Denny Huff


 It is from our trials that we learn to trust God and become stronger
 Christians. We also are able to help others that are going through similar
 situations that we have gone through. II Corinthians 1:3-5.
I was raised in a Christian home and was saved at the age of 10. I was active
 in Church all through my school years, serving as the President of our
 district Youth Fellowship and of the district Youth Encampment. I led the
 music at my Church for several years and also started the first Church Bus
 Ministry in our area. When I turned 21, I moved away from home to a
 neighboring town where I was the Assistant Manager of a food store. I started 
missing Church, using the excuse of the distance, which was only 15 miles. I
 didn't quit Church all at once, but first started missing on Wednesday nights,
then on Sunday nights and eventually I was missing all the time. It seems that 
is the way Satan works. He is so subtle in the way he pulls us away from the
 Lord, that a lot of the times we don't realize what is happening until it is
 too late.
After I got away from Church, I started doing what Denny Huff wanted to do. I
 started running around, smoking, drinking and even tried smoking pot. The Lord
allowed me to get away with this for about a year, but as our parents here do, 
He disciplined me for being disobedient. I was arrested for something I didn't 
do and lost my job, which left me no choice but to move back home. I did get
 back into Church for a while, but then I moved to Branson MO to take another
 job. Once again I strayed away from the Lord and once again He allowed a
 situation to bring me back home. This time however, I didn't get back into
 church and kept doing what Denny Huff wanted to do. 
Then, in April of 1974, I was at my place of employment working late on some
 tires of a friend of mine. It was Wednesday night and had I been in fellowship
with God, I would have been in Church. It was after midnight and as I was
 finishing up the last tire, something happened. To this day, no one knows for 
sure what caused it, but as I was kneeling down airing up the tire I was
 working on, it exploded. I was thrown about 30 feet and my friend, who was
 standing next to me, was knocked down. He was in a daze, but managed to make
 it over to me, where I lay in a pool of blood. He took one look at me and
 thought I was dead.
He managed to get to a phone and call the State Highway Patrol who in turn
 called the ambulance. My friend also called my Dad, who came right up. He got 
there just in time to see them put me in the ambulance, took a look at me and
 he too thought I was dead. I was told later that the attendants lost all vital
signs on me three times on the 15 mile trip to the hospital. I was taken to
 Washington MO hospital where they did what they could for me and then
 transferred me to a St. Louis hospital. There I was met by two eye surgeons,
 who were brothers and immediately taken into surgery. I was in surgery for
 over 14 hours, being worked on by both brothers side by side. When they
 finally completed and came out of surgery, they told my family, who were all
 present at this time, that I would never be able to see again.
I spent two weeks in the hospital and during that time I had plastic surgery
 done on my face. The surgery took eight hours and the surgeon had to use a
 high school senior picture of me to tell what I used to look like. I was
 unconscious for five days after the accident. 
When I came to and I was told that I was blind, God gave me a grace like none I
had ever known before. He spoke to my heart and said, Denny, you gave me your
 life along time ago and I want you living for me. Now, I am not saying that
 God reached down His hand and knocked me up along side of the head, but, He is
God isn't He? He has everything in His hands, doesn't He? Then He could have
 prevented that accident from happening, but He didn't. I truly believe that He
used that to discipline me and get me back to serving Him. I never went through
any depression or resentment toward God whatsoever. Isn't God good? (Grin) I
 can say today that I would rather serve Him being blind, than have 20-20
 vision and not serving Him. 
The one thing I want to leave you with is this. If you say that you are a child
of God's, but you are living in disobedience and He does not discipline you,
 then you need to make sure you are truly one of His children. God always
 chastises His own.