Last week our church had a guest speaker. I have been dissecting my notes from that sermon ever since. The title of the sermon was 'Position for Influence'. Pastor Mark Ramsey of Citipointe Church in Brisbane, Australia, said a lot of profound things during that sermon; but it was a story that he told that really gripped my heart. As I sit here writing, uh, typing this blog, tears are coming to my eyes.
He told this story of being out on a ski lift with some other church leaders and as they were going along in the ski lift they saw two skiers moving at high speed down the ski slope. They heard the lead skier yelling commands at the skier following closely behind: 'left!', 'right!', 'straight!'. They later found out that the 'following' skier was blind. Pastor Ramsey went on to say, and I'm paraphrasing, that no matter what outside noises the blind skier heard, he heard his leader above it all. He also said that 'we need to become good at being led by The Holy Spirit.'
The story of the blind skier got to me. I wondered if I were truly hearing, or listening out for God's voice. Many of us as Christians can tell of at least one time in our relationship with Christ when He has spoken into our spirit. It was so pervasive that we could not avoid it no matter how much we might have tried. Trust me, there have been times when I have tried to look the other way when God was speaking to me. It just was not convenient to do what He had asked. Of course in the end, I would end up obeying. Hey, I'm just being real.
As we grow in our relationship with Christ, the hesitancy, fear, or discomfort should become less and less, right? Well, as I sat there listening to the sermon, I began to write a check for the guest speaker, for an affordable amount, when that voice showed up and gave me another dollar amount. Wouldn't you know it was double the amount I had in mind? The battle began. I sat in the pew struggling. God won. I wrote the check.
It had been some time since I had heard God's voice like that. The last few months my relationship with Christ has been a struggle. Deep down I knew I would not turn my back on God, I would not walk away, but I have been dealing with deep hurt, so for Him to talk to me on that level, telling me how much to write the check for, it had been a while. Like many of you who have been Christians for some time, God does not give me any wiggle room. When He tells me to do or not to do something, He makes Himself quite clear in His instructions.
Let me tell you one more story as proof. Many years ago, in the early 2000's, I had stopped at the Mobil gas station at the corner of Sand Lake and Orange Blossom Trail, local readers know exactly where that is. As I was pumping gas into my new Jeep a homeless man was walking by with a shopping cart that probably carried all of his belongings. I will never forget the beautiful curly hair this man had. Most people have some noticeable trait and his was his curly hair. Just then, the Holy Spirit told me to go into the store and buy three particular items, put them into a bag, and hand them to this man. Immediately I pretended not to hear what I thought I just heard. No way, that was so way out of my comfort zone. I got into my Jeep and drove out into traffic. God kept speaking to me, telling me over and over to do this thing. I was at the light! Sigh. I turned around and went back into the Mobil, picked up the items, but instead of a can of Coca Cola I picked up a bottle of Coca Cola. Immediately God said to me, "I did not tell you to pick up a bottle of Coca Cola, I told you a can of Coca Cola." I put the bottle back and picked up the can. I had picked up the bottle because it was more for the man to drink, I was trying to be practical. I drove back out to the traffic light wondering how I would get this done as he was already at the cross walk. It just so happened that I was first at the light. If you know that intersection you know that was a God thing. As I got to the light and he started to cross, I rolled down my window and called out to him. I handed him the bag, he looked at me, looked at my Jeep, looked back at me, and said 'thank you.' He had already opened the soda before he reached the other side of the street.
I will probably never know why God said can versus bottle, but I will always remember that command from God. I don't know if it will ever get easy, at least for me, to step out of my comfort zone, but step out I will. Even when I'm walking through the valley, I will trust and obey God. I have to '...become good at being led by The Holy Spirit', no matter what life throws at me and He allows.
"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." Psalm 23:4.
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