Tuesday, April 05, 2005
AOTGA - Act 10 Cont'd
Suzanne was now ten years of age. Seven years before, when she had been two and a half, we had moved to another neighbourhood. The first day there I looked out the window and saw her talking to the little boy from across the street. "What's your name?" he inquired. "Do you know da Creed?" was Suzanne's pertinent reply. (Referring to the Apostle's Creed, an affirmation of faith used in the Episcopal and some other communions.) Again the aggressive young male demanded, "What's your name?" "When you learn da Creed I'll tell you," churchy little Suzanne lisped as she flounced off.
One weekday morning nearly a year later we were driving to early morning Holy Communion and singing swinging Christian songs. I wondered if underneath her churchiness and set prayers there was anything more. I thought I would test her with language she would never have heard at St Mark's nursery or in her own home. "Suzanne, are you saved?"
"Certainly, I am."
"Nonsense," I thought, "she has no idea what she's saying."
"How do you know?" I questioned.
"Because I have Jesus in my heart." I suspected flesh and blood had not revealed that terminology to my precocious three year old.
The Easter when she was five she asked to receive Holy Communion at Father Harvey's church. It was a strange request for her to make, as she had been in the Episcopal Church all of her life and she knew children did not receive Communion until they were confirmed, at approximately twelve years of age. I wondered if the Holy Spirit was speaking to her. Several years previously she had notified us that she did not wish to speak in tongues. She explained she had Jesus in her heart and that was sufficient. But God had gotten through to her in some sovereign fashion of His own on this Easter Sunday. At her request, on Easter Monday, Joan Baker and I prayed with her and she received the gift of the Spirit.
Now it was five years later, and suddenly my prayer was answered. One night I had another dream, and in this one we were to leave by airplane (we had wanted to go by ship) on October 2, and Suzanne was going also. The dream showed that Suzanne was not going along as an appendage to Mom and Dad but that she was to be a missionary in her own right. It seemed foolish at the time, but in Indonesia she was asked to speak in three churches and always some people became Christians and some were filled with the Spirit when she spoke. In fact, listening to her, we were surprised to discover that she had better theology than some of our friends!
So we made reservations for October 2 with the travel agency. We continued to be shot full of preventive injections at Dr Casdorph's office in Long Beach. And we wondered how we would ever obtain the remainder of the ticket money.
It had been exciting for God to provide the initial $500 through a near stranger. It proved clearly that it had come from Him. But it seemed sad that so many of our friends did not appear to share the vision. It was particularly so since six months before, when we were celebrating Christmas, a prophecy had come that we had been called together by God for a particular purpose. Perhaps this was the purpose? I asked God to have someone in the group be enthused enough to actually donate toward it. I had learned long ago that "where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."
The telephone rang. It was Ray Smokel. Some years previously I had called him and asked him to do the layout for Trinity. Upon learning that we spoke in tongues, he politely informed me he was not interested. I sent him the magazine. A few days later he called to tell me he had read it all the way through, and he was impressed enough that he very much wanted to do the layout. Later he was baptized with the Spirit and some time afterward his wife Dorothy followed suit. Ray was telephoning this time to tell us he had received a small legacy and wanted to donate $100 toward our venture. It was immensely encouraging.
We shared the dream with Ruth and Cameron Harriot. They were so sure it was from God that they wrote out a check for us to put toward the fare. It was heartening because we were feeling pretty foolish about the whole thing. We had never considered ourselves the type to run our lives by dreams. Perhaps the check from the Harriots was particularly inspiring, as Cam had become a "worker priest" and was serving at St Luke's Episcopal Church without salary. From the day we left for the mission field, the Harriots, who have no visible means of support, have sent us five dollars each week. With backing from people like that, it is small wonder we had such results.
A priest from Mexico, the Rev William Sherwood, was in St Louis on a preaching mission. One night he felt he should telephone home to Mexico. His daughter, Margie, answered and said, "We received the most exciting letter from Rick and Jean," and she proceeded to read to him what I had written of the happenings to date. Father Sherry stopped her. "This is getting too expensive. It will be cheaper for me to go and see them." So we had a telephone call that Father Sherwood was in Oxnard, California, where he had arrived by bus. We went to get him and he told us God had impressed him to give us $777 toward our trip, that it was the perfect number. He wrote us a check and departed. We looked at the amount and wondered if he was becoming senile, but a year and some months later we had cause to remember that figure.
Gail Castle, Paul's daughter, who had worked for me for several years and was like a sister to Suzanne, insisted upon donating her savings (around $300) to the travel fund. One night Kay and Ken Cook wrote out a check and Beverley Gage handed me $50 in cash. People were beginning to believe. I banked the money and carefully added their names and the amounts to the list I was keeping, so if we didn't go we could return the money. Such faith won't do much in the way of removing mountains.
The Indonesian Consulate sent our visas by return mail -- no problem. The travel agent and the people he had contacted for information had all been wrong.
