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Read more about Sam at my genealogy section. But the memory could have come in handy when I was bleeding out a liter or so, causing the first responders to hustle. In my genealogy section, I say: At the McCARLEY family reunion in June of 1991, Ray ELLIOTT and Sam BREEDLOVE were talking about their grandfather, Sam RICHARDS, and the following dialogue took place: Ray: Our grandfather Sam RICHARDS was a man of great faith and he could take fire from a burn if any one was burned and also he could stop bleeding. He could stop bleeding in animals and in human beings and used passages of scripture from the Old Testament. Now to take fire from burns he would recite this (hope I can remember it): "Fire, I beseech thee in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost to come out." and he'd say it again: "Fire, I beseech thee in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost to come out." and the third time he'd change it just a little: "Fire, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost I beseech thee to come out." Now to stop bleeding he would use this incantation I guess you'd call it: "As I walked by thee and saw thee polluted in thy own blood yea I said unto them let thee in thine own blood live." And he said this three times. "As I walked by thee and saw thee polluted in thy own blood yea I said unto them let thee in thine own blood live. As I walked by thee and saw thee polluted in thy own blood yea I said unto them let thee in thine own blood live." and the bleeding would stop. SAM: That's true! RAY: A neighbor of theirs who lived quite some distance from them had a mule that ran into a wire fence, a barbed wire fence and cut his shoulder severely and it was bleeding to death, and they called our granddaddy and told him where the wound was and he made this incantation and the bleeding stopped almost at the moment. They had their watches on either end and by the time our grandfather had finished saying these words, the people at the place where the mule was said that the bleeding stopped. Ray and the others around continued talking in conversation I didn't record word for word, and he was asked to recite the blessing Sam RICHARDS always used, which he said was, "Our dear Heavenly Father, we thank thee for these and all other blessings in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord." I've thought about Sam Richards and my father's "That's true," a great deal since 1991. I've had a persistent thought - conviction? - that I might have healing as a gift. Since I'll spend the next year or so recuperating and mending nerves and tendons, perhaps I'll find out or draw closer to an understanding and acceptance of whatever that truth is. Meanwhile, I'll share a poem of mine in From the Porch Swing - Memories of our Grandparents and be crass enough to suggest you support the book, one of five finalists as the About.com Readers' Choice Award as 2012 Best Grandparenting Book. A Modicum of Faith Barbara B. Rollins Newborn as Shiloh roiled, Sam modeled wisdom, grace — an unpretentious man. They trekked to Arkansas then on, set up a church and scattered seed; a place in Texas dawned a home, a farm from faith and brawn. Sam served and sowed from youth through eighty years of love, attuned to all of life, revered for prayers he spoke. His unobtrusive faith invoked response above the ken of prouder men while healing hurting folk. Sam melded foot and severed toe, stanched blood with words and healed a distant mule by speaking through a phone. Example etched in children trust that undergirds, and evenings he would sing, a radiant baritone. A simple righteous man, a man I never knew — Pacific battles raged as Sam progressed in peace, a saint. And now Sam’s grandson’s daughter finds it true that mountain-moving faith exists and shall not cease. Share | posted by Barbara Rollins @ 9:28 PM 152 Comments: Post a Comment Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom] << Home