Friday, September 9, 2011

Rain, Rain, Please

http://www.guideposts.org/mysterious-ways/mysterious-ways-god-puts-his-signature-farmers-corn-crop

The Cornfield of Dreams

A farmer's prayer for rain was answered in the most mysterious way...

By Paul Geisbert, Frederick, Maryland

In this article:

As appeared in

Sometimes, when I get halfway through telling about how God put His signature on my uncle's corn crop, a few people get a kind of skeptical look on their faces.

This uncle, Roger H. Geisbert, had a small farm in Frederick County, Maryland. Back in 1964 — he was about 76 at the time — a fierce drought killed his hay, barley and wheat crops. He was desperate to save the corn so he could feed his little herd of purebred milking shorthorn cattle. The cornstalks were firing — drying clear up to the tassel — and when he saw that, Uncle Roger dropped to his knees right there in the cornfield and asked God to send rain. When he finished praying, he said, "Now, God, show me You heard my prayer." Then he got up and walked back toward the house.

Before he even got to the porch, a beautiful freshening rain was falling — out of a sky that was nearly cloudless — and the very next day there was a heavy, soaking rain, enough to grain out the ears of corn. Uncle Roger knelt and thanked God for answering his prayer.

Coincidence? Maybe. But don't decide till you hear the rest of the story.

Uncle Roger's crop matured very nicely. He tied the bucks, and as the corn ripened, he went to cutting it and then to the shucking. He was nearly finished — and he almost tossed it onto the pile without noticing — when he found the sign from God that he'd requested. It is an object that he later had framed and that I treasure to this day — a beautiful ear of corn, all golden kernels except for the scarlet ones... forming a neat and perfect cross.

Cross on the Corn

The picture above shows that there are in fact 21 kernels forming the cross on the corncob raised by Paul Geisbert's late uncle. As his Uncle Roger did, Paul spent his working days as a farmer. He and his wife Fern retired, but Paul kept busy as a Christian lay speaker and told us that he's shared his corncob story with 29 churches, 10 senior citizen groups, two Grange meetings, one Lion's Club and many kin and acquaintances.