My Great Grandfather Harris

As I wrote about Miracles yesterday, I thought more on examples of true Miracles.

My Great Grandfather Harris was quite a man, he lived much of his life in Shirley, Indiana.
He was well know in town, as Happy Harris, and Happy he was.

Unfortunately much of notoriety was not one based on admiration. He was the town drunk.
He served in the Spanish American war, and traveled to Philippines, as well as Hawaii during his service. He could play almost any stringed instrument quite well, and often played for his drinks.

He had a little dog, he loved that dog, I did not think much of the dog, nipped at my heels as a very young child, the dog out lived him, but I doubt that the dog drank.

My Great Grandmother was a wonderful lady and I'm sure struggled with Happy's drinking.

The town taverns were his hangouts. But after many years of drinking, he found himself at home in the early evening, haven fallen asleep.

My Great Grandmother left and went to a special evening church service just a few steps from the house.

Happy awoke, startled by the music that drifted into his room. He got up to check out where it was coming from, and ended up in a church less than 1/2 a block from home.

That night changed Happy life forever. He heard the old pastor tell about the love of Jesus, and the forgiveness of sin, which I'm sure he knew had accumulated more than a few.

That night he accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Savior.

Knowing who Happy was, it would have been easy to see the transformation in his life, as so they did.

He never drank alcohol again. The taverns lost a good customer that night. A few days or weeks later Happy was walking past one of his old hangouts, and the owner said Happy come on in and have one, and Happy said no, I won't be back. And he wasn't. It was even reported that his former drinking buddies placing bets on how long he would last, forever is a long shot but he made it.

You see not only could others see the transformation in him, he could tell that he wasn't the same man any more.

I share this story with you to say, this is not the natural order of life, most who have fallen into a life of drink never stop until their liver stops them.

My father shared this story recently and though I had heard it before, it seems like this is a wonderful plan that God has for our redemption.