Acts 26:18 To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.

His name was James the same as mine. He was as country as they come and about 35 years old and was blind in one eye. It seems that he had traveled north from his home in the Appalachian Mountains at an early age to find work. While working in one of our northern cities he was accidentally blinded in one eye and as a result he received a cash settlement and returned home to build a house and find work that was then available in his area.

When I meet him he was the father of seven children, all boys except for one girl. I was a bi-vocational pastor of a small mountain church that was meeting in an old one room school house, in East Tennessee. My wife and I had tried hard to get folks saved and he was the very first of many that came to Christ during our tenure at that place.

He had attended a couple of service after our visits and encouragement. You know God knew exactly what he was doing when He put me there, for I was a young unlearned preacher boy with very little wisdom, but I had a heart that was on fire for souls.

Being raised on a sharecroppers farm during the 50’s in eastern North Carolina. I fell right in place with those plain country folks. I was brought up around farm animals and old fashion country ways of doing things. As a result of this James asked me to help him with some hogs he needed to work with and I readily agreed along with another couple of men that were his neighbors. While we were attending to the needs of the pigs, his registered boar broke out of his enclosure and attacked us. There was a carpenter’s hammer hanging on the fence just within arms reach and I grabbed it and attempted to hit the hog on his snout and thus stop the attack. Well folks I am a big man and am pretty strong, and I missed the hogs snout, but I hit a spot directly between his eyes and he dropped as if a Mack trunk had hit him!

Now bear in mind that James was not saved at this time and thank the Lord I was young enough to believe God would do anything I asked. By the way after almost forty years I still believe that!

He and several other neighbors were there and they noted that the hog appeared dead! This was an expensive animal, and the men started to try to revive him and as I watched as their attempts seemed futile and I began to worry, not about the man being angry over the death of his hog, but I began to think what if Satan uses this somehow to cause this man to stop coming to church.

I was standing behind the men over in the corner of the hog house just a few feet from where the hog lay. I bowed my head and silently ask the Lord to raise this hog up and not let this cause James to stop coming to church. Immediately, just as one of the farmers opened his knife to bleed the animal in preparation to butchering, the hog grunted and jumped to his feet and ran out the door of the barn and back into the pasture.

Now wait a minute, the story is not over, this happened on Saturday and the next day James came forward to receive Christ as Saviour in the morning service and remained faithful to Christ as long as I knew him.

Here is the humorous point that closes this true story. A few days later I stopped by the home of my first convert to talk with him about being baptized and joining the church. When I arrived he was out at the fence of the hog pasture feeding the hogs. There was a about a dozen hogs, mostly sows and this one boar hog. As I approached and began to speak with James the boar immediately backed out of the bunch of hogs and trotted across the pasture away from us and turned to watch.

James stood for a moment as if in deep thought and then said in his hillbilly way of speaking, “Preacher you done made a believer out of me and my ole hog!”

As humorous as the circumstances where around this first conversion in my ministry, I am thankful that God has made many more believers and I did not have to hit or pray for hogs.

Some of my preacher friend learned of this story and they have given me a good ribbing ever since, but they cannot deny that James became a Christian and that his influence brought many more to our little mountain church.

God bless each of you that read this and remember God answers prayers.

Mark 11:24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

James Avery jamesaveryfwb@embarqmail.com