The Story of Jim and Emuel

When I tell my story of these two brothers, I am conscious that I am walking a tight line, for there are still living relatives of theirs who are my close friends. This is one of those judgments we make in telling a story, and if I violate the rules of propriety, I am sorry. Maybe I can find an excuse in the New Testament where the Apostle Paul related his own bad and misguided behavior before his dramatic Damascus Road conversion, and then told all through his writings how marvelous were the changes in his life after he met Jesus.

During World War I, Jim Day expressed a definite preference for the wide-open spaces of Wyoming and Montana instead of the trenches in France. Sometime later, his brother Emuel followed the same course. All this was new and strange to the brothers and quite different from the Fulton, MO. streets. There were vast open areas where thousands of sheep roamed. I remember Emuel tell in of his experiences. He had never herded any sheep; now he had thousands to herd. He told the rancher of his problem and asked how he would know what to do. The answer was, "The sheep dogs will show you." And I guess they did.

Before World War II, I met , in a very casual way, both of the Day brothers, but on separate occasions, in or near the old courthouse which stood where our present courthouse stands. On both these occasions, these men were "lit up" -a common experience - from some liquids they found in bottles. Jim kept repeating a story; "There was an old mother possum and thirteen little baby possums, and the old mother possum was dead." This little woodland tragedy had made a mighty impression on him, and saddened him greatly.

Emuels' story was different. There was some kind of circus or animal show down on Gee Show Lot. It was the elephant that got the attention of our hero. He said, "I'm going down there and ride that elephant. I'm going to ride him with spurs on. He's not going where he say go, but where I say go, and I'm going to shoot holes through his ears." I did not do a follow-up on this story to learn how the ambitious experiment with the pachyderm turned out.

Now, we turn to the good news. About four years after my conversion, I was called to preach at Fulton, Missouri. One Sunday evening at the close of the service, an invitation was given to those who desired prayer to come forward. Who should come forward but Jim Day! None of us had ever seen him in church before, and here he stood before the altar, twisting his cap around his finger. We could perhaps excuse him for having a little nervous feeling, this being such a novel experience. The young preacher was also nervous. I asked, "Mr. Day, did you come here to pray?" And the answer, "I thought I would." We also thought he did, for in a brief while he rose from prayer, with a smile like the sun breaking through the clouds. He gave good, clear, happy testimony to being saved - a new man in Christ. He was a happy Christian, and his Covenant with God lasted to the end of his days.

What does a fellow do when he really gets saved from his sins? Why, he wants to share the good news with others. He began to testify to his own deliverance and to pray for those who have not found forgiveness and saving grace. Jim prayed for his brother.

In the month of May the following year, the church pitched a large tent on the East school grounds, near the spot where Auto Zone store now stands. Brother C. E. Cowen was the preacher for this meeting. To secure the tent and its contents from vandalism it was thought wise to get someone for a watchman, and it was Jim Day who was deputized for this responsibility. He was now know by city and county officers to be a trusted and dependable person. The new man in Christ had become a trusted man in society!

On Sunday morning his brother Emuel appeared at the tent meeting, and at the close of the sermon came to the altar of prayer, and, of all things, he knelt facing the congregation with head thrown back and eyes wide-open, began to pray - really in earnest. He hadn't been coached by those who felt you could approach God in one way only. Anyway, his method worked. He stood to his feet with a personal knowledge of the text, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Thereafter, there was no man more faithful to the house of God than this brother. He was not only faithful, but was ever forward to witness to his old companions of the change that the saving grace of God makes in a person's life.