God Doing What He Does Best

     It was a cold January morning in 1996.  I had been awake for quite
awhile, but didn't want to get out of my warm bed.  I finally got up and made my way to the kitchen and poured my first cup of coffee.  As I made my way to the dining room table, I decided to open the drapes.  I didn't care how cold it was, I wanted to see the sunshine.  As I gazed out the large plate glass window, I couldn't believe what I saw.  You see, our house is on a hill, and approximately 400 yds down the hill is our pond.  The pond has been frozen over for a few weeks.  I grabbed my binouculars and looked, and behold, there was a man fishing in our pond.  It didn't matter whether I knew the man or not, it was just strange and unusual to be fishing this time of year.  As it turns out, I didn't know the man, and i didn't mind that he was fishing, but, wow, it was 16 degrees outside!  I watched for awhile as I drank my coffee.  I decided to get dressed and walk down to the pond.  The man saw me coming and got up.  He said "hi, is this your pond?"  Yes it is, but I don't mind if you fish here.  He said, thank you Sir.  I said my name is Daniel, what's yours.  He said, my name is Ray, Ray Jackson.  It's nice to meet you Ray, I said.  You must really love to fish to be out here in this cold.  Oh, no, I don't really like to fish.  He said, Daniel, I am a roofer by trade but this past summer I fell off a roof and hurt my back.  I tried many times to go back to work, but I just couldn't stand the pain.  My wife and children are just up the road, you know where you turn to go to the river.  I said yes I know where that is, I've been there several times.  Are you camping there in a motorhome or trailer?  No, he said, we are living in our car, and I have been trying to catch fish in that river but it seems there are none to be caught.  I saw your pond and stopped.  I got some big rocks and broke the ice.  I said, we have alot of big fish in this pond, I haven't fished in it for about 5 years.  It hadn't been long and Ray got a bite.  He reeled that fish in and it was the biggest fish ever caught in our pond.  It was a blue channel catfish and weighed 27.5 lbs.  We were both excited about that fish and stood there talking about it for awhile.  Then reality sat back in, and I said, you say that you are living in your car?  Yes, my brother gave me $150.00, but that is gone.  We are just taking it one day at a time.  I'm really starting to get nervous now, he said.  We drove up here from Baton Rouge, Louisianna.  When he told me this my heart dropped.  You see, over the years, my wife and I have allowed many people to move into our home.  We never charged them, it was just a way that we could help them get on their feet to get a place of their own.  The last couple with kids that moved into our home turned into a nightmare.  I had just come home from the hospital after having my second back surgery.  I was confined to a hospital bed in the living room.  This was one big mistake I made by letting this man in my home.  His name was was Fred, and he was always putting his wife down, and was drinking.  One day, for some unknown reason, he was waving a gun around outside, scaring our kids as well as his own.  There was nothing I could do at this time, as I couldn't get out of the bed by myself.  I told my son, Clayton, to go in my bedroom and get my gun, and not let anyone see him.  He did this and I put the gun under my blankets.  I told Fred that he and his family would have to move out.  He looked at me and laughed, and said, no, you can take it to court and have me evicted, because we're not leaving.  My blood was boiling, but I did my best not to show it.  I had Melody go into the bedroom and call the police.  She came back and told me that if the man hadn't threatened anyone, that there was nothing they could do to help, and I was really worried.  I needed to get help, so Melody helped me up from the bed and  got me to our bedroom.  I called all 3 of my brothers and my sisters husband.  I asked that they all show up at the house at 4:00pm and to bring fire power.  I told them if they saw the man outside, to wait at the end of the driveway until they were all together.  If they did not see him, they were to come on in the house unannounced.  David, my oldest brother was a golden glove boxer.  All of us as children had been trained to fight.  When they all got there it was instant relief for me.  Fred was sitting in the game room drinking his beer.  David was the first one in the house and the others were right behind him.  David said to Fred, get up!  Fred got up and said, what are you supposed to do, scare me?  David said, Daniel has asked you to leave their home. Fred then said, you don't look big enough to make me leave and I'm not going anywhere.  David did not reply, instead he hit Fred with a couple of combination punches and Fred was out cold.  My brothers then took Fred out to his car and put him in the passenger seat, and used 3 rolls of duct tape around his waist and the seat.  I talked to Freds wife and told her that I was sorry for this, and for her to make sure he doesn't try to come back.  Thank God we never heard from them again.  I promised my wife that we would not put ourselves into this type of situation again.  Now comes Ray, fishing in my pond.  I did not know what to do for Ray and his family.  I couldn't just let them live in their car, it was freezing outside.  Then I remembered that a friend of ours had a camping trailer.  I called Larry and explained the situation to him.  He told me that he would bring the trailer to our house.  We had a nice level place for it, and alot of our friends donated food and money to Ray and his family.  It was a wonderful feeling to see people helping others that need it.  All we had to do was run an extension cord and water hose to the trailer.  Ray told me that a friend of his in Louisianna had told him that there was a chicken plant in Danville.  I told him, yes there is and it is only 3 miles down the road.  Ray was hired the same day that he applied for the job.  Ray and his family lived in the camp trailer for only 3 months.  They were able to save enough money and rent a nice home in town.  They still live there to this day.  It's a good feeling to see this family grow, and that I didn't let a bad experience from before make me turn my back to peoples needs.

                                                       Daniel L Keith