If ye shall ask anything in My name, I will do it. John 14 v14
One never knows what a day might bring. Today found me sitting with the son of a murderer, surrounded by vicious dogs who, it seemed, would surely tear me apart were they not chained, Another rather more benign Alsation sniffed the ground at my feet accompanied by a small terrier snapping at his heals.. Billy and I were singing, “Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice”. Billy’s brother looked at us from the pushchair, about two years old I guess, his face black with grime. Billy’s father came over. “Billy boy, make the preacher man a cuppa tea” . What am I doing here I wondered? My mind went back to our first meeting the day before.
I had preached out the Word in Westfield Market and offered Gospels to the market traders nearby. They were shy. “Not for me mate”. I offered one to the man sitting behind me. “No not me” “What have you got there?” a voice enquired. “Its a Gospel of John” I explained. “We are all the Lords, us Gipsy’s”. The man who spoke was short, slim. “I’m from…..farm he told me. Charlie confessed that he was a convicted murderer. His prison sentence had been reduced to manslaughter and he had served seven years in prison. A long sad tale, of hatred, greed, tragedy. He boasted of his big place, the Rolls Royce, and how when his son had died, he went to pieces. He had got through £200,000, lost everything and ended up living in a Morris Oxford for six months.
Charlie told me that his cousin was an Evangelist, travelling around having healing meetings. He said the Lord had healed his younger son whose neck had been bent over, when the preacher man had prayed, the Lord had healed him. Charlie was a strange mixture, one moment talking of the Lord then in the next breath, he was angry, aggressive and threatening.
At one time he screwed up his fist and told me that if anyone touched his mate, even if there were twenty of them, he would go for them. He boasted of a title fight. of being knocked out and lying in a coma for three months . We talked together for a long time. Charlie requested prayer for his wife Connie, who was very ill. He invited me to visit him and gave me directions to the farm, “Come anytime, It would be a privilege”.
That night I asked the Lord if I should go. It would mean doubling back which I seldom do. However the Lord said “Yes”, so the next day I drove down the narrow lane leading to the farm. Driving through the gates I was set upon by two terrible dogs.
I have never met such aggressive animals. They were chained up but not realising this I had alighted from the car and then frozen with fear as they raced towards me. They stopped a yard from me growling and snarling. I felt like Daniel thrown into the lion’s den. When Charlie arrived I had almost frozen into a pillar of salt. He invited me to come over, then remembering the dogs rebuked them and called them off. It took several moments for my frozen limbs to respond normally.
Charlie was telling me that the animals were unleashed at night. I felt tremendous sympathy for any foolish intruder. Nervously I edged around the area the dogs could reach, I was not taking any chances. Gratefully I reached the broken seat the Charlie had indicated and sat down looking around me in amazement. Huge piles of scrap metal, wrecked cars, old baths, bits of wood, wire, were everywhere. Scattered around the ground were lumps of decomposing, half-gnawed bones. In front of me was an old camper van lying on its axles, the door open. Charlie lived in a broken down railway carriage. He pointed with pride to a shack telling me he had built it himself. “I’m renting it out to two friends”. Huckleberry Finn could not have built worse. It was made up of odd wooden planks, corrugated iron sheets, different shaped windows and doors with both tiles and slates and plastic for a roof. There was a kaleidoscope of paintwork and the upper story leaned over ominously at a crazy angle, what sort of people could live there and what rent would they pay I wondered.
Charlie was telling me of the two men who had attacked him outside a pub one night, kicking him, leaving him for dead. He showed me the scars on his arms and face. He said that he was in hospital for months, with broken ribs and fractured skull swearing he was going to get them. His fist closed up and his face took on a mean and frightening look and I realised with some horror that there was murder in his heart.
We were interrupted by a van arriving and stopping in the yard. Charlie ran over to warn them “Don’t stop there the dogs u’l tear you to pieces, drive over here”. Two men got out of the van, they made a strange sight. One man was on crutches, the other clutching his face and his speech was slurred. Charlie introduced me as the preacher man and I had come to pray. The men were looking for some doors. Charlie went off with the men calling out to Billy “Make the preacher man a cuppa. When Billy boy brought the tea I was appalled. The cup was so dirty the liquid within it, shocked me. I remembered the words of Jesus “If you drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt you.” I silently prayed. Wally, the little boy in the push chair is trying to eat the Gospel booklet I had given to Billy earlier when he said he could read. “Don’t let him do that” Billy jumped up and retrieved the torn booklet rather too late.
We sat together as I sipped the drink. Billy started to tell me in a strong Cockney accent of some Bible stories.
“There wuz this geezer who wuz captured by this King and taken to a town. The King had dream about thick corn and thin corn how the thin corn ate up the thick corn. This geezer told the King the dream. Told him to store up the corn in barns”. Billy was using the name of Daniel but I realised he meant Joseph. There were snatches of Daniel in the lions den. The wonderful thing was the way he was emphasising points and modulating his voice, stressing this point and that. I looked at him in amazement, I guessed he was no more than eight ? It thrilled me to hear him.
“Do you know this one”? He started to sing, ” Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice”. I joined in. When we finished Billy told me of his bruvver. How the preacher man had prayed for him, on the platform and how the Lord ‘ad’ ealed ‘im’. “His neck wuz all bent and then it came straight up. And there wuz this geezer whose arm was all twisted and when the preacher man prayed for im is arm came straight up”. I said “Praise the Lord” and told Billy that it was the Lord Jesus who had the power to heal, that Billy could ask Jesus to come into his heart and help him whenever he was in trouble.
We were interrupted by the return of the two men. They had found what they were looking for and sat down to have a drink. We had hardly got settled when another vehicle came into the yard disgorging two women and hoards of children. This was Connie, Charlie’s wife. She was clutching her stomach. They had returned from the Hospital. The news was not good for they had diagnosed cancer. She had to phone back with the names of her tablets. I sat listening to the confused conversation thinking what could I do?
Connie went off in the car to phone the hospital. I turned to Terry who was holding his face. “I feel I ought to pray for you, would you mind? “No mate you go ahead” I explained that I had no healing power but the Lord could heal. I laid hands on Terry and prayed. Terry was grateful and soon after they left. I talked with Charlie. “Charlie, God will not answer your prayers while there is murder in your heart. You must forgive. If you forgive others, the Lord will forgive you”. Charlie was quiet. Connie returned. “Could you pray for her?” Charlie asked. “Yes” I replied. Connie was telling me, “Yes I have faith.
The Lord really helped me when my son died”. We went into the railway carriage, the children followed us. Connie said, “The preacher man is going to pray, close your eyes”. It was a precious moment as we knelt together in that old railway carriage.
How strange are God’s ways. I remembered Gods word, ”Behold I am the God of all flesh, Is there anything too hard for me?” 1 JER 32.27.