Peace Found in Battle

Gunfire faded into the distance as this desperate young sailor cried out to God.

By Cal Wolf

The kindness God has shown to me overwhelms me. I thank Him for His mercy that has followed me every day of my life.

As a boy, I lived on a sheep ranch in Wyoming. Many times, sitting out there in the hills, I felt an emptiness in my heart. It seemed that I could not find reality in anything. One morning I asked my mother, “Mom, why was I born, anyway? Why am I in the world?” Tears ran down her cheeks, but she could not tell me. Eventually, I took up drinking and smoking and going to dances, staying out till the sun came up. I rode the freight trains and bummed around all over the country, but it was not long before I was sick of living that way. I was trying desperately to find something that would satisfy, but I failed.

One day, I went to a recruiting station and joined the Navy. In November of 1941, I was put on board a ship for transportation to the Pearl Harbor Naval Base. We were three days out of that harbor when it was bombed. Soon after that, I was assigned to the USS Enterprise, an aircraft carrier that was headed for the South Pacific.

God’s protecting power

God extended mercy to me during those war years. One time a portion of an airplane wing hit the flight deck of our ship. Some of the gasoline tanks broke and saturated the entire bow with gas. I was in one of the gun groups nearby, and my clothes were soaked. Yet there was never a spark of any kind. God protected my life.

God also began to enlighten me. Sitting at my battle station day after day, I watched a young man reading his Bible. He had been a card shark, winning money from the other fellows, but I noticed that his language had changed. He was a new person. I could not understand the peace that was on his face. He had a New Testament, and as he read, he underlined verses of Scripture.

One day when he took off his earphones and hung them up, he closed his eyes, and I looked over his shoulder. I was stationed a little higher than he in the gun director, and I read the Scripture he had underlined. I read, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

I had always known there was a God because of the beauties of nature—the beautiful flowers in the springtime—and because nature was so well regulated, with everything running smoothly. I never dreamed, though, that God had a Son. I had always wondered what Christmas and Easter were all about. That day, God began to show me that all of my problems were caused by a sinful heart and that I should give my heart to Him.

Any moment could be my last

A crisis came in my life about three months later, on October 26, 1942. When I went to my battle station at 8:30 that morning, my heart felt like a chunk of stone. I was terrified. We had received word that a Japanese task force was coming at us. I knew any moment could be my last, and I was not ready to meet God.

As I looked out at another carrier that was with us, smoke was coming out of the stack. A bomb had been dropped. Soon a string of dive-bombers were coming at us, one after another. I ran into the optical shop, threw myself on the deck, and began to cry to God. I pulled out all the stops. I had to have help, and I knew God could give it to me. I asked Jesus to help me as He helped those disciples who followed Him.

In a few minutes, it seemed as though the gunfire had faded into the distance. I felt the power of God come into that optical shop, and I knew the Lord was standing right there. I pled with Him and told Him I was sorry for every sin I had ever committed. I did not want to use Him just for a fire escape; I wanted to live right. I wanted to live like I ought to live when our ship got back to port. I was sick of sin. It had ruined me—ruined my stomach, ruined my life. As quickly as you could snap your fingers, peace came into my heart. It felt as though a load rolled off my back. I was a brand new man, a new creature in Christ Jesus.

When I finished praying, the battle was still going on, and I ran to the porthole and looked out. A torpedo plane was about a thousand or twelve hundred yards away, but there was no longer any fear in my heart. Soon the ship began to quiver and shake, and was turned a hard right to starboard. The bow lifted right out of the water, the ship spun around, and the torpedo missed us. After that, I saw many such miracles as the Lord protected us.

What a change!

The contact I made with God that day has lasted. He pulled me out of a deep, dark hole and gave me such sweet peace in my soul. The tongue I could not control was changed. I threw away my cigarettes and quit drinking. God helped me go over my old life, set things straight, and pay bills I never intended to pay. He gave me the satisfaction I had longed for.

We had prayer meetings and Bible classes on board ship. I learned to read and love Scripture. God used that time to strengthen my love for Him. While I was still in the service, I met a lovely young lady who became my wife. When I was discharged, God guided our lives. We brought up a family and had small businesses of our own. When problems came, we got on our knees and laid them out before the Almighty God, and He solved them all. The Lord has the answers.

For a while after I was discharged we lived in Roseburg, Oregon. There was a gravel pit not far away, and I used to go there during the day and pray when no one would hear or be bothered by my prayers. I don’t know how many problems were settled in that gravel pit. What a learning experience!

Later we moved to Medford, Oregon. When we were first there, I had no work. We had three children at the time, and our funds ran extremely low. We had no money for our car payments, and eventually we received a notice that our car was going to be taken away from us if we did not have the money in a few days. I had been praying and searching my heart. When that notice came, I was desperate. I prayed, “Lord, You can do anything. You have done so many things for me in the past. This is not too hard for You because You made everything.” I just put the case in His hands. On the day the money was due, I received an envelope in the mail from out of town. It contained enough money to make our car payments up to date. To this day, I do not know who sent it, but we knew God had answered.

Experienced God’s healing touch

Once I was badly injured in an auto accident and could not walk. I was carried into the church one Sunday, and a group of young people gathered around me and began to pray for my healing. I saw the faith in their faces, but I also felt the pain in my legs. As they prayed, I expected God to take away the pain, but He did not. I looked at my crutches and thought, If I pick up one of those crutches, will it shake their faith? I just had to trust the Lord. I put my weight on one foot, and no pain! Something said, “Walk.” I stood up and started walking. I walked the length of the church and kept walking. Oh, the blessings God showered upon us that day! God had healed me, and I am still walking.

A few years ago, while we were on a trip to Kansas City, my wife had a severe stroke. We were alone in the motel room at 3:00 a.m., and there she lay on the floor with no pulse that I could feel. All I could say to God was, “Lord, I am so thankful that You gave her to me for all these years, but now, Lord, she is Yours. If she must go, she must go.” Before the day was over, I could thank God that He had kept her alive. She still has some physical effects of the stroke, but God has given her a remarkable recovery.

When I was in the Navy, we went through the Straits of Juan de Fuca on our way back into the United States. We had been gone for many months, and we had been in many battles. As we went through the straits, the ship was lined with sailors, and a shout went up when we saw land. We were coming back home! Sometimes I wonder if it will be like that when we get to the Promised Land. What a shout will go up from the saints! I am looking forward to that day.