Having never regarded myself as very perceptive, I have been pleased and dazzled recently by sensing the action of the Holy Spirit. Does one have to be 76 years of age before catching on? Before seeing and sensing God at work in the midst of daily life? Oh, to be less dull.
Here’s the sighting I refer to. Marilyn and I were visited a dear couple who have served the Lord a long time. We were touring their home and, seeing the pictures of the family, began to talk about their grandchildren. A grandson – Austin — has a gift for art, but has had difficulty breaking into this field to make his living.
I mentioned that years ago a starving artist had done three book covers for us (now he is a national recognized portrait artist I can no longer afford). I hoped that my artist could give their grandson some ideas about how to get into art as an occupation.
Wanting the grandfather to see the quality of work that our artist – Adam Clague — had done, I went to our car to retrieve a copy of Warrior, Wounded, Wisdom (pictured above left), which is a 46-page booklet that addresses the three phases of the lives of some men (Moses, Elijah, Job, Joseph, the Lord Jesus Christ and me).
My only purpose in bringing a copy into their home was to show this grandfather and grandmother the art work, in hopes that he would be impressed and see value in linking their grandson to Mr. Clague.
He looked at the cover of WWW. As the reader sees above, three words are large. Behind Warrior is a man running a race. He is in the lead. In the art work showing Wounded, the same man has fallen down and the other runners are ahead of him. And the Wisdom art shows a man finishing the race, smiling, content, at peace, non-competitive; others already having received their medals.
My artist had done a great job illustrating the title of the booklet (available from Focus Publishing, Bemidji, Minnesota) which is what I wanted the grandfather to see.
For years I have been urging this man to write a book that he is supremely qualified to write. My proposed title would be something like Why, How, and When to Leave a Pastorate. But he has never been drawn to do it.
WWW was left with my friend. I thought he already had a copy, since I give books away frequently. But apparently he had not received a copy.
My friend texted me later in the day saying he had read the booklet and it seemed that God had spoken to his mind and will. He had never previously given me any reason for refusing to write the book I urged upon him. This time he did supply one reason. This godly man seems to be softening about doing the book. He said he wished that he had had the insight from WWW when he was going through tough things in his pastorates. It seemed like the Holy Spirit had used his grandson’s art interest to bring him something out of left field – which may have been helpful to him.
I intended it only to show this man the art work; the Spirit seemed to have a different purpose. To me, that was a sighting of the Holy Spirit.
1. There are two ways to interpret a free book. Either (A) the author is so desperate for someone to read his/her book that he has to give them away to get any attention, or (B) the authors is so eager for people to be helped and encouraged in their Christian lives that the author will give people his book.
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