Challenging the Impossible

Chapter 3

TRAGEDIES AND MIRACLES

How blessed I was to be raised in a Christian home! Unlike so many today, many blessings were just handed down to me through my Christian heritage.  However, I had to have my own experiences and my own walk.   I had a brother, Raymond Doyle Fauss, eight years older than me.  Buddy, as we called him, and I both had October birthdays four days apart.

On my 13^th birthday, Buddy came home from Southwestern Bible Institute with his wife of only two months.   He had a missionary call on his life for Latin America and was in his third year of preparation.  Our family had always enjoyed celebrating our joint birthdays.  After a wonderful Sunday meal, I went to the neighborhood park and when I returned, He and his wife, Sue had already left to go back to the college. I remember feeling, “Oh, I did not even get to tell him goodbye.”  “What if something happens?  Four days later at 5:00 A.M. on Thursday morning, our phone rang and I remember my mother saying, “Has he been injured?  Is he dead? “  I jumped out of bed.  My mother had the phone on her chest and was weeping.  Actually, five men had been killed in an automobile collision as they were returning from the night shift at an airplane factory in Grand Prairie, Texas.  Three were college students and three more were seriously injured.   Buddy had died on his 21^st birthday as his wife and the wives of the other students in the car had prepared a surprise birthday party waiting for their arrival.  My sister and brother-in-law soon arrived (Pastor Artie and Evadene Jones) and we left in shock for Waxahachie and Dallas to pick out the casket and plan a funeral.  Do you believe children experience grief?  Many times during a tragedy the pain and grief of children are forgotten, but oh, believe me, how it hurt!  It seemed that my life had ended. I remember someone telling me to stop crying because my mother was going to have a nervous breakdown and it would be my fault.  At the funeral, well-meaning people would ask me, “Are you going to take his place?”  I would nod, “Yes”, but I did not realize the long lasting effect of that reply.

              Before this tragedy, with great confidence I had sung in church, and I had never been aware of any feeling of insecurity.  In the sixth grade, I won the school election and became President of the Student Council and I had served with total confidence. I had led the student assemblies in front of the entire school.  The accident happened at the beginning of my seventh grade.  I entered a shell and became an introvert fearful of my peers.  Nobody ever tried to counsel me.  As I entered high school, the class chose me as the quietest boy in the choir. It hurt!  I did not want that label.  Change came slowly.  The grocery store job helped some, because I had to talk to people.  The loving support of Charlotte, the opening of our own business, and a self-esteem that can come only from God took my emotional injuries and turned them into a blessing. You may ask, “How can I overcome an inferiority complex and the insecurities in my life?”       You do not really need self -confidence, but Christ confidence.  Paul said, [I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 34:13)]. You must stop believing the lies of the devil.

            The year was 1963, our first year in business.  As a young man of 22, prosperity was flowing but also came doubts and questions.  I thought, "Maybe my parents are wrong, and maybe there isn't a God.”  My thoughts continued, "The Catholics seem so devout; maybe, I need to change churches.  Then, it happened.

            My father called me at work and he said, "Joe, you need to come to the hospital," I said, “Daddy, what has happened?  He said, "Just come to the hospital, Jody has been run over by a car."  I said, “Run over? What?  What part of his body?”  Dad told me that the car had run over Jody’s head.  I could only imagine that the head of my little three-year boy was smashed.  Not feeling I could safely drive, I called the Tyler police to take me to the hospital.  Waiting and pacing the parking lot, I looked up and said, "God, if you will save my son's life, I will never doubt you again.”  Soon the police arrived and we sped toward the hospital.  Charlotte was already there.  Jody was in the emergency room.  We waited.  Then the doctor walked out with a very stern face.  Now, I had been around and I had enough experience to know what that could mean.  “Who are Mr. and Mrs. Fauss?" the doctor asked.  We stood up expecting to hear him say, “I am so sorry; I've done all I could do”.   But instead the doctor said, "This is a miracle.  There is not one bone broken."  We were able to take him home in two days with no brain damage.  God had intervened and given us a miracle. The Lord did the miraculous in my early days just to show me how He could move in and intervene with His power.  You could see the tire marks on Jody’s shirt and the tire tread marks embedded in his chest.  There is no earthly reason how he could have lived, except that our great God in His majestic wisdom and power had chosen to save Jody’s life. Making a vow to God is serious business.  I know that the vow that I had made to Charlotte at our wedding was a vow to God.  But, I believe that the vow made to God the night of Jody’s accident was the beginning of my call to His work.  In fact, not only did I say I'll never doubt you again, but I said, “Lord, I will serve you forever” and I meant it.  I did not know where that commitment would lead us, but I just feel that there is no way that I would ever go back on God.  We sing that song, “I'll never forsake Him”.  I think I can truly say that because it’s that strong in my heart.  Fail Him? Disappoint Him?  Yes, but not forsake Him because He revealed His power to me and He saved my son's life that day. You may ask, “Where is God when tragedy strikes?” He is fully aware and present.  He does not always interfere with natural law. He made the sun stand still for Joshua, but if He knows every sparrow that falls to the ground, then He certainly has to make a decision to intervene or not.  He always chooses for our highest good!  God has no surprises!

            As God continued to speak to me, I began to see His Word come alive in my heart.  I found a verse in the Book of John that spoke right to me:

[You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. (John 15:16)]

            Here I was, much fulfilled as a young successful businessman, believing that we were flowing in God’s will, but in that morning devotional time with God, I was hearing that He had already chosen me and that He had even already ordained me to take a special journey with Him.  Would I be willing to give it all up and take a different road leading into the unknown?  Would I be willing to invade the impossible?

