with God showing His hand in what He would orchestrate next, He would soon make the unbelievable believable, the impossible possible.
When Jerry left my house, he carried with him not only the memory of a very unusual meeting but also a small piece of paper on which I'd written my wedding prediction. Privately sharing with him the story of what God was doing in my life marked at least a step forward in faith. It reminds me of how Peter's one small step onto the surface of the sea wouldn't have happened without a giant leap in faith. Having the kind of faith to walk on water must have been a life-changing experience far greater than even walking on the surface of the moon. But unfortunately, it didn't last long, did it? This is what happened after Jesus announced His presence to the disciples in the boat: "And Peter answered Him and said, 'Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.' And He said, 'Come!' And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But seeing the wind, he became afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, 'Lord, save me!' And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, 'O you of little faith, why did you doubt?'" (Matthew 14:28-31).
Now here's the rest of what happened to me and how I, too, went fully overboard, so to speak, just as Peter did. I wouldn't be jumping ship to walk on water, but I was about to do something way beyond what a reasonable person would attempt. While the frightening wind had caused Peter to doubt, I was about to take a different tack and throw all caution to the wind. I was about to trust God for a real miracle and publicly announce with all certainty when I was going to be married. I would do this despite not having a fiancée or girlfriend, not dating, and having gone seven long years without a date! (The only exception was the one time that my aunt and uncle insisted that I take their friends' daughter to dinner.)
In 1991, I began working for the Florida Attorney General's Office, Bureau of Victim Compensation. My first job title was Statistical Aide II, but in reality, I was a data entry specialist for the Statistician. I soon learned how to keyboard like an executive secretary and even had the distinct privilege of undergoing two carpel tunnel hand operations due to repetitive stress. Despite starting at the bottom, earning poverty-level wages, and filing a workers' compensation claim for my injury, I was at least grateful to have a job.
Having submitted over a hundred job applications and sweating out thirty-plus interviews, I was pretty discouraged and never thought I'd find meaningful employment. I was disheartened that the only job door that opened had me plunking away at alphabet keys all day, every day. It was monotonous, but it also meant I didn't have to sell my house. That was a blessing! What I didn't know at the time was that God had me exactly where He wanted me to be. He was setting the stage, arranging the players, and getting everything ready for a miracle to happen.
After settling into my new job, I slowly got to know my co-workers. They also managed to interrogate me with the standard round of personal questions—you know the kind: Are you married? Have any kids? Dating anyone? While attempting to answer an innocent line of questioning from two co-workers, Tonya and Elvira, I inadvertently slipped up and said something that raised a red flag. I don't recall exactly what I said, but it resulted in further incessant grilling. I was now on the hot seat and knew I didn't want to fully divulge the fact that I was believing God for a miracle. Telling them the whole story about my NDE wasn't an option I wanted to consider. They relentlessly wouldn't let up, nor surrender, until I confessed to whatever they suspected I was hiding. I knew I couldn't keep the secret any longer and finally broke the news publicly about my future wedding.
Disclosing my firm belief about when I'd be married wasn't intended to drive them completely bonkers, but that seemed to be the effect. Answering what normally would be a simple question should have resulted in an easy answer. Instead, it raised even more questions. On one hand, I was telling them when I was getting married, but on the other hand, I told them I wasn't dating anyone. It didn't compute! It was enough to overload all logic circuits. It was more logical for them to assume that I must be crazy or, at least, slightly touched by an undiagnosed mental disorder. I eventually disclosed my wedding announcement to five of my co-workers: Eric, Tonya, Troy, Brenda, and Elvira.
When these five witnesses finally reached a state of utter bewilderment, it was Eric who decided to break out the magnifying glass and conduct his own Sherlock Holmes investigation. He needed to take a closer look to see what was really going on and, hopefully, crack a baffling case. I don't recall what Eric said to persuade me, but he finally convinced me to confess everything. His office worked out well for our private meeting because he was the only witness who had an actual office with four solid walls and a door. I definitely didn't want anyone else eavesdropping over a cubical wall and hearing what I was about to tell him.
