GLIMPSES OF GLORY
Page Two
I will tell of a strange day, when again at camp,
the congregation were being taught by an Australian lady with a "prophetic
ministry". For the previous few days, I had had impressed on my heart the verse
that speak of "every tenth animal to pass under the shepherd's rod will be holy
to the Lord". Now, being "given" that verse takes a bit of chewing over.
Whatever was I supposed to do with it? Was it even in the Bible? What was the
context? How to relate it to life in the 21st Century?
I sat on it for three days (usually, by then, my butterfly mind will have
wandered off to something more interesting), but it only got stronger. On the
last morning of camp, we were having a seminar, in which people were invited to
act out the Word as the Holy Spirit spoke it to their hearts. Being in a large
tent, with many exits, I could not work out what to do with this verse, but went
off to find something that might look like a shepherds rod. Finding something
that would do, I wondered what to do next. I could not conceive how God would
cause everybody to file out of one exit. Then, imagine my surprise when the
lady leading the meeting said that the previous night she had had a strong
impression tha the meeting should end with a
"sheep-dip", so would everybody please line up and go through (this) door, while
the camp pastors prayed for them to be washed and cleansed as they left. (Sort
of an Aussie thing to do really!)
Well, that sorted me out...I went over and handed my "shepherd's rod" to one of
the pastors (shepherds) and told him what I had been thinking. Then the whole
tent (about 200 people) lined up to leave. The first person to get to the door
went down like a sack of potatoes, and lay on the floor laughing. I was
shocked, and not a little confused. I'd seen people do this, but was not
entirely certain that it was God-honouring. The second person tried to step
over them, and went down in a heap as well. The pastors decided to move back
down the line, rather than having everybody climbing on the "bodies". I had got
into line somewhere back a bit (still nervous) and when they got to me, I was
quite pleased not to be "felled" like a tree. Instead, my knees went weak, and
I sat down on the ground, and then lay down, quite deliberately, to see what
would happen. From somewhere deep inside myself I began to chuckle. Holding it
in would have hurt. Not holding it in hurt too, in that way that you get when a
comedian won't stop telling jokes long enough to let you draw breath. I asked
God what it was all about, and had a very clear picture of the cross, and the
words "...but for the joy that was set before him..." imprinted on my mind.
After several minutes of laughing like this, I tried to get up, and managed to get to a chair. Standing up was not an option. People were coming in for the next seminar, and had no idea what was so funny. The 200 or so people that had been in the tent were all overcome with this infectious joy.
The only phrase I could think of to describe the
feeling was that the tent was "covered in mercy". (I had never heard that
phrase before.) They tell me that some drugs make you feel like this in
parties. There were no drugs involved, just a little bit of obedience, and a
massive dose of grace.
Tasting joy like that is one of those things that is very "out of character" for
me, but it really happened, and if that's a Glimpse of Glory, then Glory will be
a great place to be!
Submitted August 6, 2007
Used with permission
