Stories of how Jesus is working in the lives of believers; working on discipling, transforming, refining -- but mostly on rebuilding our broken relationship with God, our Father.

Two Spiritual Episodes
How does God train us to become one with Him? . . .

Two Spiritual Episodes
By Roger Newell, Elder
July, 2009

How does God train us to become one with Him? How does He cultivate intimacy with us? Are there "little" moments in our daily circumstances that are teaching opportunities? Of course there are, and the fun is recognizing them and drawing upon the insight and understanding they give us.

Indulge me for a moment as I share with you a very private, personal playful example where an evening stroll became a spiritual adventure.

Beverly and I traverse a meadow next to a golf course on our evening walks. Over many months we have found lost golf balls. They would show up here and there like little Easter eggs. The anticipation and allure of finding them became intriguing. Was this all just chance? Could there be a spiritual application here? Did God want to teach us something special about Him?

A verse came to mind: (Proverbs 16:9) "In his heart man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps". Now, that was clearly an invitation, so a test was devised!

Each time we approached the meadow God was asked, "Which way do You want us to go?" Whether we zigged or zagged there would be a ball dead on in our path. Amazing! Okay, let's up the ante! Lord, "Which way through the thickest, knee high wild oats and grasses do You want us to go?" Same thing happened! A ball, but this time it could only be found by stepping on it! Wow! This was getting interesting! Then, an unexpected twist. Do we follow logic and reasoning or respond to an intuitive prompting? To our left was a thick patch of weeds, to the right low dry grass. Logic said "Choose the thicker area, we won't find anything in that low grass because we can easily see from where we are standing that there are no golf balls over there." As the body started to move left, a strong urge caused a course correction which went against reasoning and turned right. After a few steps, hiding under the shelter of low, wide leaves were two golf balls hidden from sight waiting to be discovered! Okay, okay, we were getting the message! Our eyes, our minds, our common sense are not enough to know with certainty what is ahead of us. When we seek God, choosing to put ourselves under His authority, He will guide us through our circumstances in purposeful ways beyond our incomplete perspective.

Here is another very personal experience to share with you which reveals the active presence of God in our life!

Beverly and I were returning one afternoon from Big Sur, just passing the entrance to the Highlands Inn going around a blind curve. Out of nowhere I had an urgent command in my mind, "MOVE TO YOUR RIGHT AS FAR AS YOU CAN, NOW!!!" Without hesitating I swerved to the outside shoulder. Simultaneously a car came around the bend. It was properly in its lane and I thought to myself, "I sure gave him a lot of room", but before that thought had completed, a second car came flying around the bend four feet into our lane! Without that "spiritual prompting" and being obedient to it, Beverly and I would have been in a head on collision!

The reason for sharing these two events is to encourage you to do the same. Consider sharing your special moments of engagement with God, however profound or simple. Let your testimonies bear witness that we do have an intimate, personal experiential relationship with our Lord. I encourage you to share such times with our Mayflower family for our enrichment and edification. If this suggestion appeals to you please let me know so we can make this a regular Beacon feature.

One of your servant leaders,
Roger Newell

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