Chapter 13: A Light On My Path

Page 19

Many preachers in the charismatic movement like to preach an empty cross; he is risen is the message. Yet God told me that you couldn’t even

come close to appreciating His Son Jesus until you realize that Jesus was actually a 100% human being on that cross. Jackie no longer belonged to me or anyone else on this earth; she now belonged to God and His Son. Indeed, Jesus came back for her according to his scripture promise. That

wasn’t the only ring symbolism. I, myself, never wore a wedding ring after the first year of our marriage.

My wedding ring was lost in Hong Kong harbor 38 years ago when I

was in the Navy. I pointed the funeral crowd to the pictures of my skinny body when I was in the Navy. I lost too much weight on my first Vietnam cruise and the ring was falling off my finger. I didn’t want to lose it, so I picked up another ring at the ship’s store. It was also too big for my finger, but I reckoned that I could reduce its size by cutting it and re-soldering it

back together. Our ship had arrived in Hong Kong harbor and I was on duty that night. That meant I could not go ashore and had some onboard duties.

I was in the middle of reducing the new ring in size when suddenly a

security drill was launched. I was one of the guards at a rocket launcher so I picked up a 45-caliber gun, its ammo and raced up to the launcher. Before I left the computer room where I worked, I placed BOTH of the rings on my wedding finger thinking that they would be safe with me during the drill.

Another shipmate arrived on the launcher deck with an M-1 rifle. I used to be part of a drill team earlier in the Navy. We traveled on weekends flipping Springfield rifles up in the air with bayonets attached doing various

stunts in tight formation among each other. I had amazed even myself that I could be coordinated enough to actually do all the rifle stunts. Reflecting back on those skills, I asked my shipmate for his M-1 rifle stating that I would show him some of our drill team’s aerial tricks. As I spun the rifle in

circles with my right hand, I came at it with my left hand to then make the stopping movement. The rifle did stop. However, as I swung my left hand fast to catch the rifle, both of the wedding rings went sailing off my finger over the ship and into the depths of Hong Kong’s dark brown harbor. At the

time, they dumped sewage in the harbor and it smelled. Good-bye rings!