Message from grave leaves question unanswered: A harvest tale

Who has ears to hear, let them hear

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The German Lutheran Cemetery near Van Meter was the scene of paranormal experience.

As the Halloween season comes near, it reminds us of scary stories or strange events that have happened to us. I have heard from residents and co-workers in the places where I have worked claim they have seen weird things at these locations, particularly late at night.

In 2009 I heard several of these claims. Some co-workers will even tell of “ghosts” or other weird phenomena that they claim to have experienced in their homes or other places of employment. I have even seen a picture of a ghost cat that is claimed to reside in a house on W. Second Street in Perry.

ouijaOther staff have told me about bad experiences with Ouija Boards or about awful experiences experimenting with witchcraft when they were younger.

To set the record straight, I have never seen a ghost, UFO or a Big Foot. A few days ago, I thought I saw a Bigfoot when I was looking out the front window of Pegasus. It turned out to be someone visiting the local watering hole close to Pegasus.

I have never used an Ouija Board, tarot cards, participated in a séance, played the game Bloody Mary, tried Charlie, Charlie, Can We Play? or participated in anything else of that nature.

Crystal_Project_magic8ballAs I think about it, my cousin Deb did used to have a Magic 8 Ball into which you were supposed to ask questions into the number 8 and then turn it over for the answer. Also for 49 years I have been a regular viewer of the television program “Bewitched.”

Maybe I am corrupted more that I had first thought.

As I recall, the Bible does mention some paranormal issues. In 1 Samuel, King Saul tricks a witch into conjuring up the spirit of Samuel. In Daniel, fingers of a hand appear and write on the plaster wall to the horror of the king. In Matthew, Elijah and Moses, who are long ago deceased, appear to Jesus and Peter. In Matthew, Mark and Luke, there are accounts of Jesus, Paul and another unnamed man casting out demons.

The_Witch_of_Endor_(William_Blake)_2
“The Witch of Endor” by William Blake

My experience is not quite as scary or dramatic as those mentioned above but is still unusual. My event started out innocently enough and occurred on Sunday, Aug. 2, 2009, around 7:30 in the evening. The location was the German Lutheran Cemetery next to Trinity Lutheran Church in Van Meter, Iowa.

At that time, I was serving in the capacity of secretary of the Dallas-Madison County Chapter of Thrivent. Each month we would travel to different locations that were part of our territory for the Thrivent Board for our meetings. Generally we met in a church, which was the case for this month.

When the meeting was over, I thought that I would look around the cemetery. I had no idea who was buried there.

In previous years, there was a family with three members who, when they died, left some generous gifts to an organization that I was associated with. In fact, at that time the last member of this family had just passed away. The organization was named in the will with a generous amount, which we were notified would take quite some time to go through probate. This takes about a year.

The German Lutheran Cemetery near Van Meter
The German Lutheran Cemetery near Van Meter

As stated before, I did not know who was buried in this cemetery. I walked into the cemetery and stopped in the middle of the narrow road facing east. As I looked down, I saw one of the names of the family who had left us a gift.

I thought to myself, “I wonder where another of the family is?”

I turned to my right, and there was that person who I was thinking about a little distance away.

I thought again, “I wonder where the third person is?”

I happened to turn around to the right again, and across the road a ways down was the third person who I was thinking about.

At the time, I did not think much about it. I looked around some more and did not recognize any of the other names. I got into my car and started for home.

As I was leaving, I said in my mind, “Thank you, ladies, for remembering us.”

The next Monday, I went to work, and I mentioned to a couple of my co-workers how I had run across the graves of these three people and how I thought it was strange that I just walked up to and stopped in front of one of them and happened to just look at the other two.

On the following day, the organization received a check in the mail for just over $20,000 from this family, which was not part of the previously named will.

This event will always seem unusual to me. Some people will say that this experience was just a coincidence. Others may say that God was using these three people and their grave locations to remind me to be thankful for the kindness of other people.

If you are ever around ThePerryNews.com Sports Editor Jeff Webster, you know that he is a devout Catholic. He has discussed with me that one aspect of the Catholic faith is that those already in Heaven can pray for you just as a person on earth can. Maybe in this regard this family was reaching out to me to let me know that they are still praying for us and caring about our work.

I guess it is a question that will never be fully answered here on earth.

To me, God used these three to remind me of their kindness and generosity. It is a rule that we all need to follow. The act is not even about the money. It is about caring and concern. No matter what you end up believing about this event, know two things: It is true, and for me it was a “message from the grave.”

"Belshazzar's Feast" by Rembrandt
“Belshazzar’s Feast” by Rembrandt

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