Peace That Passes All Understanding
If you are wondering where I’ve been, know that I was distracted by many things, but I am back now, and there is much on my heart. I have several posts churning around in my head. As a result, you will probably see several posts following this one with very little time between.
Today, the blog is all about a woman near and dear to my heart. She was a great woman of faith, who had a tender and strong relationship with the LORD God Almighty. She spent time with Him every morning. As a result of that relationship, life’s antiquing process just made her stronger. My grandmother, Bettie Losson Miles, was born on August 1, 1877 in Adair County, Kentucky.
She was an avid reader, reading everything available to her. However, her formal education ended in the sixth grade. That was the only schooling available to her, so she repeated sixth grade twice until as she said, she knew more than the teacher. At that point she began helping the teacher teach. The antiquing throughout her life, presented her with many traumatic and devastating experiences, but they just made her stronger.
After marrying my grandfather, John Lelan Miles, they had nine children. The oldest and the youngest both died in their infancy. The death of one child is hard enough, but the death of two children is more than most parents can bear. She also experienced widowhood, while some of her children were still in school. Nothing seemed to stop her from pressing on, and from trusting God. The antiquing process continued throughout her life, but it did not distract her from honoring and loving the LORD God Almighty.
Over the years, many people have inspired me, but none so great as grandmother. I got to know her well, when in 1956 she moved from Tucson, Arizona to live with us in San Francisco. She moved to San Francisco, when she was seventy-nine years old with the purpose of babysitting and caring for my little sister. (I can’t imagine caring for an infant full-time in my seventies.) Before moving to San Francisco, she stated that she wasn’t sure if she wanted to live in earthquake country. She moved to San Francisco anyway. I watched her each morning as she started the day in the same way. She sat in her chair reading her Bible, the one with her name engraved on the cover. She never missed a day reading it. She knew that every word in it was inspired by God Himself. Her life reflected that knowledge.
On March 22, 1957 at 11:44 AM, San Francisco experienced an earthquake with a moment magnitude of 5.7 and a maximum Mercalli Intensity of VII (Very strong). At that time, I was in the sixth grade, and had just walked up to my teacher to ask him a question. He quickly shoved me under his oak desk and yelled at the class, “Under your desks; it is an earthquake!” It was a terrifying experience that I will never forget. It seemed that the shaking would never end. When it finally stopped, Mr. Dougherty, did his best to calm us all down. I looked out one of the classroom windows and saw a telephone pole suspended from the wires and hanging at an angle. There was broken glass in the classroom, one of the big overhead lights had fallen on my best friend’s desk. She had been called to the office just a few minutes before the quake. If she had not been called to the office, she would have been badly hurt. I could not stop shaking. Our classroom was a mess.
Mr. Dougherty told us that even if we normally went home for lunch, we could not leave the school, because there would be aftershocks to follow and they could be very bad. I didn’t care what he or anyone else said. I knew that my grandmother needed me, and I was not going to stay at school for lunch, while my grandmother was home with my baby sister. I feared that grandmother would need help. I ran home as fast as I could. I remember the aftershocks on the way home. I was terrified, crying and screaming. The aftershocks were brutal. I lied down on the sidewalk wanting so badly for the ground beneath me to stop shaking. I was trying to find something I could hold on to, but there was nothing. All I could do was cry and scream, but I knew that I had to get home. I remembered grandmother’s comment that she wasn’t sure if she wanted to live in San Francisco, because of the earthquakes.
We never locked the front door during the day, but that day the door was locked. I pounded on the door and continued crying and screaming. I will never forget the look on my grandmother’s face as she opened door, and she said, “Sharon Rose, what on earth is a matter with you?” I could not believe her question. We had just experienced a devastating earthquake; didn’t she feel it? Wasn’t she scared? I responded to her saying, “Grandmother, half of San Francisco has fallen apart, and you ask me what is the matter? Didn’t you feel the earthquake? Weren’t you scared?” I will never forget her response. In the most peaceful voice she said, “Yes, I felt the earthquake. I didn’t like it, but no, I wasn’t scared. If God is going to take me now, He is going to take me now. If He is going to take me later, He is going to take me later. I am ready whenever He chooses.”
My first reaction to her response was anger. I had been terrified from the earthquake, and I ran home in the midst of an aftershock, because I thought she would need me. She didn’t need me. How could she possibly have such incredible peace? Why isn’t she scared? Over the following weeks, I watched her closely, keeping those questions in my mind. My initial response of anger turned into admiration, respect and reverence for her and her relationship with God. She had something very special. Grandmother’s response to the earthquake was a turning point in my life. It was obvious that Grandmother depended completely on the LORD for her peace, and He gave it to her, and she experienced it regardless of the circumstances.
At the time, my grandmother was the only person I knew, who was filled with faith in God amidst the fear of another earthquake, and the uncertainty of the future. I didn’t see that kind of peace with anyone else in my family, friends, or even the people at church.
Jesus prepared His disciples for the future with these words found in Matthew 24:4,
“And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in My name, saying, “I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences (plagues), and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.”
In light of the Covid19 virus, as Christians we know that these hard times will just become more and more, both in frequency and intensity, but the LORD our God is with us through it all, and we don’t have to go through it in our own strength and power. If Christ is living in our hearts, we have His Holy Spirit within us. That is the same power that raised Jesus from the dead, encouraging us to press on amidst the antiquing of life. He is with us and will provide exactly what we need. We need to spend time at His feet, letting His word and His Holy Spirit transform us into His image.
Below are some pictures from the San Francisco Chronicle Vault of San Francisco’s Forgotten Earthquake of 1957
