In my post yesterday I described the ‘quiet miracle’ we were privileged to be part of during “The Troubles” in Northern Ireland.
No sooner had I posted than I got an immediate response from our dear friend Claire. (‘The mother of the bride’ in pink, above : – )
Paul,
I am up very late with the most horrible cough that has banished me to another room so that Kieran can sleep.
As I sip my Beechams powder I am praying for more Mike the Bikes.
That is a very significant photo.
We all know that bicycles are not rocket science, and yet so much can go so far wrong!
It takes someone with a sharp eye, fine tools and gentle touch, to fix a bicycle.
They almost have to love the thing back into working order.
I believe that God will bring you strategic people.
Not rocket scientists…..people with a sharp eye, fine discernment and a gentle touch.
People who will love you back into working order.
Dear Lord our Father hear my prayer.
Bring those Mike the bikes out of their sheds and into the Kyle’s forecourt.
Bring them to the door, knocking, with their aprons on and holding the necessary tools.
Let the good hearts of good men and the sensitive touch of a master craftsman fix this mess.
Lord get the chain back on this bike!!!
It’s not a big deal but without that chain this thing won’t go anywhere.
Father in heaven, you are our master craftsman.
We are all made by your expertise and adoring love.
Please just fix this bike.
In Jesus name,
Amen
With lots of love.
Claire
I realized that this marriage between ‘Ulster Prod’ Claire McKeown (as she was) and ‘Irish Catholic’ Kieran Hunt was a ‘flesh and blood’ expression of that ‘quiet miracle’. In those days those two would likely never have met much less married and the ‘fruit’ to date of this beautiful union…..the four wonderful children with three spouses pictured above.
I delayed posting the last blog for 10 days because I felt the opening rate from the previous one needed to top the usual 40% (which is my average, and exactly twice the Mail-chimp average). So on Monday our dear sister Velvyn from Belfast clicked in to read and the opening rate went up to 40.1%
(I smiled when Father pointed out to me that 401K is the name of the pension scheme here in the USA. Hilary and I have made no provision for a ‘retirement’ plan, but know that our children, natural and spiritual, are our true and lasting inheritance.)
That same opening rate occurred for yesterday’s blog – today! That is after 1 day rather than 10! Does this represent a ten fold increase in speed in the ripening of God’s purposes, with this blog being given hot on the heels of yesterday’s?
The number of openings on both occasions was 144. This is the gematria for Lazarus and the number 144,000 in Revelation chapters 7 and 14 of the company who represent those who will participate in the first resurrection to reign and rule as the body of Christ, with Jesus our head, for a thousand years on the earth.
I believe these ‘God-incidences’ are given as signs that we are indeed at that time in history.
We are even now experiencing the answer to Claire’s prayer as we ready ourselves for this next chapter of even more fruitful service as God establishes his ‘order of working’ together with the members of the ‘Body of Christ’ he ‘joints’ us to in his worldwide ‘chain’, for the great harvest of the earth.
