1976

This is the story of an evening that absolutely changed my life. It's long and it's preachy, but it's exactly what some of you are looking for. I wrote this for a dear friend...

 

I still recall the closing days of 1975. I was just starting out my life as an independent adult. I had a wife, a great job as a union welder, a new home, a new 4 x 4 truck, and life was good. The only trouble was that I was miserable. I knew something was missing and I had no clue what it might be. I was quickly becoming someone I did not wish to be. I was short on patience and rude to people. My outlook was bleak and my demeanor was worse. I needed help but didn’t know where to turn.

At work I had heard of a preacher-pipefitter who was working in another area of the large construction job I was on. I had also heard that a couple of the other welders had undergone a remarkable change as the result of this preacher’s efforts. I didn’t know any of those involved so I didn’t think much of it. I just did my eight hours every day and went home.

 

One Monday morning when I arrived at work my foreman introduced me to a new hand who was going to be my fitter. It was the preacher.

We worked together for most of the day in relative silence except for the preacher’s constant singing. As I sat on my stool welding he would stand behind me singing gospel songs I had never heard. His songs were about hope and strength and peace and the Holy Ghost and wonderful things to come. He sang constantly. After a day or so of this he predictably asked me, “Son, do you believe in God?” I saw no reason to lie to him so I simply told him the truth, “Well, I don’t know if God is real or not” I said. To that he replied, “Have you ever received the Holy Ghost?”

This question really caught me off guard because I had never heard that one could receive the Holy Ghost. Of course I said I had not and he began to tell me how he had received the infilling of the Holy Spirit as recorded in Acts, Chapter 2. He showed me scripture after scripture in the little pocket Bible he carried about the promise of the Holy Spirit and the power that accompanied it. These were scriptures I had never seen or even heard of. And it was the first time I had heard that a person could actually know for himself, with actual physical proof, that God was real. It was what I had always thought knowing God should be like. 

 

The preacher kept after me for several weeks asking me to come to church and sharing his experiences until I had no more excuses. I agreed to go to a Bible study just to shut him up more than anything else. I went with a friend who had been working in the other area on the job. He had worked with the preacher and the other men who had experienced a change in their lives and he was curious like I was, but not convinced. We met one of the preachers converts and his wife, as well as the preacher’s wife. The four of them shared with us their experiences in God and what they had felt when they received the Holy Ghost. I politely listened but was ready to go home almost immediately. Eventually they asked if we could pray for a few minutes. I sat on the couch with my head bowed hoping this meant I could soon get out of there. I desperately wanted a cigarette!

In a few moments the preacher came to me, knelt by my side, and began to pray for me. His prayer was something I had never experienced before. He was crying before God asking that He would open my eyes and show me what I needed to see and feel. He asked that God would touch me and let me know that He was real. The preacher was weeping and pleading for my soul before God. No one had ever prayed for me.

Within a moment or two I began to feel the most powerful and pleasant feeling. It was like a warm breeze swelling up within me and suddenly I knew that God was standing right there before me. Of course my eyes were locked shut with fear, I was afraid to look. But I knew He was standing right there. I felt the most amazing and complete love and understanding and I knew, at last, that God truly was real. I didn’t yet understand how it was possible but I knew God was in that room with me. I also began to weep, to sob like a very young child. I was helpless in the absolute love I felt along with a measured yet unlimited power. Again, I was standing face to face with Jesus and I knew it!

Within a minute or two my bashfulness regained control of the situation and I refused to yield to the gentle touch of God. But He had touched me. There was no denying that.

We left shortly after and as I was saying goodbye I invited them to my new home for the next Bible study. I still have no idea why I did that, I never intended to.

 

The next day the preacher continued to sing as I welded… per usual. At one point I began to listen to his song, ‘Signs of the Times’, and I realized that every question that was running through my mind was being answered real-time in the lyrics of the song. Again I began to weep. I was having trouble seeing to weld but I didn’t want the preacher to know he was getting to me. Finally he leaned over and quietly spoke into the back of my welding hood, “That’s the spirit of God you’re feeling son, I feel it too”. I had to stop welding.

