One of my great Christian friends, John Crosley, smuggled Bibles into communist countries such as Romania and Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Had he been caught, he would have faced a long prison sentence and even death.
John manufactured and sold glass eyes to the taxidermy industry including one of my companies, Wildlife Artist Supply Co., (WASCO), and he’d buy the high quality glass blanks that he needed for his manufacturing and distribution company Tohickon Glass Eyes from those countries as his ticket for entry and access.
When I first became acquainted with him in the early 80’s he was making several trips a year and I remember many times prior to one of his trips I’d get several other people together with him and we’d pray together and ask God to protect him while he was away. He was a great musician and during these sessions we would sing songs and play guitar and we could feel the Spirit of God in the room the entire time. John continued living this dangerous life and delivering Bibles to those who desperately wanted to hear the Word of God through 1991 when the cold War ended.
When he returned from one of his trips he’d tell me spine tingling stories of being stopped at border crossings and having unsmiling guards with machine guns make him open his trunk or look in some other hiding place which was full of Bibles. His heart would be in his throat as he knew he’d be caught, but miraculously the guards didn’t ever see them, even though they were in plain sight. John was convinced that angels were with him on each trip and somehow miraculously blinded them where they could see but not see. John died a couple of years ago and is now in heaven walking with Jesus, but he is alive in my heart and I think of him often.
Yesterday I was talking to a friend of mine who introduced me to speaking in tongues. I’ve never spoken in tongues and assumed it was just some charismatic malarkey. Though I didn’t really believe in it as something that is happening today, I know it occurred on the Day of Pentecost. I always thought that speaking in tongues was just something that happened as a one-time/one day event, and I’d always been of the opinion that those who engaged in it did so for show.
My friend, who is literally sold out for the Lord and filled with the Holy Spirit, told me that she spoke in tongues. When I looked at her like she was a kook and rolled my eyes, she named several of my very close friends whom I know love the Lord with all of their heart who speak in tongues too.
Hmmm . . .
I still was not convinced and cynically asked, “Oh yeah, well can you gimme a little demo?”
Though I was joking around, she was not. She looked at me with a serious expression on her face and asked if I’d like for her to pray for me. We were standing in a large auditorium filled with Bill Glass volunteers walking around everywhere at a prison ministry dinner, but I didn’t care. The next morning I was going into one of the toughest prisons in the United States and I figured I needed all of the help I could get and figured that I could use all of the prayer I could get and would take it any way and in any language that I could get it.
I responded, “Sure, why not?”
Standing right there in that crowded auditorium she put her hands on my shoulders and we bowed our heads and she began praying normally in English, but after a couple of minutes she softly began praying in a beautiful language that I could not understand. It didn’t sound like gibberish, rather seemed to flowed smoothly in intelligent sentences in a pleasant, soothing, and calming manner. I immediately felt chills run up and down my spine, (I call them spiritual goose bumps), and I clearly felt the Spirit of God descend on me. I’ve never talked in tongues but I have experienced God’s presence in such a manner on many occasions and immediately recognized that beautiful feeling of love blanketing me as being the Spirit of God. It was peaceful, relaxing, and calming, yet powerful.
I shall never forget that day. And before you ask, yes, I’m now 100% convinced that some people have been given the gift of speaking in tongues. God has not seen fit to bless me with it to date, but who knows maybe someday it will happen, (I hope so).
I was talking about that experience with my friend yesterday and she told me that she had no idea what language it is that she speaks. I told her that I believe I’ve heard it before. My good friend John Crosley, mentioned above, told me one time that Jesus spoke in Aramaic and out of respect for Him and his longing to emulate Jesus in every way he’d learned several prayers that he could pray in Aramaic.
John used to pray those prayers in those prayer sessions when we would get together prior to his leaving for another dangerous mission. While I cannot be 100% sure that is the language she prayed in, it did sound like it to me.
As I get older I am more open and objective to the power of God than ever before. I hear stories of miracles and I ask myself, “How can I scoff?” I’m a living, breathing, walking, talking miracle myself. The mere fact that I’m not dead, on death row, or in an insane asylum is pretty amazing and a miracle and testament to God’s mercy and grace in itself.
We serve a mighty God. The Bible is full of miracles and so is the world. We have a small herd of Cracker cows also known as Piney Woods cows at Honey Lake and they descended from a strain of cows brought here by the Spaniard explorer Hernando De Soto. Ours came from the Hickman family and their herd used to roam free in what is now known as the De Soto National Forest.
Recently a neighbor called and asked if I knew that we were blessed with a little newborn calf. I told her no and rushed down to see it. He’s a little bull and as cute as can be and as I watched him running around I thought of God and His miracles. I didn’t even know one of my cows was pregnant, but God did. He watched as mama birthed the calf and He filled her utters with milk, and gave him the strength to run around kicking up his heels and tormenting the older cows
I saw his old mama charge after a cow bird that made the mistake of getting too close to him. Woe be unto anyone or anything that gets around her precious little calf. That protective instinct is a miracle of God. So is the air that we breathe the blue sky that we see, the earth and its gravity, the sun that is hung in place to keep us warm, and the Son of God that rose from the dead after three days to set us free from death and sin.
It’s all right to believe in miracles my friends . . .
Have a great weekend and come to Honey Lake Church on Sunday! We are going to sing songs, share testimony, hear God’s word, and be mightily blessed and you’ll be glad that you came to worship the Lord and experience that gentle Spirit descending upon you and leaving you with the peace of God that surpasses all human understanding. It is a miracle.
It’s all right to believe in your miracle God my friends . . .
Psalms 77:14
You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples.