Around this time, I moved out of my family’s home into an apartment with four other roommates. We called our household the "Holy Ghost Workshop," which we also used as a greeting for answering the phone. One day, I was driving my car north along North Second Street in Rockford and exited onto Forest Hills Road. Suddenly I had a mental image in which I saw a newspaper headline saying
"Rockford Man Dies in Crash." I somehow knew that this headline was about my own death, which I also knew was about to occur at the intersection of Forest Hills and River Lane about a mile ahead. This seemed like it could be a flash of supernatural divine foresight – in other words a word of knowledge or premonition – but it also seemed like it could be an overactive imagination.
After thinking about it, I was pretty sure it was the latter. Still, I decided to be ready to brake just in case I was wrong. As I approached the intersection, I saw a car parked on the right shoulder, and two men leaning against the fender. Nothing at all seemed dangerous about the situation.
But then, to my surprise, a white car I had not seen backed out of the ditch directly across my path. I locked up the brakes and was barely able to avoid a collision. Without the premonition, I believe I would have hit it. The experience was quite unique, and in all the years since, I have never experienced anything quite like it.
While some would attribute such an experience to some mystical psychic force, I believe that such an interpretation is nonsense, because only an all-knowing being could know what was about to transpire and come up with a plan to change the outcome. The Bible teaches that God knows the future, the past, and everything in between.
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In other words, to me it seemed the only logical explanation was that the premonition was from God.
Furthermore, this is one of several experiences that have convinced me, in addition to the Bible, that God knows the future and cares about our well-being. Sometimes, when difficult times come my way I think about experiences like this, and it seems easier to trust “all things work together for good for those who love the Lord.” (Romans 8:28).
Sometimes I think that the reason people are quick to credit a “sixth sense” or “the universe” with being the source of good things is because to give God credit would also mean we might be expected to walk in God's ways. Yet I am convinced God's ways not only make the most sense, but they are also the most fulfilling way to live life. As the prophet Hosea noted,
“Who is wise? He will realize these things. Who is discerning? He will understand them. The ways of the LORD are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them." [Hosea 14:9 NIV]
The Word of God
In the 1970s I subscribed to a couple of rather liberal magazines that frequently questioned the accuracy of the Bible, while focusing on topics such as world hunger and homosexuality. As a result, I began to doubt the accuracy of God’s Word, and shared my doubts with a roommate. He promptly scolded me. This caused me to feel emotionally distraught and I went into my room feeling I needed to hear from God. Grabbing a random book from the shelf I began to read. The very first words I saw were, “That’s my book!
That’s my book!” I was stunned.
After collecting my thoughts, I looked for what led to those statements and found that the author was a popular Christian writer. Here he was describing his own doubts about scripture. One day, during a Bible Study, he silently 44
confessed his doubts to God. Immediately, he heard a loud voice saying, “That’s my book! That’s my book!” Looking around, he saw this had been spoken by a man in their small gathering who always stuttered, except when he was prophesying. After this, the writer said that he no longer doubted the inspiration of scripture.
Incredibly, God now used that exact same prophetic message to speak to me in my moment of doubt. So now, when I am asked about what I believe about the Bible, I simply reply, “It’s God’s book!”
Street witnessing
Another magazine I subscribed to in those days was Cornerstone magazine from Jesus People USA. JPUSA – or Jepusa as members call it – was a Christian community that practiced street witnessing and wrote about it. It caused me to desire to witness on the street, and now I felt that God was calling me to be more bold. I had begun pondering whether I should move to JPUSA. One evening at Galilee House Coffeehouse that feeling seemed to come to a head.
Leading up to that meeting, I had been praying that God would open doors for me to witness to others on the street, and I had been asking God for a sign. Now you need to understand that I tend to be introverted, and especially at that age I experienced frequent daily panic attacks. Still, as you may recall, a similar encounter had been significant for me when a youth stopped me and gave me his testimony. I knew that I would probably never get involved on my own, so now, I began contemplating big change. I think it would be accurate to say that in those days, I was intent on finding the will of God almost to a fault, if that is possible.
On this particular evening, I told God that if no-one invited me to go street witnessing with them by closing time, I would take that as a sign, and I would move to Chicago to join JPUSA. It should be noted that I had never been invited 45
to go witnessing before, nor was I aware of anyone doing that in Rockford, so it seemed like I had already made the decision to move.
As the night wore on, I prayed fervently, because I think I really wasn’t excited about quitting my job and moving to Chicago. When the music ended, the audience went home. Still, no one approached me. So I hung around and cleaned tables.
Then, I sat down and read my Bible. Finally, close to the time of locking the doors, Our leader, Chuck Mueller, approached and asked if I would be willing to organize a group of volunteers to do street ministry in Rockford! I immediately broke into tears and laughter, and accepted his offer in a most embarrassing fashion with much emotion. He also said I was not the first person he asked, but others had turned him down. He may have been taken aback by my emotional response, but Chuck and Sharon published a brief account of God's answer to my prayer in that month's newsletter. That short conversation became a major step in my spiritual journey.