 

A few days later they all arrived at my house after work and I essentially argued with the preacher for an hour and a half about scriptures I had no understanding of. I didn’t know or want to know anything at that point. Eventually the preacher suggested that maybe they should just leave, and I agreed. It was then that his wife spoke up and asked if we couldn’t just pray for a few minutes. I nodded thinking it would only take a moment and then they would leave. They all knelt and began to pray. I sat on my couch completely confused and lost. I didn’t know what to do but I did want to know God. It was then that the same sweet and powerful spirit swept over me again. And again I began to cry. I simply could not contain the sweetness.

The preacher knelt with me and we began to seek God together at last. I didn’t know how to pray or what to expect so he just encouraged me to tell God how I felt. “Just tell Him what you want” he said over and over as he interceded for my soul. Another welder from work (one who the preacher had won to God) was there at my side as well, he had received the Holy Ghost only a few weeks before.

As I continued to feel the powerful and sweet touch of God I could no longer worry about who was around me, I only wanted this for myself if it indeed was real. I kept telling God that over and over. “If it’s real I want it” I said so many times that night. As I prayed I envisioned a huge wall that separated me from God and there was no gate, no doorway. I was afraid to pray, I was afraid to not pray. I only wanted to maintain the sweet and powerful contact.

At last I could not be denied and I began to plead for what I had to have. I began to tell God how much I had always loved Him and looked for Him. I reminded Him of the many Christmas nights I had cried myself to sleep because the only time of the year I felt close to Him was over. I told him I had always felt out of place. I told Him I loved Him.

Within a few minutes I felt an absolute power sweeping over me and I knew it was indeed the Holy Ghost. I truly began to worship Him at that point (the world does not know what worship in the Spirit is) and I heard my words change to a beautiful language other than my own. At that moment I remembered that the sign of the infilling of the Holy Ghost as recorded in Acts 2 was that God would change the tongue to a heavenly language.

I knew then I had truly been filled with the Holy Ghost. And that I, at last, had found Him.

 

Since that night in early January of 1976 I have seen and heard and felt so many things that leave no doubt this experience is for anyone and everyone who desires it. The single hardest thing I’ve learned is that this experience is too real for most people. They think God could never be that tangible. But I know He is, and more. There are things that I and others I know have seen and heard and experienced that the world would refuse to believe. We have stood ‘shoulder to shoulder’ (another song at the Café) at the gates of Heaven in worship and at the gates of hell in travail and intercession. There are no other people on Earth I trust more. And there are no other people on Earth I would entrust your soul to care for and nurture. That’s why I hope you’ll come for a visit one day. I want you to experience the altar where God dwells surrounded by a handful of faithful old war horses that have already walked the path you are looking for. Look at those footprints just ahead…. I know the folks who left them. Let us help guide you home.

Reviews

[Lorraine Pearson]

What a lovely story of the movement of the Spirit in your life. I always enjoy hearing how one comes to faith, and is moved. Thank you for sharing this piece with me, I am humbled and honored at the same time. You are another bright light that shines in a dim world... nice to know we are relatives! Honest and vulnerable write.
~Lorraiyne

[An Ordinary Woman]

It saddens me that you cried yourself to sleep because the only time of the year you felt close to Him was over.

I think I learned more about God and faith from my Grandmother than from any other person. I've never felt without Him, yet I know I could/should be closer than what I am right now. I know He is dealing with me now, even as I write this. You and another member here have reached out to me in such profound and moving ways that it amazes me even still. This outreaching is pushing me forward and helping me along my way. I'd made a few decisions recently, (I cannot say them here but will explain in a pm later) and I see and feel things happening as I struggle to keep my word, no struggle is a bad choice of words, it is more like "as I try" to keep my promise to Him and to myself. Thinking about it now, this seems like such a small thing for me to do but it has felt so much bigger than me in the past.

As I mentioned before (I think) I am a little familiar with the things you mention here. God has a way of reaching us when we open our hearts to Him. I do believe it is His desire that we want Him in our life so nothing in your testimony surprises me at all, I am so glad you found your place! It is so exciting to hear and know that He is working in your life and that of so many others and exciting for me because I know He is working in mine as well. Thank you for posting this, it has been my delight to read this again; :+)