My earliest remembrance of an event in my life was to set the tone for the rest of my life. Most homes have a road or street nearby, and every parent with a toddler worries about their little one slipping away into the path of a vehicle. We lived at 103 Knox St., and Knox Street was just a few steps from the front door. My gift in life was a good pair of legs. By two years of age I had already totally destroyed my baby bed. I don't know exactly how old I was, but I place this event at somewhere around my 3rd year. The street was all tore up by construction work, and trucks, graders, etc. were roaring around just outside the door. This was quite impressive to a little guy, and one day as I watched out the door in fascination, my Mom took note. I have a vivid recollection of the scene. The door faced west and Mom was to the north and east side of me. Mom was quite short, but I was looking way up at her. She animated her words by shaking her finger.
"Don't you go out in that street! If you go out in that street, you'll get run over and you'll get killed!"
Well, I had just learned what it meant to die, because I was looking over my brothers shoulder as he read a comic book. The cowboy's horse had been shot and was laying on the ground.
"Why is the horse laying on the ground?" I asked.
"It got killed. It's dead." He answered.
"What is...killed...dead...mean?" I replied.
"That means he just lays there. He's not alive anymore." My brother explained.
I don't know why he bothered to answer me. I harassed him some more until I somehow learned an early concept of death. So when Mom pronounced this as the consequence of a dash out where the action was, I had something to contemplate.
I had a special place where I would go and sit when there was a thunderstorm or something, so thats where I sat and thought this through.
"Here I am...I've just begun my life, and now I'm going to die? At least Mom is worried that I am." It just didn't make sense.
It's so easy for God to work in the heart of a small child. It was all so natural that it was years before I realized a special miracle was involved, for I was much too young for such profound reasoning, and so it was that while in deep contemplation as to my life ending before it hardly began, God spoke to my heart. It wasn't an audible voice, but it was as clear as anything I've ever heard.
"God has put you in this world for a purpose. You don't have to worry about death. You 'can't' die until God's purpose is fulfilled in your life."
Crystal clear concepts, such as could hardly be taught to an adult, were imparted to my child heart. I understood who God is, the nature of His thoughts toward us, and that He transcended all things, and all purpose. I can never remember learning these things, for I have known them from the time I knew anything. So, I accepted what was spoken to my heart that day with perfect knowledge of its validity. I was relieved of my fears and faced the future in peace. I was also perfectly ignorant that I understood things that others were in darkness of, or struggled with.