It was still a long time before the sun would come up, and fourteen-year-old Rankin was already stirring around the cabin. He poured the last of the squirrel gravy on his corn muffins. Stinker, his dog, ate the same breakfast as Rankin. Then the two set out together to walk the deer trails down Grandfather Mountain on the way to the schoolhouse.
Thirty minutes later, it was still dark when they arrived at Granny Gump’s woodsy home. Rankin always stopped at Granny’s to carry in wood and water for the old lady. She was not really his grandmother, nor anybody else’s for that matter. But Granny was so old that everybody just called her “Granny,” and she did act like a grandmother to everyone who came to her door. She was especially so with Rankin since his mother had died six months ago and left him all alone up on the mountain.
“Granny, I’m gonna need you to sign Momma’s name to my grade card,” Rankin said to the old woman standing bent over on her porch.
“My lands, boy, you still haven’t told those school people that your Momma’s dead, have ya? You’ve got to do that, Rankin.”
“Nope, I ain’t a gonna do it, Granny. If’n I tell them Momma’s dead, they’ll just send the law up here an’ haul me off to some orphanage. I ain’t a gonna have that. I ain’t any orphan. I got a house, a field full of corn, an’ the huntin; and fishin’ is good too. I got everything up there that any one body needs.”
“That’s your problem, Rankin, there’s only one body up there. You need a family, boy! I know you aren’t a child, but you aren’t a man yet either. You need a momma or poppa, or better yet both.”
“I’ve got a heavenly Poppa. Momma an’ the Preacher both said so when I was baptized a few years back. And the Preacher also told me that God had marked me an’ sealed me with the very Spirit of God himself. An’ ever since then I know myself to be marked an’ sealed.”
“Even marked an’ sealed people get lonely for company, Rankin.”
“I ain’t been lonely a single day, Granny. I’ve got you, I’ve got Stinker, an’ I’ve got the Spirit of God with me ever single minute. An’ don’t forget about all them critters in the woods lookin’ out at me all the time! I miss Momma. I surely do. But I ain’t lonely, an’ I ain’t tellin’ no one at school that I’m some kind of orphan boy.”
“Well, Rankin, you might as well give me that grade card to sign. I can see that you inherited your momma’s stubborn streak. Never mind that the law will be comin’ up here for me, not you, ‘cause I’m the one forgin’ your momma’s name.”
“Put your own name if you want. I’ll just tell them you’re my granny. You may not be family by blood, but you are definitely family by spirit.”
Soon Rankin’s heals were digging into the spongy soil of the old fire road that ran through the woods near Granny Gump’s house. The first rays of sun were just beginning to warm the mountain tops. An owl hooted from the darkness that still shrouded the valley into which Rankin was descending. It would be another forty-five minutes before he reached the school, and then the sun would be over the mountain and shining bright into the valley.
After school let out that day, Rankin started the climb back up Grandfather’s Mountain. When he got home, there was about an hour of daylight left. He went right out hunting with his gun and Stinker. He was hoping to get a deer. That would be enough meat to hold the two of them for maybe a month or two. He had to settle for a groundhog, but at least it was meat in the pot.
After supper he did a little homework, ground some of his recently harvested shell corn, and went to bed. Going to bed early not only saved candles, but it was necessary for those days that he had to get up so early to hike down the mountain to go to school. Yet even when it was early, Rankin fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.
He was not sure what time it was, but something woke Rankin from his sleep. He knew it was not time to get up for school, but what woke him? He looked over at Stinker, and saw the dog was still sound asleep. It could not have been a noise that woke him, because Stinker would have been up and barking. So what woke him? Rankin had no idea. Finally, he just settled back into his warm blankets and started to fall back to sleep. That was when he heard the voice, clear as anything.
“You are marked and you are sealed. You have the power of God in you. There is great hope for you, and a glorious inheritance awaits you.”
“Who are you?” Rankin shouted into the dark.
But no one responded. The cabin was silent, except for Stinker’s snoring. Rankin heard the usual night noises outside, but no one answered his question. So he lit a candle, and grabbed his gun. As soon as Rankin stepped out the door to look around, the breeze snuffed out his candle. But the night was clear, and the woods were illuminated with the light of a nearly full moon.
Rankin peered into the shadows. He walked cautiously around the cabin. He looked into the wood shed, and even went down into the cold cellar. But he found no one who could have owned the voice he had heard.
“They couldn’t of gotten away,” Rankin said to himself. “I’d a heard them leavin’ with all these dead leaves on the ground. But there ain’t no one here either. I’ve looked in every place they could’ve hidden. Must a been a dreamin’. I’m a darn fool, getting’ out a warm bed to chase after voices in the cold woods in the middle of the night. Well, nuff of this. I hear those covers calling me now, an’ they ain’t no dream!”
He fell right back to sleep, still thinking about the words he had heard. The next morning, as he went about his chores, he was trying to remember what the voice had said.
