“Let’s go find some wood,” Tony called to his brother Paul as he pushed out the back door, heading for the street.
“Wait for me,” Paul, a year younger, shouted out as he ran to follow.
Turning right as they hit Taylor Street, Tony, all of thirteen, set a fast pace with Paul, two years younger, in full pursuit!
They quickly passed the delis, fruit stands, and grocers that made up Little Italy in the 1930’s on Chicago's Near West Side.
Cutting south down an alley, Paul tugged at his older brother’s arm, “Where we going, Tony? Where we going?”
Then he saw it as Tony stopped in front of an abandoned 4 story tenement building. The doorway was barred, a warning painted across it, “Condemned! Do Not Enter!”
“We can go in through the window,” Tony said to his brother. “We need to get some wood so Mom can cook supper.” Even as he spoke, he was climbing headfirst through a window that no longer held any glass panes.
The depression of the 1930’s had hit Chicago hard. Jobs were scarce, and pay was low. Food, fuel, and the other essentials of life were expensive.
Work was difficult to find. Shelter was not a given. Parents struggled to simply feed and clothe their children. Each family member had to help in any way they could.
Tony was determined to do his part that day by finding wood that his mother could use to cook supper and perhaps heat the house for a few hours. While Tony’s father had told him to stay away from abandoned buildings, desperate times were pushing Tony to take the risk anyway.
Tony was already inside as Paul struggled to get in and follow him.
The first floor had been stripped bare. Even some of the supporting walls were gone. Tony headed for the stairway.
Much of the planking that made up the stairway had been pried off, so Tony and Paul carefully worked their way to the 2nd floor.
The second floor looked as bare as the first. They headed for the third floor. It too had little to offer. Only the fourth floor was left.
Reaching it, Tony leveraged his pry bar and went to work.
He wrenched off pieces from the doorway, smashing loose timbers from the walls.
Paul’s part was to drag the wood and timbers to the windows and push them out. He watched them long enough to see them hit the ground below and bounce.
Unknown to both Tony and Paul, the structure’s strength had been weakened in ways their eyes could not see, as some of the larger support beams on the lower floors had already been removed.
Soon enough, Tony told Paul, “Go down and guard the pile we’ve made down there! Don’t let anyone take any of it! We’ve got to bring it all home!”
Tony decided to pry loose one last piece from the rafters, but as that board broke loose, he felt a tremor. A “creaking,” a “swaying” was coming now from the center core of the building.
What Tony did not know was that too many structural supports had already been cut away by the desperate men and boys who had preceded him.
Feeling the building sway, Tony sensed the danger he was in. Dropping his pry bar, he ran for the stairwell. But even as he ran, he heard the sound of wood cracking and splitting.
From below, Paul gasped as he saw the roof sink, then break as it fell in on itself. From there, it was like dominoes. The weight of the roof hit the upper floor, which, in turn, crashed down on the floor below. Plumes of dust exploded out of the windows and doorways. The entire building was now hidden from sight.
As the dust, dirt, and debris settled, Paul could see that the entire four-story building had collapsed. There were no more widows to look in or doors to walk through. There was nothing now but a jumble of broken wood, crushed plaster, and shattered glass.
Terrified, Paul ran home as fast as his fear could push him. Bursting into the house, he called out, “The building fell on Tony! The building fell on Tony!”
Mother screamed. Father, having just arrived home, burst out of the front door, running. He knew the building. He had warned Tony to stay away from it! Now his son was entombed within it!
Arriving at the site, he saw policemen keeping the gathering crowd at bay as firemen worked to see if there were any survivors.
Knowing his son was inside, he broke through the line, ran to the mass of wreckage, and started to pull as much as he could at the fragments of wood, plaster, and stone, wailing at the top of his lungs, “My son, my son, my son!”
Two hours later, they found Tony. He had fallen from the 4th floor to the first floor. Miraculously, he was alive and unhurt. The large center beam had fallen directly on him, but instead of crushing him, it had protected him.
How? One end of the beam had hit the foundation wall, which kept that end elevated a foot off the ground stopping just inches from his head.
The strength and size of that center beam had then protected him from all the roofing and sidewalls that poured down after it. No amount of weight could bend or break that center beam, and he was cradled in the angle that had formed beneath it.
As Tony walked home that evening, he knew that God had saved his life in a miraculous way. And as that realization sank in, he knew God was calling him to pastoral ministry. He had felt that call before but had resisted. But now, well, now he could resist no longer.
The miracle Tony experienced that day enabled him to bring the miracle of God’s goodness and grace into the lives of countless men and women, children, and youth over the next 64 years of his life.
Even during the closing months of his life, when he needed assistance getting out of his bed and making his way around the house, he still gave Bible studies to the young man who was helping him.
And one of the interesting things about miracles is that you and I often live in the grace and blessings that flow from the life of the one who has directly experienced that amazing miracle.
I was adopted at birth by Anthony (Tony) and Jacqueline Castelbuono. They raised me to know Jesus Christ as my personal savior. In a very direct way, I live within the miracle that happened to my father on that day long ago!
Call to Action
So what miracle are you living within today? What spiritual legacy is blessing you that comes as a result of what God has done in the life of another?
But don’t stop there! Know that God has worked miracles in your life as well. Some you may be aware of. Some you may have no inkling of. But whether known or unknown, others will live within the miracles that God has done for you!
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
Jeremiah 1:5 ESV