By this time we had received so many inoculations (around fifteen injections apiece) that we decided never to try acupuncture. When we tried to pay Dr Casdorph he quietly said, "I don't think there will be any charge." We knew that by current rates we owed him around $700. "Are you sure?" I asked. "You've spent a lot of time with us." The Presbyterian doctor replied, "That's my guidance." Richard tried to thank him, but he brushed it aside with, "Don't thank me. This is the Lord." We knew he was right.
We were still in the process of giving away our possessions. Daniel was sitting in his favorite green chair one afternoon when Loraine came to help. She had brough her camera and wanted to take Danny's picture. I reminded her that we were not leaving until October and we had more important things to do than photograph a rooster. She was adamant and insisted on taking the picture. The next morning Rick and I went to the grocery store. When we returned at noon, Danny was gone. The other roosters were there, but Danny had vanished. He could not have flown over the fense; it was more than five feet high. And even if he could have, he would not have done so. None of the roosters even like the gate left open; they were definite homebodies. There were no feathers -- no signs of struggle -- nothing. We searched everywhere, including the neighbor's yards. We even advertised his disappearance in the newspaper and offered a reward, but Danny was never heard from again. It would have been traumatic to have left him behind to the mercy of someone's knife and fork, as we had to do with the other roosters. Some have advanced the theory that God took him. Perhaps he should be given another name -- Elijah.
We were ready to depart but still had no tickets. The travel agent telephoned regularly and pleaded with us to come and get the tickets. She didn't know it, but we still didn't have enough money. By this time our friends were sure we were going. They had thrown a magnificent farewell for us at the Tail O' the Cock, complete with pepper steaks and presents. We were still short $100. I telephoned Jean Clemeshaw one day to ask if she would like to have my gold leaf cabinets as a gift. She had been a good friend to Trinity and I was appreciative. She wanted them but didn't have space in her new apartment. However, she wanted to know why we were giving things away and where we were going. I told her the story (by long distance) and she insisted that she be included in such an inspiring enterprise. She mailed $100, which was exactly the amount needed.
We arrived at the travel agency to collect the tickets just before closing time Friday afternoon. Monday morning we were to leave at 7:00 AM for the airport. We had our tickets and our luggage packed, but we had no money at all. But for the first time we were completely convinced that God had managed the campaign. So we had no fear of the future; in fact we were absolutely buoyant. What a strange way to behave -- to travel half-way around the world with no money.
Sunday, at midnight, the telephone rang. It was Western Union. Someone had wired us some money. Richard was too sleepy to ask how much or who from. The next morning on the way to airport we stopped for it. It was $90 from two people we had never heard of! And that's how we went to the Orient.
At 10:00 AM on October 2, the Japan Air Lines DC-8 soared into the air carrying three green apples to strange orchards. We would witness many bizarre happenings and have some peculiar experiences before we again set foot in America.
Click here for the Table of Contents
One weekday morning nearly a year later we were driving to early morning Holy Communion and singing swinging Christian songs. I wondered if underneath her churchiness and set prayers there was anything more. I thought I would test her with language she would never have heard at St Mark's nursery or in her own home. "Suzanne, are you saved?"
"Certainly, I am."
"Nonsense," I thought, "she has no idea what she's saying."
"How do you know?" I questioned.
"Because I have Jesus in my heart." I suspected flesh and blood had not revealed that terminology to my precocious three year old.
The Easter when she was five she asked to receive Holy Communion at Father Harvey's church. It was a strange request for her to make, as she had been in the Episcopal Church all of her life and she knew children did not receive Communion until they were confirmed, at approximately twelve years of age. I wondered if the Holy Spirit was speaking to her. Several years previously she had notified us that she did not wish to speak in tongues. She explained she had Jesus in her heart and that was sufficient. But God had gotten through to her in some sovereign fashion of His own on this Easter Sunday. At her request, on Easter Monday, Joan Baker and I prayed with her and she received the gift of the Spirit.
Now it was five years later, and suddenly my prayer was answered. One night I had another dream, and in this one we were to leave by airplane (we had wanted to go by ship) on October 2, and Suzanne was going also. The dream showed that Suzanne was not going along as an appendage to Mom and Dad but that she was to be a missionary in her own right. It seemed foolish at the time, but in Indonesia she was asked to speak in three churches and always some people became Christians and some were filled with the Spirit when she spoke. In fact, listening to her, we were surprised to discover that she had better theology than some of our friends!
So we made reservations for October 2 with the travel agency. We continued to be shot full of preventive injections at Dr Casdorph's office in Long Beach. And we wondered how we would ever obtain the remainder of the ticket money.
It had been exciting for God to provide the initial $500 through a near stranger. It proved clearly that it had come from Him. But it seemed sad that so many of our friends did not appear to share the vision. It was particularly so since six months before, when we were celebrating Christmas, a prophecy had come that we had been called together by God for a particular purpose. Perhaps this was the purpose? I asked God to have someone in the group be enthused enough to actually donate toward it. I had learned long ago that "where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."