“I’m marked an’ I’m sealed. I remember that part. An there was somethin’ about me having’ hope and getting’ a big inheritance. That would sure be nice! An’ the voice also said somethin’ ‘bout the power of God bein’ in me, like I’m some kind a superman or somethin’.”
When he got to Granny Gump’s house, he told her about the words.
“Maybe one a them angels went an’ come down an’ visited you,” she suggested. “Or maybe it was God himself talkin’ right at you in that Spirit of his’n. Now that would be a thing! I do declare, in all my years on this earth, I ain’t never heard God himself speakin’ right at me.”
“Do ya really think it could’ve been God himself talking to me, or maybe a angel? No wonder I couldn’t lay my eyes on ‘im!”
“I don’t know if it was, but it sure would be somethin’ if God himself was a talking to you, Rankin. Hey! You better git goin’ or you’re gonna be late to school!”
Rankin looked up, and saw that the sun was about to peek over the mountain. He took off at a run down the old fire road, with Stinker barking at his heels. It felt good to be running in the cool morning air, so he kept running all the way to the gravel road.
He stopped there to catch his breath, when he noticed a lot of light coming from down in the valley. And there was the smell of smoke on the air.
“Fire! Come on, Stinker! Someone might be in trouble!”
No more leisurely running for the fun of it. Now Rankin ran full out. Fire was dangerous in this area. It might be someone’s house, or it might be a barn, or in the woods. Whatever it was, there was too much light and too much smoke for it to be good.
As he came down off the gravel road onto the asphalt road and rounded the next bend, he saw it! It was the Smith’s house! The volunteer fire department was already there, but flames were leaping high into the sky. As Rankin raced toward the fire his eyes searched the crowd of people for the faces of the Smith family, but they were nowhere to be seen. He raced up to the nearest fireman.
“That’s the Smith’s house. Did they get out? I don’t see them nowhere!”
“Yes, we know it’s the Smith’s house,” the fireman answered. “And you don’t see them because it is time for school to start, and they are probably sitting down there at the school house right now wondering what might be the cause of the flames way up this way.”
“No, they’re always late gettin’ to school! They’re always a long ways behind me! They might still be in there! You have to check!”
“Son, I’m busy here, and don’t have time to argue with you. Now step back. It is too dangerous here for you.”
But Rankin did not step back. Instead he took off for the back of the house. He could see the front door was full of flames, and he hoped there was a back door where he could get in and check on whether the family was still in there.
“Hey, kid! Get back here!” the fireman called out after him.
Rankin did not bother to answer the fireman. He did not have time to argue either. And, sure enough, when he got to the back of the house, he could see a back door but no flames. He ran up and tried to open it, but it did not budge. He started banging on it to warn the family inside.
Then Rankin heard voices from the other side of the door!
“We can’t get the door open!” a voice called from inside. “Something is blocking it, and the smoke is so thick I can’t see to move it!”
Rankin quickly looked at the door frame. It was a door that opened in. So he started pushing with all his strength, but it did not budge.
“You pull as hard as you can from in there!” he yelled to the people inside. “I’ll push from out here!” He pushed again, harder. Then he remembered the words, “I’ve got the power of God in me!” He pushed again, harder and harder. His feet dug into the dirt. Every fiber of muscle in his body was pushing against the door. Then he reached down deep inside of himself. The power of God – he knew it was in him. And it had opened the tomb that had held Jesus prisoner. He needed it now. He knew it was there. He hoped. He needed it to open the door! Lives depended upon it! He pushed harder and harder.
Suddenly the door swung open with a loud crash, and Rankin could not help but fall into the house. Even with all the smoke, he could see people.
Just then a muscled hand grabbed him and jerked him back out of the burning house. It was the fireman he had talked to a minute earlier. Another fireman was reaching inside, pulling coughing people from the house. They were free! One! Two! Three! All four Smiths! Rankin had never known such joy as he fell back into the grass – totally exhausted.
It was late that night before Rankin finally made it back up Grandfather Mountain to his cabin. He sure did not need to cook on this night, because the town hero and his dog had been stuffed with more food than he had even known existed. So, he did not cook. He did not hunt or grind corn either. And he certainly did not do any homework! He simply collapsed in total exhaustion and joy onto his bed, and fell immediately into a deep, deep sleep.
Several hours later, like the night before, Rankin was awakened from his sleep.
“You are marked and you are sealed,” a voice said. “You have the power of God in you. There is great hope for you, and a glorious inheritance awaits you.”
It was the same words, again! Rankin peered around in the dark cabin, looking for the source of the voice. Again, he could see nothing but a sleeping dog.
“You are marked and you are sealed,” the voice repeated, “but you are not fireproof. Be more careful next time.”
Rankin smiled. “So God has a sense of humor! I like that!”
When he awoke the next morning, Rankin remembered the words that he had heard a second time. Was it just a dream? Or was God in the Spirit talking directly to Rankin? Only time will tell.
Questions for Meditation, Discussion or Preaching
Copyright 2020. Robert D. Ingram, 32746 Jourden Rd., Albany, Ohio 45710 (dr.bobingram@gmail.com). Used by permission.
