God In My Life (Part 1)

[V. Hahn]

Thanks, Robert!  What a story!!  God was with you, that's for sure.

[Robert Parker]

As a Methodist, I was offered a position about 400 miles away driving a truck for the church. I was a live in resident at the church institution. On the first Sunday i was there I wanted to go to church but it was 7 miles away. The only way I had to get there was to walk. A friend set off walking with me. After we had walked a mile or two, a man came along in a small truck and gave us a lift. I was astonished to find that this man was scheduled to preach that very day in the church we were going to. We did not know the preacher's name then but we discovered it was Murray Stone. Murray drove us home from the church, and on the way we made arrangements for him to visit me. On his visits he we simply talked and he always had a prayer with me and left me with some written material such as the Signs of the Times. I was impressed with what I read but we did not around to discussing much about Seventh-day Adventists---I was still a dyed in the wool Methodist. But Murray's friendship played a significant part in my later conversion to the truths of Seventh-day Adventist Church (as you will shortly see). I became married to Pat and we moved back to my home town.

Once I was back in my home church, I went, one Sunday, to preach in a little country church some miles away. My wife, my mother, and my young brother accompanied me. On our way home we decided to visit my Aunt. After some conversation, my Aunt disappeared and returned with a little book called The Marked Bible, which she thought I might be interested in because previously I had tried to convert her to Christianity. How did she come by this book? The way God works to bring about His purpose absolutely astounds and thrills me. While I had been away my Aunt had had a fire in their home and much of their possessions was destroyed. The Seventh-day Adventist Church Dorcas Society were quick to take them food and clothing, and the little book The Marked Bible, I consented to take it home and read it because I remembered that nice Seventh-day Adventist man called Murray Stone who had been so kind to me. That night I read the book from cover to cover and next day (Friday) my wife and I went to see the SDA minister Rex Cobbin. i asked him some questions and he answered each one to my satisfaction. As my wife and I walked home that Friday evening and the sun  set in the West, we began observing our first Sabbath of over 52 years of more Sabbaths.

By the grace of God no trials or false doctrines will move me from our foundational truth.

Be thou faithful unto death!

God bless you.

Robert

[Robert Parker]

Some of you will know me from sites like The Great Controversy. That's where I met Vicki Hahn. I had listened to some of Pastor OFill's sermons on Audio Verse and was impressed. That, along with Vicki's invitation, has led me to join Revival Sermons. It sure is a pretty site, and also looks versatile and informative. Now, a little about myself.

I was born on April the 9th, 1925 in a little hospital at Woodville (as suburb of our capital City Adelaide, in South Australia. I was Christened Robert Henry Parker. My father called me Robert and my mother always called me Bob. Australians tend to call me Bob while most Europeans address me as Robert. I like Robert!

I turned 84 this year and that got me contemplating. It struck me that 84 is 12X7. Twelve is God's kingdom number, and 7 is the number of perfection and completeness. I like to think that 12x7 indicates that the perfect God has accepted me into His kingdom through the precious spilled blood of my Savior Jesus Christ. So, 84 is significant to me. I have been blessed beyond description this year.

I was brought up a Methodist and My dear Mum (now passed on) made sure that I and my brothers and sisters attended Sunday School. I still remember those lovely Sunday School tickets we received with a memory verse and pretty flowers and animals etc. on them.

I went a bit wild as a teenager: smoking and drinking and gambling etc. Being in the Air Force during the war did not do much to change my ways but I always had a strong belief in God and a sharp conscience towards Him. I joined the Royal Australian Air Force when I was 18. In due course I was posted to remote radar station in Northern Australia. Something happened to me there that has made a big impact on life. Another man and I became lost in remote bush country without food or water for two days and three nights in scorching temperature by day and really cold at night. I will tell you the full story at a later time, but if it had not been for prayer and a miracle on the third night we would have perished for sure. That experience has stayed with me for the rest of my life.

In my twenties, I was lying on my bed one Sunday morning when my mother came into my room and said: "Are you coming to church with me Bob?" I declined and tried to doze off to sleep again when a voice distinctly said to me, "Get up and go now Bob." Without a moment's thought I got up and went. The sermon I have forgotten, but the preacher said that the leading Methodist evangelist in Australia would be preaching that night in the nearby city. I was curious and went to that service. Praise God as I cry in remembrance of that blessed night. I gave my heart to the Lord.

(Continued in part 2).

[Robert Parker]

In my second post relating God's leading in my life, I told you of my position with the Methodist Church at Kuitpo Colony in the Adelaide Hills. It was while I was here that the Lord led me to my wife when I was 32 years of age.

