Proof The Bible Is True

My wife, Arbutis, and I graduated high school in May 1960 and wed that June. We couldn’t wait to start our married life! We set up house in Knoxville, Tennessee, enjoyed a newlyweds’ summer and watched the fall leaves change together. But that winter, on our first Christmas Eve as husband and wife, I was finishing up a job three hours away.

 

Money was tight, and I’d picked up work in Nashville for a few days, installing a marble floor in a bank. The construction company had set me up in a motel room and lent me a truck for the trip. I woke early on Christmas Eve morning more anxious than ever to get back to her. I’d wrap up the job by afternoon and hit the road home. I packed my bag, checked out of the motel and sprinted through freezing rain to the truck in the parking lot. I sat behind the wheel, warming up the engine to defrost the windshield, thick with ice.

 

Thoughts of Arbutis were enough to warm me. She’d no doubt have a special dinner waiting when I walked in the door for a cozy Christmas Eve. As soon as the windshield was clear, I headed off to complete my flooring.

 

My project manager stopped me in the hallway sometime in the late morning. “Doug, the weather forecast doesn’t look good,” he said. “If you’re determined to get home for dinner tonight, you need to leave now.”

 

“I’ll be done in a couple hours,” I told him. I didn’t want to have to come back. Being 180 miles away from Arbutis felt like being across the world.

 

My project manager looked at me with concern. “The Cumberland Mountains lie between here and Knoxville. If you wait and the state closes the highway, you could get stranded.”

 

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