Look How Far We've Come

We made our first trip to the Denver Zoo yesterday.  I think it took me about 20 minutes to find a parking spot - I think all of Denver and half the State of Colorado decided to join us to see some monkeys yesterday.  Jacqueline invited her friend Sabrina to come along, and they are like two peas in a pod - giggling, screaming, chasing peacocks and generally having the time of their lives.  My friend Mike sent me a text message telling me not to throw rocks at the monkeys (inside joke, referring to my "youthful indiscretions" in Africa).  I resisted the temptation.  As I think about it - we spent an absolutely great day together as a family, and the girls didn't even fight on the way there!  We stopped at a gas station on the way home to buy Icees, though after taking one sip I promptly threw mine in the garbage and opted instead to buy milkshakes at McDonalds.  I do have some standards!

We came back home and good friends Tim and Kathy came over for supper (Sabrina's parents).  I grilled hamburgers for the kids and Elk steaks for us; the Elk turned out to be delicious... not bad for road-kill!  I guess anything is good if you marinade it long enough.  Now we only have to eat up 180 pounds of Elk steaks and hamburger in our freezer.

After dinner the kids disappeared and the adults sat around the table talking for another hour or so. Less than a year ago Daphne and I were sitting in the city park next to the zoo - trying to figure out what we were going to do - could we go back to France?  Could I really continue in the same role?  We were so confused, so longing for God to break through and show us what to do.  Well, He did.  Not in the way we were expecting, but He did speak to us, and here we are almost a year later - living in Conifer, in a wonderful home, part of an incredible community of believers, with our needs for the time being provided through our incredible team of supporters who've stood by us for the past 20+ years.  Wow - God is truly amazing.

I've been thinking a great deal about how God communicates with us lately.  I pray almost daily for God to open my heart even more to His Holy Spirit - for my heart to be in tune with His heart.  I find myself so often confused and lacking discernment when counseling others, and I long for God to speak into those situations as well.  Paul exhorts us in 1 Corinthians to "earnestly desire the greater gifts" of prophecy and knowledge to discern His will for His church.  I believe He does want to speak into our lives and into our problems and trials in a supernatural way, to give us special discernment into what is really going on that we may not be able to figure out with our own, very limited knowledge. 

     This morning I read the account of an amazing Scottish Preacher  - Alexander Peden (1626-1686) who was blessed by God with extraordinary prophetic gifting.  You don't usually associate the supernatural workings of the Holy Spirit with the Protestant Reformation - yet the reality is that God was moving then just as He is today; for reasons I don't fully understand, there seems to be a conspiracy of silence on this issue among Christian historians who write about this period of church history.  In any case, this is what I read this morning:

"in 1682, Peden performed the wedding ceremony for the godly couple John Brown and Isabel Weir.  After the ceremony, he told Isabel she had gotten a good man for her husband, but that she would not enjoy him long.  He advised her to prize his company and to keep a linen burial sheet close by, for when she least expected it her husband would come to a bloody end."  
 Even if I sensed this is what the Lord was saying, would I have had the courage to give this news to a new bride?  But Peden did not hesitate to speak what God's Spirit was communicating to him. 

About three years later, Peden spent the night of April 30, 1685, at the Bron's home.  "Peden left before dawn, and as he was leaving they heard him repeating these words to himself, "Poor woman, a fearful morning.  A dark, misty morning."  At 6:00 a.m. John was out in his field when a troop of English soldiers was led by John Graham of Claverhouse, came up and arrested him. John Graham has gone down in history as simply “Claverhouse.” He brought John back to his house and asked him, “Will you repent of your conviction the Christ is the head of the church rather than the King of England?”
Standing beside John Brown was his wife, who was holding the baby, and their little girl. And John Brown said, “No, I will not.”  Then Claverhouse said, “Well, then say your prayers for you shall immediately die.”  John Brown dropped to his knees and he began to pray. Then he stood back up and looked down at Isabelle and said, “Isabelle, you see me, shortly, summoned before the court of our Redeemer, to be a witness in his cause. Are you willing that I should be parted from you?”
Isabelle looked into his eyes and said, “Hartley willing.”  He took her into his arms and he kissed her. Then he kissed his baby boy that was in her arms. Then he knelt down beside his two year old girl. He took her by the hand and said, “My sweet child, always put your hand in God’s hand as your guide. And be a comfort to your mother.”
Then he stood up and he looked up to heaven and said, “Blessed be thou oh Holy Spirit who speaketh more comfort to my heart than the voice of my oppressors can speak terror to my ears.”
This enraged Claverhouse and he order six of his soldiers to shoot John Brown on the spot, but the soldiers remained motionless. They would not draw their weapons. They could not kill someone who love his God that much, who loved his wife that much, who was willing to lay down his life for his God and who had no unkind words for his enemies.
Claverhouse drew his own pistol and shot John Brown right through the head. Brown fell crumpled at the feet of his wife.
Isabelle took off her apron and knelt down and rapped his shattered head with it. Claver house asked her, “Well woman, what thinkest thou now of thy husband?”
Isabelle looked up and she said, “I have always thought well of him, but never more than at this moment.
It was now 7:00 a.m. and Alexander Peden was 11 miles away. He was entering the gate of his friend, John Muirhead’s house. He banged on the door and asked the family to gather around the fireplace with him. He knelt down and said, “Oh Lord, Let the blood of Brown be precious in Thy sight. How long before Thou wilt avenge the blood of John Brown.”
Muirhead grabbed him by the arm and asked him, “What are you talking about?”
Peden said, “This morning, just as the sun was rising, I saw a strange thing in the sky. I saw a bright and shining star fall to the earth. Truly this day, the greatest Christian I have ever conversed has fallen. Claverhouse has been at Priesthill this morning and he has shot John Brown dead and his widow, Isabelle, kneels at his corps with no one to speak comfort to her."

My heart is deeply moved as I read this account - not only by the courage of John Brown and his wife Isabel, but just as much by Alexander Peden who was so in tune with the Holy Spirit that he knew of these events before, and the very instant that they happened.  This kind of supernatural communication is present in every chapter of the book of Acts, with the exception of chapter 17.  I believe God still speaks just as clearly today - the problem is not His lack of communication, but my deafness or unwillingness to hear what He is saying.