Of course, I have absolutely no idea how God could have pulled this off. Certainly this must have required that Chuck was obedient to the leading of the Holy Spirit. What if he had not been willing to follow? Whenever I think about it, it leaves me with with more questions than answers.
The result is that during the next two years, I would lead a small group of four to six youth out into the streets of Rockford as we did our best to tell others about Jesus.
During those outings, several people prayed to receive Christ, while many others let us pray with them for other things when we offered. We also led a few people with serious addictions or problems to enter Teen Challenge or JPUSA.
Yet in spite of some success, I felt this was a difficult calling. To approach strangers when one has not been invited and to communicate the gospel with love was daunting for me. I could tell this was not what I was gifted 46
at, although others who went witnessing with us did seem somewhat more suited for the task. Whenever we went out, rejection was common, and each time I would dread going out. In the end, however, the net result seemed beneficial for the Kingdom of God, and was certainly beneficial for my own spiritual growth.
A dream about JPUSA
About this time, I had a vivid dream that involved my sister Karen. My sister had been sharing an apartment with her friend Laura, and Laura had become interested in moving to JPUSA. Karen had previously mentioned to me that she and Laura were planning on visiting JPUSA, but I had totally forgotten this by the time of my dream.
On Saturday afternoon I took a nap and dreamed that Karen had moved to JPUSA, and that I had come to visit. As I pulled in front of the building, Karen walked out. I noticed that she seemed unusually happy. Then I woke up to find myself repeating aloud the words, "Karen is moving to Jesus People. Karen is moving to Jesus People.”
About the time I realized what I was saying, the phone rang and I picked up. It was Karen. She asked, "Guess what?" Without even thinking I replied, "You're moving to Jesus People!" She screamed and asked, "How could you possibly know that?" I told her about the dream I had just had. Then she told me that she had prayed with counselors at the ministry and agreed with them that if God gave her a sign, she would move there. So, she considered my dream the sign she was looking for. She did indeed move in with them for three months, as did her friend Laura. She later told me that the dream was fulfilled, for during those months she felt unusually happy. Later she left, partly because she missed her boyfriend and future husband. But she always considered those three months in Chicago a special time of spiritual growth.
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Protected in a car crash
Not long after this. I purchased a brand new Renault LeCar and owned it less than a year before a blizzard caused me to slide off a road and strike a tree. The accident was severe, and in fact, the car was virtually demolished.
The tree hit the passenger side of the car and the steering wheel wound up resting only an inch away from the tree trunk. I was thankful that no one was with me, for the passenger would have been crushed. Afterward, a police officer insisted on calling an ambulance, given the severity of the crash.
But God had protected me. At the hospital they only found that about one square inch of my scalp looked as though it had been shaved with a razor. Otherwise, except for aches and pains, the ER staff could find nothing wrong.
Later that night I had a dream. In the dream I was driving that same car on the same road where I crashed. It was a sunny day, with green grass everywhere. Up ahead I saw the back of a man walking away from me on the left shoulder. He had long hair and was wearing what looked like a white bathrobe. I thought, “How embarrassing. Why would anyone wear a bathrobe in public out here in the middle of nowhere?” I began to wonder who he might be. At first I thought he must be homeless, but as I got closer I could see the robe looked too nice. So then I thought he must be a monk from some nearby monastery.
But as I came up behind him he suddenly turned around and looked directly at me. Instead of the face of a homeless person or religious monk, I was startled to see a face that radiated love, and was struck by the conviction that this person cared about me. Then I woke up. Only when I was fully awake did I realize that this person must have been Jesus!
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To me, the significance of the dream was that Jesus was letting me know that he had protected me during the car crash. The simple fact that I did not recognize him until after I was awake and processed the clues convinced me that my brain had not concocted this dream, but rather it was from God.
I realize that my accident raises many questions. Why did God even allow such an accident to happen in the first place? Sometimes, we are unable to find meaning in difficult circumstances, and I think we need to trust God, even when on the surface we don't understand, as suggested by these Bible verses in Isaiah. This passage doesn't answer all my questions, but we all know that some things are just too complicated for simple solutions:
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Is. 55:8-9, ESV)
Of course, I also think that in this case there were lessons I needed to learn. I tended to be a bit of a daredevil in those days, and I needed to learn how to drive more carefully. Another lesson was to not buy vehicles above my means. Even after the insurance payoff I still ended up making payments on that car for nearly two more years! I guess the lesson had an effect, because for almost forty years I never did buy another new car. Recently however, we did buy one with the prompting of a slightly miraculous message from God! But that is a story for a later chapter. •
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