Allen Crabtree

One day, many years ago in an old log barn, I knelt before God. I was just a child, but I came to God that day with a request. Our home wasn’t much—an old log cabin in the hills of Ohio. Only God knows the poverty and privation we went through. But that day I thought our home was going to be broken up; my father and mother were going separate ways.

I believed that out yonder—someplace—there was a God who could hear and answer prayer. I remember I went out to that old barn and got on my knees on a bunch of hay and straw. I told God that if He would prevent that home from being broken up—I brought it out in the best language I knew—that when I grew to be a young man I would dedicate my life to Him and to His service.

I believed that out yonder—someplace—there was a God who could hear and answer prayer.

God heard that prayer! That home was reunited, and my dear old father and mother lived to a ripe old age together with the fear of God in their hearts. The best years of their lives were their last ones. One day Father walked in from the porch, sat down on the cot, bowed his head, and went to meet God.

I never got away from the vow and covenant I made with God. I used to attend those “protracted meetings” back in the southern part of Ohio. I heard the story of Jesus, and I never got away from it. I had a name in those hills of Ohio that wasn’t very good. I was into something all the time; my father took me out of school because of the trouble I caused there. I knew how it felt to have steel handcuffs around my wrists, and to be escorted by the police because of what I had done. But underneath the rough exterior was a hunger and a fear and a longing for something. It was the fear of God that drove me to my knees: that thought of eternity! You can laugh on the outside, but on the inside it is altogether different.

When I was in the Army, far away from home and God, everything that was wrong and sinful was mine. I was a solider at Fort Ward in Washington. One Sunday I found my way to a little mission hall in Port Townsend, Washington. Some Bibles were lying around on the chairs and I picked one up. As I opened it something spoke to my soul, “Go out by yourself and pray.” So I started for the woods of Port Townsend to see if I could find an altar. I stepped off the old bicycle trail and knelt beside an old stump and started to pray. God was there. I had a ruined character, blasted ambitions and hopes, a stomach that cried for alcohol, and a life that demanded sin but I told God, “I will not leave these woods until I get the witness in my heart that I am saved.”

I prayed and I meant business. I turned my face toward God and my back on sin.

I prayed and I meant business. I turned my face toward God and my back on sin. In just a few minutes after I had prayed and made some consecrations to God, peace came into my soul. The Lord Jesus Christ met me there. Sweet holy peace came stealing down over my entire being. I stood up and looked all around. Everything seemed to have gone to rest--the fir trees didn’t even stir. A holy calmness settled over my soul because I had made my peace with God. My soul had an anchor.

When I sent the news back to the old home telling them I was saved, Dad began to laugh and rejoice and my mother began to cry. He was a Christian but Mother wasn’t. Later I came home and after only a few meetings in the little church there, I saw my mother come down the aisle. After all those years she was headed in the right direction—she was coming Home. She looked at me and cried, “Al, pray for me!” What a night that was! Afterwards, when I prayed at the table, she prayed at the other end. At first she had spoken against this, but God had made a change in her life. Thank God for this great salvation that saves from sin and keeps from sin.

God has been with me through the years. For a time I worked in a factory in front of hot furnaces. Amid the rattle of machinery and the roar of blowers, tears of joy streamed down my face. Thanksgiving rose from my heart for the salvation that saves from sin, sets a man free, and makes him happy.

I thank God for the health and strength He has given me in my last years, and for the joy unspeakable I have in my soul. And best of all, I know I am ready for God’s roll call over Yonder!