Two Became One
During that first year here, Joe kept in contact with Christine Ray, whom he had met at Bob Jones College. She was the daughter of Rev. and Mrs. Fred H. Ray. Rev. Ray was a Methodist pastor associated with the North Georgia Methodist Conference. "Cricket," as she was called, stayed to finish her education at Bob Jones College, and she and Joe were married on June 30, 1940. She then joined her husband in Abilene and became a valuable asset to his ministry.
Joe recalls that after a brief honeymoon which included a visit to his parents' home in Pennsylvania, he and Cricket came to Abilene by bus. They were met by friends who had arranged a garden party and an old fashioned pounding for them. That pounding provided groceries for quite some time, for which they were grateful to God. When the groceries ran out and all that was left were potatoes, the Temples received word from some friends who had just married that they were coming to see them, and they were concerned because they did not have food to prepare meals for them. They went to the Lord in prayer and asked Him to provide for food. They even made out a menu and asked Him to supply the particular ingredients. One of the things on the list was hamburger meat from which Cricket planned to make meat loaf.
Joe went on about his business, and later that day met the visiting couple and took them to his and Cricket's apartment. When he opened the door to go upstairs to the apartment, he smelled a wonderful aroma coming from the apartment. Rushing up the stairs and into the apartment, he found Cricket in the kitchen. He said, "Honey, this is wonderful! God has answered prayer!" Cricket turned to him with tears in her eyes and said, "I am disappointed. We agreed that we would never tell anyone what we needed, and I am afraid you have done that, because everything we had on that menu was delivered to this door from the grocer today. They couldn't have known if you hadn't told them." Joe said, "Honey, I didn't tell them!" What a wonderful provision from the Lord! Later, they were able to smile about the incident, realizing that they hadn't really expected it to happen.
The thing that really makes this little story more interesting is the sequel which came much later. Joe told this story in a meeting one night, and after the meeting a lady came up to him and said, "Oh, that story was such a blessing." Joe said to her, "I'm glad. That is why I told it. Faith needs to be encouraged." "Oh, I don't mean that," the lady said, "I'm the one who sent you those groceries, and I want to tell you how it happened." She went on to tell him how the Lord had impressed her to do that. Even after she had made the order, she couldn't rest, and she prayed about it. The Lord brought it to her mind that she should call the grocer back and change the order she had made from T-bone steaks to hamburger meat. She said, "Oh, what God taught me!" Joe answered her, "He has taught me something,too. I am never again going to be satisfied with hamburger when God wants me to have T-bone steaks."
At the time that Cricket came to Abilene, a group of Christian women had sought to get a class in Bible taught in the public school here. After much persuasion, the superintendent of schools agreed to a class taught at Abilene High School provided that the teacher also be able to teach a class in Spanish. Since that requirement was difficult to meet, a teacher had not been found when Cricket arrived in Abilene. Cricket had graduated from Bob Jones College with a major in Bible and a minor in Spanish, so she met the requirements and was permitted to teach a class on the Bible. Once again, the direction of the Lord in the lives of the Temples was evident. Cricket taught from 1940 until Tim was born in November of 1943. | |
Abilene Bible Church
3125 Oldham Lane
Abilene, Texas 79602
325-677-8653
(at Loop 322 & Potosi Road Exit)
Sunday School 9:30 AM*
Worship Service 10:35 AM*
Children's Church 11:15 AM
Evening Study 6:00 p.m.
Church Office Hours 9 AM
to 5 PM
*Nursery is provided for
these times.
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