Kuitpo Colony was about an hour or so within driving distance of Adelaide, Twice a week it was my privilege and duty to drive the supply truck to the City. I had to deliver flowerpots (which we manufactured at the Colony) to the various nurseries in Adelaide. That accomplished, I would take on board supplies of various kinds to take back to the Colony. I also had passengers to take with me. These were poor recovering alcoholics, or psychologically disturbed men on leave from various mental asylums. Mostly they could be trusted on their own but at times some of them would become violent.

About halfway on our journey home I would stop at a little country town called Hackham for refreshments. The place I went into for refreshments was called "The Welcome Inn." I later learned that my future wife had given the little delicatessen this name when she was a teenager (her people owned the deli). My poor men passengers had to stay outside in the back of the truck while I went inside for a cuppa. On one particular occasion I was served my cup of tea (I was then a Methodist without the health message) by a cute little dark haired girl. I immediately felt attracted to her and stayed there drinking about a dozen cups of tea just so that I could have more time in her presence. Of course, eventually I had to leave but this image of that attractive girl stayed with me. When we arrived back at the Colony, I felt impressed to ring the Welcome Inn. Fortunately, this lovely girl answered the phone (later I found out that her name was Patricia Dawn). I asked her if she had a boyfriend and she said "Yes." I was disappointed but was not to know that she was fibbing at the time. Still, I was not content to leave her out of my life, and so I started to write to her. telling her how much I was attracted to her. She wrote back and I was very passionate in my letters to her. She wrote every day without fail.

Patricia informed me that her foster father kept her under a tight rein and that she was not allowed to go out with men (this was traumatic for a 22 year old girl). One day, as I drove to the city, I stopped at the Welcome Inn and sent in a passenger I had with me to see if the coast was clear for me to go in. He came back and said that Pat was alone in the shop so I went in there. I stole a little kiss from her over the counter, and our relationship was sealed. This was only the second time I had personally met her. After that we had no contact except by letter. It was fortunate that Patricia had the duty of sorting the mail (they operated the Post Office there) so things went along quietly for awhile. I can't tell you all the details at present, but the situation at her home was like her being in jail. She had to sneak out late at night to meet me and we spent a short while together in the car before she had to go back to her bed. I kept telling her that she would have to leave home if she wanted to be with me, but she was so afraid. As I look back, I can see the hand of God in subsequent events.

(Continued in Part 2).

[Robert Parker]

Patricia could not leave home and I continued to tell her that she would have to take courage and do so or our relationship would have to be over. We kept writing however, until one day the letters stopped coming. Then, out of the blue, Pat's foster father turned up at the Colony. He had a note written by Pat telling me that she did not want me to write any more. or to see me again. I was stunned and bewildered but I felt strangely calm. I had had girl friends before and they had all ended in parting. At these partings I had always previously felt that the world had come to an end and I was devastated. With Patricia however, it was different. God put peace in my heart and I just turned everything over to Him feeling assured that His will would be done and I would accept it.

Months went by, and then something incredible happened. No one can tell me that our Lord does not see all things, and does not plan all things for the best outcome. One night, I was in charge of the flower pot manufacturing kiln, and I sat alone in the office when the phone rang. Who should it but Patricia? "Are you still interested in me"? that dear girl asked. I was temporarily stunned and did not know what to say. Eventually I said that I did not know as I thought she had written that note telling me that she did not want to see me again. and I now was keeping company with another girl. Then she told me that her foster father had forced her to write that letter. He had a revolver in his possession and threatened her if she refused to write the letter. The day she rang me she had gone to the city with her foster father to do some shopping. It was arranged that she would go and do what she had to do and then would meet him to go home later in the afternoon. Instead she went to the Child Welfare Office and told them her story. They took her to a woman's retreat and she rang me from there.

Patricia begged me to come to where she was staying and to talk about it. That is what I did and I realized that I loved her. There is much more to this story that I cannot tell you right now, but the situation was so complex that we decided to get married in the Registry office and I took her back to my parent's home in Port Lincoln. My darling Patricia does not know who her father was, but we managed to track down her mother who had died when Patrician was 2 years old. She spent some time in a baby's home until she was fostered out at about four years of age. Patricia vaguely remembers her mother but all she has of her is a dilapidated photo. Patricia's foster father sexually abused her for nine years and got away with it. The night that Patricia rang me she had nothing whatsoever to her name except the clothes she stood up in and a little bit of money in the bank.

We have now been together for 54 years and have five children. What a wonderful God given wife and mother Patricia has turned out to be. Patricia was Baptist and I was Methodist when we were married, but that same year we became Seventh-day Adventists; what a great wedding present! Neither of us really knew each other when we got married, but our wonderful God has taken care of that and given us His blessings. I still cry on occasions when I meditate on Patricia's lonely mistreated life before I met her. Thank you Lord for bringing this girl to me. I LOVE HER!

Robert

[newbie]

Praise the Lord Robert for such a wonderful life and family!    We are to expect tribulations but all for our own good but in the midst of these God will give us blessings beyond our wildest dreams.