Psalm 19:1-6
“The heavens are telling the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.”
“Be prepared to tell your story” were the only instructions I was given to prepare for a week at Fire Creek Retreat in North Carolina. I and a handful of other men, with no other connection than knowing (or knowing of) Jack Taylor, would be spending the better part of a week together apparently with “listening” as our primary occupation. While this seemed a bit odd, the unique circumstances of being invited to this gathering had awakened my curiosity.
I had been aware of Jack Taylor for many years. I had read of an account where his Baptist church in Texas (in the late 60’s ?) had experienced an amazing revival and explosive growth that could not have been accounted for without a visitation by God. When I heard him speak in 1996 I heard a man infected with God and His kingdom. He was full of humor, wisdom, passion and freedom. When this internationally known preacher called me from an airport in Florida two years ago, you can be sure I was all ears. I was certainly interested in knowing Jack Taylor better and I was very interested in what he knew about visitations from God and His kingdom of which he was so fond of speaking.
God rescued me at the tail end of what contemporary history refers to as the Jesus Movement. Like JT’s experience, It was a time of revival that could not really be accounted for without God Himself awakening and satisfying intense desires within man. Hunger for God turned out to be one of the common denominators in the guests of JT at Fire Creek. Most of us had experienced God in significant ways in larger corporate meetings so our curiosity was piqued – wondering what to expect from this small gathering, tucked away in the mountains. In retrospect; Beyond the fact of His obvious presence that week, I think the Holy Spirit used two primary catalysts to create the Fire Creek dynamic.
The first was the simplicity of just telling our stories; tracing down the work of God in our lives in the safe context created by an authentic spiritual father, Jack Taylor. No preaching? No teaching? That may sound underwhelming but it turns out, at least based on the things I witnessed God do, that being fully present to each other – away from cell phones and media must be a favored context for the Spirit of Truth to operate. The other catalyst was more subtle; even silent you might say, yet it had its own story to tell. That was nature itself….
“The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands……Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech and there is no words; their voice is not heard. Their sound has gone out through all the earth, and their utterance to the end of the world.”
Romans 1:18- 20 speaks of the truth about God’s eternal power and divine nature being suppressed in man yet creation itself giving sufficient testimony (telling her story) as to even create accountability from man to God.
I think God took us a bit by surprise at Fire Creek. When we disconnected from our normal routines and activities (which too often dominate and define us) it seemed we had rediscovered a capacity within us to listen; to become more available to God and to each other. I confess, I did not see tongues of fire on any man’s head but I did see the love of God overtake a few hearts. I attribute our encounter to this dynamic; the stories of the men gathered had converged with nature’s testimony (story) to create a memorable environment in which God did move.
There is much going on in God’s kingdom and not everything He is doing necessarily looks like what has been done before. Most of us have prayed for more of God. Have we considered that when He answers this prayer, the new wine He pours out will inevitably strain some of us older wine skins as well as the institutions we have formed. Here is one way God stretched me. After my Fire Creek experience, JT had consented to come to Oklahoma to help us initiate a retreat of our own. Jack, the bonafide spiritual father, was unable to come which forced me into the role of imitating him; facilitating the vent. I assure you, that was an absurdly large idea to my mini-wine skin mind and yet a perfectly natural move for God who is raising up a new generation of fathers. God had outmanuevered me and weaned me from my dependence on others who I had labelled as bonafide. He wanted me to deal with my perpetual sense of being un-bonafied. He wants us to understand that it is Christ in us; Christ alone who bonafides.
Father, the visitations You have made; those occasions where you have more directly involved Yourself in our affairs and our hearts, where You have caused heaven and earth to overlap, have brought desirable transformation to our world. We cannot help but cry out for more of Your presence. Help us to live in the awareness that unless it is You building the house that all our labor will be in vain. Grant that our heart’s passions be awakened and then spent on the same eternal things that move Yours. Amen.