We got snow here in Southern California, and not just on the mountains. That is rare! Only the third time I have seen it! That was news but it was not a testimony. However, it did remind me of one of the more incredible testimonies in my life. This time we pretty much knew we might get snow. The weather persons had told us. The second time I saw snow was probably about ten years ago, and I knew it could happen than also. It was the tail end of a very cold front and very early in the morning we got a light dusting then. The first time I saw it snow here, and not only on the mountains was about20 years ago. I had no idea.....
I to get some work done for my job. Specifically I had a project to do, and the Lord had told me that He was going to help me with it. So I had been waiting for instructions from Him, but I hadn't gotten any instructions. So I was going in on my day off to do a project. I was a retail manager and I pulled up in front of the store. While sitting in the car I started talking to the Lord, not knowing if I was going to get a response.
"Ok," I told the Lord. "You said you were going to help me with this and it has to get done and this is the time that I have left to do it. So what do you want me to do?" I told the Lord.
"Go home," came the reply from the Lord.
"I had to get this project done. I had driven all the way into the store so I could do it. And I need to get this done", I explained to Him - as if He didn't know - "And You told me that you would help me, So what do you want me to do?" I asked again.
"Go home, your quitting!" came that small but clear voice of His.
"I'M QUITTING???? This is a good job with good benefits", I exclaimed.
"Go home, your quitting," He said again.
I started to drive, but rather slow and the longer way. I needed to think about this a bit.
He is just a little voice, like a thought in my head. At that point I had known Him for a couple of years. So I knew He was weird. He never thought like I thought, but this was pretty extreme. I had gotten fired from one job for telling the employees about Him, but He was now giving me parables, so they were getting the message about Him (Jesus Christ) but since I was giving to them in parables those above them didn't have the proof I was actually talking Christianity and Jesus Christ. Oh, they knew but they could prove it, so I wasn't going to be fired from this job. Yet, He was asking me to quit.
I decided that this was important enough to put forth a test to make sure it was the Lord. So I asked the Lord if He could confirm that I should quit through my pastor. He told me that He could. He seemed to approve the idea. So I went home. It was a nice sunny day going home, and it felt kind of calm. There were a few clouds over the mountains, and the Lord commented on them, "Karl, in the mountains it's snowing and beautiful." Humm... those clouds didn't really look that serious and the day was nice.
When I got home I called the pastor's wife telling her the problem and that I wanted to talk to the pastor. I was told that he would be home in about an hour, so to come over then, which I did.
We went upstairs to his office in his house, and I told the pastor that I believed I heard the Lord tell me that I should quit my job, and that it was a good job that I liked. I expected him to go and talk me out of it, but instead he told me that he felt I could hear the Lord, so I needed to do what He told me. Then he told me how he came about opening the church. It turned out that he had a very good job as a regional manager of a company, when he too had heard the Lord tell him to quit, and that was how the Lord had gotten him to open up a church.
"Ok", I guess that confirmed what He had told me.
Then there was a quick flash of lightning and an incredible roll of deep thunder and shock the house.
Wow!! That was unexpected. Those clouds were moving off the mountains, and it was starting to get dark outside.
Then the Lord told me, "Karl, that's a sign the meeting is over. Tell pastor that he is needed downstairs.". So I did and we started to turn to go downstairs, when we both noticed that it had started coming down hard outside. So we turned to look out the windows. We both saw a little pickup drive up in front of the house and it had snow on it.
I said, "Maybe it is snowing?" And felt rather foolish the moment I said it. It doesn't snow here. I had already lived there over a dozen years and had never seen it snow here.
Yet the pastor commented, "That's my daughter, and she was just around the corner.
So we walked down and outside and indeed it was snowing.
I got in my car and drove off into the snow, which was really beautiful, when that little voice spoke again, "Karl, isn't it beautiful driving into the storm?"
I was quitting my job, not knowing what I was going to do, and some how He saw that as beautiful?
