Pass it on!
In the summer of 1965, the entire family had gathered for a family reunion in
Plant City, Florida. At 2:00 A.M., my grandmother woke everyone, and
started issuing orders to get empty Coke bottles, corks and blank paper
ready. “I’ve received a message from God,” she said. “People must hear his
word.” She started writing verses on the paper, while all of the grandchildren
bottled and corked the passages.
That morning, everyone drove to Cocoa Beach and deposited over 200
bottles into the surf.
Over the years, people wrote, called and visited my grandmother, always
thanking her for the scripture. She died in November 1974. In December of
1974, the last letter arrived and it stated:
Dear Mrs. Gause,
I’m writing this letter to you by candlelight.
We no longer have eIectricity on the farm. My husband was killed in the fall.
He left 11 children and myself behind. They’re all under the age of 14.
The bank is foreclosing, there’s one loaf of bread left, there’s snow on the
ground, Christmas is two weeks away. I prayed to the Lord to forgive me,
before I went to the river to drown myself. It ’s been frozen over for weeks
now. I had to break the ice, and as I did, a Coke bottle floated up. I opened
it, and with tears and trembling hands, I read about hope.
“But for him who is joined to all the living there is hope, for a living dog is
better than a dead lion.”
You went on to reference other scriptures: Hebrew 7:19, 6:18, John 3:3. I
came home and read my Bible, and now I’m thanking God for the message.
