Snapshots of God’s Caring Presence
Heartwarming and Inspirational Short Stories
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My Friend Jose, God, and the Rolling Mill Whenever I wash and dry my hands, the inside of my right wrist becomes visible to me as does the scar that remains there from the deep cut across that wrist. The flashback is immediate as is the vivid memory of my friend Jose and God’s caring presence. Jose and I met while members of the labor gang in the rolling mill at Inland Steel. We soon developed the habit of having lunch together on the loading dock, he with his tacos and tamales and me with my baloney and mustard sandwiches. Most days we worked together. Then one day I was assigned away from the labor gang and Jose. My assignment was at the other end of the rolling mill where we never worked. Specifically, I was assigned to work alone in front of a stack of thin-grade steel sheets that were about four feet square. I was to lift one sheet at a time, hold the sheet up to a light and look for pin holes. Heavy duty gloves and arm guards were essential, for the sheets were thin and sharp. Sheets with pin holes went on a stack to my left and those without pin holes on the stack to my right. After two hours you developed a rhythm, after four hours boredom set in, and after six hours, a new stack of steel sheets arrived. It was about ten a.m. in the morning. The rhythm portion of the day was ending and I was moving toward boredom. Then I heard an intense, loud sound of something like massive steel- on-steel materials falling. The wall of steel sheets in front of me and the steel barrier behind the sheets were being crushed and strewn about like confetti. I remember being struck then all went black. The next thing I remembered was the smiling face of Jose. “You will be OK. God sent me.” I turned my head and could see blood everywhere. I must have looked frightened for Jose then said. “Do not be afraid, I stopped the bleeding. God sent me.” I passed out again. Later that day in the clinic I learned that a large fork lift had backed into piles of steel, pushing those piles into the steel sheets and my work area. The accident resulted in a head injury and a slash across the inside of my right wrist from one of the steel sheets. I had been bleeding a lot, but Jose had found me, and had rigged a tourniquet and stopped the bleeding. Several others had been in the area before Jose but had not seen me under the stacks of steel. At lunch on the dock the following week I asked Jose, “Tell me what happened.” He replied, “We did not have enough shovels so they sent me to get more.” ”But Jose the shovels are stored on the other side of the plant, nowhere near where I was working.” “I know, but God told me to go that way and find you, so I followed where He told me to go. “ As he spoke, I can still remember feeling that a loving presence was near. It’s probable that I would not have been found in time if it were not for Jose. How he found me and why he looked remains understandable only if you believe. His gift to me was more than my continued temporal life. He reaffirmed my faith. The Bible tells us that Christ asked Peter to come out and walk on the water. After taking several steps Peter sank. I am quite confident that Jose would have made it to the boat. Such, I believe, was his unwavering faith and what I came to judge was God’s reciprocal love for him. As I said earlier, whenever I wash and dry my hands, the inside of my right wrist becomes visible to me as does the scar that remains there from the deep cut across my wrist. The flashback is immediate as is the vivid memory of my friend Jose and what I believe was God’s caring presence.
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About the Book
With an array of stories the author affirms that throughout our lives God is there. Sometimes He is there simply enjoying with us the gifts and treasures He has provided. And at other times He is there in our sad and tragic moments, sitting quietly at our side. This book, Snapshots of God’s Caring Presence is a collection of this author’s true and favorite short stories revealing in a multitude of ways God’s caring presence. As you read, you will sit with a barefoot little girl playing joyfully with God as they enjoy the little tadpoles in her long ago pond. In another story you will watch Jose, with God’s guidance, save the life of this book’s author. Still, further as you read, you will observe the women in a poverty neighborhood, fashion and sew little Catherine’s first dress and coat—clothing her mother could never afford. You will listen to the old saw sharpener as he relates God’s wisdom to the neighborhood children sitting with God in the grass near his feet. You will feel the biting, winter-cold wind as along with neighborhood youth you will help put into gunny sacks coal collected from the railroad tracks—coal that will provide heat for the homes of their neighbors. You will savor the joy of God’s work as you sit later with them enjoying coffee around a pot-bellied-stove. Finally, some stories will take you to the edge of our reality. Was God really there? Did I dream it? The stories of the book will flow to and around you, and you will feel God’s caring presence page after page. As noted in the book’s preface, you may not want to read too quickly for every story is intended to provide its own unique flavor.
About the Author
Raymond J Golarz holds his B.A. and B.S. degrees from St. Joseph’s College in Indiana. In addition he received his M.S. and Ed.D. Degrees from Indiana University. He taught as a middle school and high school teacher and then served as the Director of Child Welfare Services supervising delinquency prevention and intervention programs and working with delinquent gangs and directing drug intervention programs. At the college level, he taught an array of psychology courses at St. Joseph’s college, Purdue Calumet, Indiana University Northwest and City College in Seattle. For ten years he taught Psychology for law enforcement officers near Chicago to hundreds of law enforcement officers. He has served as an assistant superintendent and superintendent of schools and has keynoted conferences in virtually every Canadian Province as well as almost every state in the United States. Currently, Ray does work as a newspaper columnist featured in Yahoo news, USA Today and the Bloomington Herald Times while Marion continues work as a content editor. With Marion his wife of 56 years he has co-authored The Power of Participation, Sweet Land of Liberty, and the Problem Isn’t Teachers. In addition, he has co-authored Restructuring Schools for Excellence through Teacher Empowerment and is the author of On My Way Home I Bumped into God. Finally, his earlier writings include Yellow Jacket Football in Hard Times and Good and a companion book When the Yellow Jackets Played, two books focusing on the strengths of the early immigrants who came to America. He and Marion have six children: Tanya Scherschel, Michael Golarz, Scott Golarz, Jocelyn Morris, Daniel Golarz and Thomas John Golarz and they presently have eleven grandchildren. They reside in Bloomington, Indiana with their calico cat Nola and their Boxer dog Cooper. All of his life Ray has enjoyed sketching, oil painting, and carpentry. The final enjoyment of carpentry he considers a gift from his father and grandfathers. As a consequence of his keynoting he has been given many special gifts. His most prized possession is the White Buffalo Indian Robe given to him after keynoting the National Native American School Boards Convention. He can be contacted at their email address mjgolarz@live.com