My friend walked toward me at a furious clip and to his right side a lady in a long skirt down the floor, easily kept right up with him. Later I asked him: “Who was the lady walking next to you?” His response: “What lady?” This occurred just recently in the last two months in the same store in which “Double Header” occurred.

 

     In 2005 when I miraculously came to faith from atheism (testimony) I started attending a very large non-denominational Church. One Sunday there in front leading the service was a missionary completely dressed in the clothes he wore in Afghanistan. His stories were captivating, his dress totally foreign, but half way through his talk he sent electricity through me. He stood in front of 400 people and blithely said: “The Lord raised a man from the dead and his entire village became Christians.”  How could this be? That’s all old testament stuff. That’s stuff from the time of Y’shua; not today! Not so fast, my friend!

 

     In 39 years running a business, a “sense of urgency” was considered critical. Do it now! Get it done! What’s most important task that I need to get done –right now-? Twelve hours a day, productivity was the watchword. Eliminate-Delegate! Eliminate wasted effort. Delegate routine tasks! I could go on and on, but I am sure you have the idea. Patience? Yes of course, but in moderation! Too much patience and the competition might make the sale that I miss by being patient.

 

     Once I became a Believer I discovered that “patience” is one the fruits of the Ruach. Being a Born from Above Believer is not some kind of instant pudding! It was 6 August 2005 that the miracle occurred and I believed, but it was not until 2010 that I finally, by the power of the Ruach, quit smoking. So here we are ten years on and I am still struggling praying and working to exercise –patience-.

 

     After two weeks of prayer, today was the day that the Ruach placed it on my heart to finally write what you are reading. The absolutely first thing that happened was the “blue screen of death”. A dead computer. This morning I had my normal, lack of patience reaction! The sky is falling and I am filled with anxiety. But wait! I keep writing: No matter how small. No matter how large. Stop, pray and listen for that small voice. I need to take my own advice! Pray for The Shalom that passes all understanding! As shalom washed over me, without one idea of what to do, I opened the computer case and went to work. Two hours later it’s working. In the past I would have been proud of my skill. Today I will tell you that my hands were guided by that still small voice. Who fixed it? Praise YAH!

 

    Back to my friend. You have to understand that my friend and I had been spending a few minutes talking two or three times a week for six months. It was not random talk, but rather it was/is guided by the Ruach ---on both sides. YAH has a long term plan, but we walk quietly obedient not knowing what that plan is to be. But after six months, I was exhibiting a rather overt attitude of impatience. It was at that moment that I looked up to see my friend walking toward me.

 

     My friend was focused on me and was almost running! I was amazed at the lady who was so close to my friend that they could touch elbows. She was keeping up with my friend’s furious pace! I watched the two of them as they closed the fifty (50) feet in short order. They were like two fighter jets closing at me head on. She was a full 1.5 feet shorter than my friend, dressed in a floor length dark tan skirt, with darker tan blouse. She had long curly dark hair and tan completion, but most importantly she maintained the biggest grin as she focused her brown eyes intently on me. There was intense eye to eye contact! All of a sudden my friend peeled off to the left going through the double doors to the stock room.

 

     At that moment this lady, still smiling with her eyes riveted to mine continued to close fast until she was 15 feet away. At that moment she looked at me sideways with just her left eye, raised her left arm and pointed directly at me, looking down that pointed finger like a gun sight. Continuing to walk and smile, her voice boomed with authority: “You! Have to have patience!!!”

 

     With that I rolled my eyes for a split second, thinking, ‘I need this like a hole in the head.’ And then looked back. A split second, that’s all. In that split second she was GONE! I ran and looked down all the aisles. GONE! Just plain flat out GONE!

 

     I will tell you that this event un-nerved me. I was still looking around when my friend reappeared. I asked him who the lady was next to him. She was so close to his right and paralleled his fast pace. It un-nerved me again when he said “What lady.”

 

     Does it take a messenger to wake me up to –patience-, a fruit of the Ruach.  Apparently so!

…and I am here to testify that YAH’s messengers are real. Most likely they are just not all so recognizable. Praise YAH!