<TITLE>22. Par 67-69</TITLE>L-67 When I stood there, Brother Smith, a Methodist preacher friend of mine, he got some clods in his hand, walked over there, and I was standing there; he put his arm around me; said, "Billy, brace up, honey boy."
I said, "Oh, Brother Smith, my soul is... Oh, I don't know what to do."
And I heard him say, with them little clods dropping upon the little casket, said, "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, earth to earth."
I thought, "God, what can I do?"
Sound like the wind blowed down through the pine trees, it sound like I heard a song saying:
 There's a land beyond the river,
 That we call the sweet forever,
 And we only reach that shore by faith decree;
 One by one we gain the portal,
 There to dwell with the immortal,
 Someday they'll ring the golden bells for you and me.
I turned from the grave, broken hearted, went home; I couldn't rest. Days passed. I could give up my wife, but that... oh, that baby was the choice of my heart. I didn't know what to do, little sweet girl...
And then I thought, "Oh, what will I do quickly now."

L-68 One day I went... I was working for the Public Service. I climbed up a pole early one morning to--to take off a pole meter. I was standing there, and I was singing:
On the hill far away, stood an old rugged cross...
I was going... And I happened to look, and as the sun come up, me hanging there on that pole working on these cross-arms, looked out on the side, and there looked like my figure a wiggling on that... looked like a cross out there. And I thought, "O Christ of God. Yes, it was my sins nailed You there. I'm sorry for what I done." Oh, I said, "God, how could You ever put up with a person like me. You'd broke my heart, You ground me down. But what can I do?"
And I got real nervous. And I had on a pair of rubber gloves. Many of you linemen knows...?... twenty-three hundred. Running right by me run the primary. And I thought, "Looky here. I can lay my hand on that primary. In one minute's time I'll be with Sharon." I jerked my glove off. I said, "God, I've lost my mind or something." I said, "Sherry, honey, I can't stand it no longer. Daddy's coming to be home with you."
I said, "Look at them..." Twenty-three hundred running there, break every bone in your body, electric. I said, "Our Father Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name." And the first thing you know, I was setting down on the ground. I don't know.

L-69 I believe that if that gift hadn't been foreordained, that'd been the end of your Brother Branham right there. But God had something else to do. He had to grind that heart out and let Him know, let me know that He's the One Who rules and reigns.
I went home. I couldn't stand it, couldn't work. Went over to mama's, and mama said, "Honey, come in. Let me--let me make you quiet."
I said, "I'm going home." And I went home. It was kinda cool weather. I took the mail out of the box and went around. I was trying to batch. We didn't have much in our house. I had an old cot setting back there.
But she'd lived there with me. We'd been together; that'd been our--our home. And it... No matter how little it was, it belonged to her and I. And it was us. The whole thing wouldn't have been three dollars worth of furniture. But it belonged to her and I. It was as worth as much as any of the good homes there is in the world, 'cause it was ours.
And I went back there in the kitchen, cold frost coming up through the floor. And I never will forget, I opened up the mail. The first mail I opened up, it said on there, "Miss Sharon Rose Branham." It was her little Christmas saving. The banker knew that she'd never draw it, so... Dollar and eighty cents. He sent it to me. Oh, I just couldn't stand it. I broke down and started crying. It was getting towards night. I knelt down on the floor. And I started crying and praying. And I... Oh, what a hour.. I couldn't hardly stand it.


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