Reverend Robert Sheffey (1820-1902) was a powerful man of prayer who spread the gospel throughout the Blue Ridge Mountains of Southwest Virginia. One day he met a family whose young son had been bitten by a rattlesnake. Spotting Brother Sheffey riding by, his father sent his youngest boy to bring him to the scene. Fearing his son would die, the father was counting on Sheffey's reputation for powerful and effective prayer. So he said, "Reverend Sheffey, call upon the Lord so my boy will live."

Brother Sheffey did not recognize the man or his family and inquired as to whether any of them, father, mother or children, had ever called upon the name of the LORD. "No, I guess not" was the father' reply.

So Brother Sheffey knelt on his sheepskin beside the wounded man and prayed:

"Oh Lord, please bring Thy healing to this young man, and Lord in the same breath I thank Thee for snakes and pray that there be many of them. It is because of a snake that this family calls upon Thy holy name today. One of the sons has been bitten, and they called upon Thee. Now, Lord, get the picture: except for the snake they would perhaps never in their lifetimes have turned to Thee. What a blessing this lowly, crawling thing has been! Lord, I want you to send lots of snakes. Send another one to bite the youngest boy here, and send still another to bite this woman who never had her boys kneel by her chair, that they might hear the prayers of their mother. And, Lord, above all things, send a great big rattler, a really large one, to bite the old man so that he may call upon Thy name fervently and much."

Except for the snakes in our life, some people would never call upon the name of the LORD.