I told Eric everything that I had previously shared with Jerry Garrard. First, I explained the dream that saved me from committing suicide—you can read about it in my Aug. 8, 2019, post titled Like the Brightest Sunrise. Then, I completely described my NDE and told him how I prophetically knew when I'd be married. The NDE event is chronicled in my Nov. 2, 2019, post titled Beyond Believing. While Eric now had a reason for my oddball behavior, it raised an important question that needed to be answered: Was all I told him the real thing? Was God truthfully at work in all this, or was it just the imagination of an unsound mind? Thankfully, due to God's meticulous planning and timing, there would be five witnesses who had front-row seats to see a miracle unfold and a wedding prediction come true.
It turned out that my computer workstation couldn't have been located in a better spot. It sat in the open and easily provided me the opportunity to meet and get to know other people in my office. It was center stage for what would happen next. This was important because there was one person in particular, Patricia "Pat" Underwood, whom I was destined to meet and get to know. Pat was the Bureau Chief for Victim Compensation, and while walking past my desk, she would often stop and chat for a moment. When she found out I was single, she made it her mission to play matchmaker and insisted that I just had to meet another co-worker's sister.
I never would have imagined at the time that this other co-worker, Wanda Jackson, would later become my sister-in-law. With Pat faithfully advocating on my behalf, she persuaded Wanda to introduce me to her little sister. On December 8, 1991, one year to the day after my NDE, I stood on the front steps of Celebration Baptist Church, waiting for Wanda and her sister, Sharon, to arrive for Sunday morning worship. I was finally going to meet the mystery girl I had heard so much about. Sharon, though, had no idea that her sister was setting her up to meet me.
When I first spotted Wanda approaching from a distance, I was surprised to see that she'd brought along her adorable two-year-old daughter, Kelsey. When they got closer, my attention quickly turned to the beautiful twenty-three-year-old girl who was with them. This had to be Sharon, and it was! I will never forget my future bride walking up the sidewalk towards me and how she literally walked right into my life and into my heart. A miracle would soon come true! God would keep His promise! While I've never had the thrill of walking on water like Peter, I did experience walking on cloud nine when Sharon and I were married less than a year later. The wedding took place at the same church where we first met.
While writing this part of my story, I can't help but wonder what is more impossible for you to believe. Is it my near-death experience and seeing symbols? How about my prophetically knowing when I'd be married? Maybe it's my mother's neighbor receiving a telephone call from an angel or the miracle of Peter walking on water? It's all hard to believe, isn't it? What is believable and verifiable is what I did with my faith. I went public! Not just anywhere, but in the Florida Office of the Attorney General. It's interesting and notable that God, who first established marriage and later instituted the law, made sure that my miraculous wedding announcement took place, of all places, in a chief law enforcement office.
What then does all this mean? Well, in order to even begin answering that question, I first need you to take a close look at this picture and the symbols that I saw during my NDE. What do you see? You see exactly what I first saw when this all began. Nothing more. The only thing I knew was that I'd be married when the digital clock reached high-noon. Why high-noon? I had no idea other than that's when the sun is at its highest, brightest, and in its full glory without a shadow of darkness.
Looking again at the symbols, I had no clue that any of them were even remotely related to anything in the Bible. The Merry Christmas sign came close, but Christmas wasn't even celebrated until the year 336. I had no reason to read the Bible again from cover to cover. For a full six years after my NDE, I only listened to Sunday sermons, read Sunday school lessons, and occasionally read books by Christian authors. But, if I had read the whole Bible again, I would have read Psalm 19:4-5 and discovered this amazing clue. It says, "In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun. It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course." Why high noon? Here was the answer, all along, just waiting for me to find it!
This is the beginning of so much more. It's absolutely, positively, astonishingly amazing and it's about all of us, including you and me!
The next post titled Walking in Darkness begins at:
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