The telephone rang. It was Ray Smokel. Some years previously I had called him and asked him to do the layout for Trinity. Upon learning that we spoke in tongues, he politely informed me he was not interested. I sent him the magazine. A few days later he called to tell me he had read it all the way through, and he was impressed enough that he very much wanted to do the layout. Later he was baptized with the Spirit and some time afterward his wife Dorothy followed suit. Ray was telephoning this time to tell us he had received a small legacy and wanted to donate $100 toward our venture. It was immensely encouraging.
We shared the dream with Ruth and Cameron Harriot. They were so sure it was from God that they wrote out a check for us to put toward the fare. It was heartening because we were feeling pretty foolish about the whole thing. We had never considered ourselves the type to run our lives by dreams. Perhaps the check from the Harriots was particularly inspiring, as Cam had become a "worker priest" and was serving at St Luke's Episcopal Church without salary. From the day we left for the mission field, the Harriots, who have no visible means of support, have sent us five dollars each week. With backing from people like that, it is small wonder we had such results.
A priest from Mexico, the Rev William Sherwood, was in St Louis on a preaching mission. One night he felt he should telephone home to Mexico. His daughter, Margie, answered and said, "We received the most exciting letter from Rick and Jean," and she proceeded to read to him what I had written of the happenings to date. Father Sherry stopped her. "This is getting too expensive. It will be cheaper for me to go and see them." So we had a telephone call that Father Sherwood was in Oxnard, California, where he had arrived by bus. We went to get him and he told us God had impressed him to give us $777 toward our trip, that it was the perfect number. He wrote us a check and departed. We looked at the amount and wondered if he was becoming senile, but a year and some months later we had cause to remember that figure.
Gail Castle, Paul's daughter, who had worked for me for several years and was like a sister to Suzanne, insisted upon donating her savings (around $300) to the travel fund. One night Kay and Ken Cook wrote out a check and Beverley Gage handed me $50 in cash. People were beginning to believe. I banked the money and carefully added their names and the amounts to the list I was keeping, so if we didn't go we could return the money. Such faith won't do much in the way of removing mountains.
The Indonesian Consulate sent our visas by return mail -- no problem. The travel agent and the people he had contacted for information had all been wrong.
By this time we had received so many inoculations (around fifteen injections apiece) that we decided never to try acupuncture. When we tried to pay Dr Casdorph he quietly said, "I don't think there will be any charge." We knew that by current rates we owed him around $700. "Are you sure?" I asked. "You've spent a lot of time with us." The Presbyterian doctor replied, "That's my guidance." Richard tried to thank him, but he brushed it aside with, "Don't thank me. This is the Lord." We knew he was right.
We were still in the process of giving away our possessions. Daniel was sitting in his favorite green chair one afternoon when Loraine came to help. She had brough her camera and wanted to take Danny's picture. I reminded her that we were not leaving until October and we had more important things to do than photograph a rooster. She was adamant and insisted on taking the picture. The next morning Rick and I went to the grocery store. When we returned at noon, Danny was gone. The other roosters were there, but Danny had vanished. He could not have flown over the fense; it was more than five feet high. And even if he could have, he would not have done so. None of the roosters even like the gate left open; they were definite homebodies. There were no feathers -- no signs of struggle -- nothing. We searched everywhere, including the neighbor's yards. We even advertised his disappearance in the newspaper and offered a reward, but Danny was never heard from again. It would have been traumatic to have left him behind to the mercy of someone's knife and fork, as we had to do with the other roosters. Some have advanced the theory that God took him. Perhaps he should be given another name -- Elijah.
We were ready to depart but still had no tickets. The travel agent telephoned regularly and pleaded with us to come and get the tickets. She didn't know it, but we still didn't have enough money. By this time our friends were sure we were going. They had thrown a magnificent farewell for us at the Tail O' the Cock, complete with pepper steaks and presents. We were still short $100. I telephoned Jean Clemeshaw one day to ask if she would like to have my gold leaf cabinets as a gift. She had been a good friend to Trinity and I was appreciative. She wanted them but didn't have space in her new apartment. However, she wanted to know why we were giving things away and where we were going. I told her the story (by long distance) and she insisted that she be included in such an inspiring enterprise. She mailed $100, which was exactly the amount needed.
We arrived at the travel agency to collect the tickets just before closing time Friday afternoon. Monday morning we were to leave at 7:00 AM for the airport. We had our tickets and our luggage packed, but we had no money at all. But for the first time we were completely convinced that God had managed the campaign. So we had no fear of the future; in fact we were absolutely buoyant. What a strange way to behave -- to travel half-way around the world with no money.
Sunday, at midnight, the telephone rang. It was Western Union. Someone had wired us some money. Richard was too sleepy to ask how much or who from. The next morning on the way to airport we stopped for it. It was $90 from two people we had never heard of! And that's how we went to the Orient.
At 10:00 AM on October 2, the Japan Air Lines DC-8 soared into the air carrying three green apples to strange orchards. We would witness many bizarre happenings and have some peculiar experiences before we again set foot in America.
Click here for the Table of Contents
# posted by LeeSun @ 2:23 pm 