            Then on a Sunday afternoon, I was reading a poem in the Christian publication that had been distributed at our Sunday School class.  It spoke to me:

A man went down and someone said,

“That’s where the rascal ought to be.”

But, never offered him a bed, nor gave him water, bread, or tea,

Neither did they pray a prayer in his behalf

But plunged in him a deeper dart

By saying, “He is a worthless chaff”.

But, still another said, He is a precious soul.

I’ll help him all I can

To rise in life and reach a goal.

Then on bended knees he wept and cried because He’d fallen low,

Till God in Heaven heard and made his life to shine and glow.

                                                                                                       Author Unknown

On that very day, I made a decision to try to become the one who would take these precious fallen souls into the love of Jesus.

Destiny Was In My Spirit And I Was About To Begin To Dream The Dreams Of God.

            I had accepted the position of being President of the Youth Group at our local church.  Today, I would have been called the Youth Pastor.  An evangelist challenged our youth group to learn a soul-winning plan.  It was a script using the Bible scriptures in the Book of Romans to lead a person to Christ.  As their leader, I knew I had to set the example by memorizing it, but I could not imagine using it.  As I would go from store to store in my pick-up truck, with the script beside me, I actually began to learn the lines.  I thought, “What am I going to do with this?  Am I going to walk up to someone and just start reciting this?  Yet, it seemed that destiny was in my spirit and that I was about to begin to dream the dreams of God. 

            Going to my store before church on the next Sunday morning, I never knew what God had arranged for me.  As I was gazing out into the parking lot, a young man walking up the street approached the store.  An inner voice impressed me, “He is coming into the store and I want you to share the message of Jesus with him.”  He walked up to our parking lot and abruptly turned and walked right into the store.  My heart began to beat very rapidly.  He walked up to the counter and about six other customers came up at the same time.  I waited on the young man and turned around to wait on the others.  When I turned back around, he was walking back toward the street.  Feeling that I had failed God, I prayed, “Lord, when the employees arrive, I will go and try to find him.”  I took the Gideon Bible from the drawer and began to put paper clips at the scripture sites in order to find them quickly.  An employee arrived five minutes early and I jumped into my truck and drove down the street.  I thought, “I will go as far as Loop 323 and if I don’t find him, I will turn around and go back for the family and take them to church.”  When I approached the Loop, I felt an urge, “Go on!”  I continued north on Highway 69 looking for that young man.  I crossed a bridge and as the road curved a bit, I saw him walking up the next hill holding his jacket across his back.  I pulled over and stopped.  He recognized me and smiled.  ”I am Joe! Get in!” The hitchhiker’s name was James.  We continued down the highway and I said to him, “Will you go to church with me today?”  James answered, “No, I better not.”  Then I said, “If you will go to church with me, I will buy your dinner and bring you back to the highway.”  My, what a sacrifice!  We owned the restaurant.  It is truly amazing what Christians will do instead of just telling people the way of salvation.  He responded, “Well, you see, I have been in jail all week and I just got out this morning.  My family does not know where I am.”  I knew then that God had set me up.  I drove about 10 miles further.  As we were approaching Interstate 20, I pulled over to let him out. Then I said, “James, before you go, could I share something with you?”  He said, “Okay”.

I then opened my Gideon Bible and said,

[In Romans 3:23, the Bible says that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.]  This means that everyone has sinned, even you.

Romans 6:23 says that [the wages of sin is death.]  Just as a man works on a job and receives wages, when you sin, you earn spiritual wages.  You earn death. That is a spiritual death, an eternal separation from God.

Wow! It was no memorized script.  It was flowing out of me with the anointing power of the Holy Spirit.  I continued to tell him about the love of God and the work of Jesus Christ on the cross.  I then came to the last part:

1 John 1:9 tells us that [if we will confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.]  Now, let’s look at Revelation 3:20, [Behold, I stand at the door and knock.  If any man will hear My voice and open the door, I will come in and sup with him and he will Me.]

            I looked right in his face and saw tears beginning to flow down his cheeks.  I said, “James, do you want to answer that door and say, “Jesus, come into my life?”  He said, “I sure do!”  We prayed together and I saw a genuine repentance.  He then looked up with a wonderful smile on his face and said something to me that showed me my destiny and changed my life.  “I am 18 years old and you are the first person in my life who has ever talked to me about God.” Can you imagine that even in America there are people who are just waiting for someone to show them the way to salvation?   I was suddenly aware that there were many Jameses, Johnnys, Bettys, and Susies who would never be reached for Jesus if I did not show them the way.  I could not let James get out of the truck yet.  I actually took the feeder ramp to I-20 and headed west towards Dallas sharing with him all the way all I knew about prayer, the Word, and growing as a Christian.  The next exit was Highway 849.  I pulled off and we prayed again together and I prayed for him to get a good ride on to his home in Wiley, Texas.  I realized that day that I had found my destiny.  I could not replace my brother or be anyone else.  I could not be what anyone else wanted me to be.  God had a specific plan for my life that nobody else could fulfill it but me.

            Charlotte was very worried because I was so late. We rushed to the church and on to my class where the students were waiting.  Teaching the class that morning was very difficult because I was so excited.  At the morning worship service, I asked the pastor, Harold Hubbard,  if I could share a testimony.  As I related my story, a lady got up from her seat and headed to the altar to accept the Lord.  The story also affected our own boys. By this time, we had added two more boys to the Fauss family.  Randy was a baby, Andy was two, Milton was six and Jody was eight.  They grew up remembering our prayers for James Bostick in Wiley, Texas.  All we could do was pray.  I had forgotten to get an address or phone number from him.  I could only pray for a “Holy Ghost Follow-Up”. 

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