That was just the beginning of a long evening and a longer change which completely changed my life. Looking back now, some 20 plus years later, I am not sure I should have followed Him. Yet it made life interesting. Even the rest of that evening was crazy. Maybe I will cover a bit more...
I to get some work done for my job. Specifically I had a project to do, and the Lord had told me that He was going to help me with it. So I had been waiting for instructions from Him, but I hadn't gotten any instructions. So I was going in on my day off to do a project. I was a retail manager and I pulled up in front of the store. While sitting in the car I started talking to the Lord, not knowing if I was going to get a response.
"Ok," I told the Lord. "You said you were going to help me with this and it has to get done and this is the time that I have left to do it. So what do you want me to do?" I told the Lord.
"Go home," came the reply from the Lord.
"I had to get this project done. I had driven all the way into the store so I could do it. And I need to get this done", I explained to Him - as if He didn't know - "And You told me that you would help me, So what do you want me to do?" I asked again.
"Go home, your quitting!" came that small but clear voice of His.
"I'M QUITTING???? This is a good job with good benefits", I exclaimed.
"Go home, your quitting," He said again.
I started to drive, but rather slow and the longer way. I needed to think about this a bit.
He is just a little voice, like a thought in my head. At that point I had known Him for a couple of years. So I knew He was weird. He never thought like I thought, but this was pretty extreme. I had gotten fired from one job for telling the employees about Him, but He was now giving me parables, so they were getting the message about Him (Jesus Christ) but since I was giving to them in parables those above them didn't have the proof I was actually talking Christianity and Jesus Christ. Oh, they knew but they could prove it, so I wasn't going to be fired from this job. Yet, He was asking me to quit.
I decided that this was important enough to put forth a test to make sure it was the Lord. So I asked the Lord if He could confirm that I should quit through my pastor. He told me that He could. He seemed to approve the idea. So I went home. It was a nice sunny day going home, and it felt kind of calm. There were a few clouds over the mountains, and the Lord commented on them, "Karl, in the mountains it's snowing and beautiful." Humm... those clouds didn't really look that serious and the day was nice.
When I got home I called the pastor's wife telling her the problem and that I wanted to talk to the pastor. I was told that he would be home in about an hour, so to come over then, which I did.
We went upstairs to his office in his house, and I told the pastor that I believed I heard the Lord tell me that I should quit my job, and that it was a good job that I liked. I expected him to go and talk me out of it, but instead he told me that he felt I could hear the Lord, so I needed to do what He told me. Then he told me how he came about opening the church. It turned out that he had a very good job as a regional manager of a company, when he too had heard the Lord tell him to quit, and that was how the Lord had gotten him to open up a church.
"Ok", I guess that confirmed what He had told me.
Then there was a quick flash of lightning and an incredible roll of deep thunder and shock the house.
Wow!! That was unexpected. Those clouds were moving off the mountains, and it was starting to get dark outside.
Then the Lord told me, "Karl, that's a sign the meeting is over. Tell pastor that he is needed downstairs.". So I did and we started to turn to go downstairs, when we both noticed that it had started coming down hard outside. So we turned to look out the windows. We both saw a little pickup drive up in front of the house and it had snow on it.
I said, "Maybe it is snowing?" And felt rather foolish the moment I said it. It doesn't snow here. I had already lived there over a dozen years and had never seen it snow here.
Yet the pastor commented, "That's my daughter, and she was just around the corner.
So we walked down and outside and indeed it was snowing.
I got in my car and drove off into the snow, which was really beautiful, when that little voice spoke again, "Karl, isn't it beautiful driving into the storm?"
I was quitting my job, not knowing what I was going to do, and some how He saw that as beautiful?
That was just the beginning of a long evening and a longer change which completely changed my life. Looking back now, some 20 plus years later, I am not sure I should have followed Him. Yet it made life interesting. Even the rest of that evening was crazy. Maybe I will cover a bit more...
