REVELATION!

I just had a revelation about revelations! Not as in the “book of”, but rather the “unveiling”. It all started with a fishing trip in Ireland...

One afternoon on our last trip to Ireland, we found ourselves hanging out at the apartment we had rented with absolutely nothing to do. We had already driven around half the country (literally) and had gone to the seashore so many times that you could build sandcastles on the floorboards of our car! You know how it is when you go to the beach...sand stuck to everything! And we had two teenage girls with us, who weren’t interested in doing much of anything but “chillin’”. SO, one of my guys came up with the brilliant idea of fishing! Woohoo!!! Ok, not really much emphasis on the “woohoo” from me because my guys like to fly fish and I haven’t developed the talent so my idea of fishing is a pole, worms, and possibly bologna which I found the fish in the ponds of Poplarville, MS loved when I was a kid! But they insisted that I go with them and after a half hour of nagging, I caved and off we went to find fish that we were going to throw back into the water with newly punctured lips! I think they may have rather been eaten than have holes poked in them. ANYWAY...off we go!

We drive through the beautiful Irish countryside and find ourselves at a place where they raise fish and you can rent the gear to catch them. There were several ponds. Some for fly fishing and others for my fishing but, of course, we had to stay on the fly fishing side where I opted to watch and not fish. The setting was beautiful! There were fields surrounding us with sheep yelling at one another. Seriously, one would yell and then the rest would join in for about five minutes. Then silence for a few minutes and it would start again. It sounded like they were telling jokes! Or arguing! It was great...but I decided I don’t want sheep when I move there...too noisy! I digress. It was beautiful and a bit cloudy, which is typical of Ireland.

My guys were grinning from ear to ear. They were completely in their element! I was enjoying watching them have such a great time catching fish. Bobby kept pointing to different areas of the water and telling me to look at the fish. He was so excited about all the fish he was seeing and I was looking at him like he was an idiot because all I could see was the reflection of the sky in water. I didn’t want to admit that I couldn’t share in his excitement because I couldn’t see what he was seeing. And I figured that he was either teasing me or had lost his mind. This kept on for quite a while. He’d point at an area the fish were in, cast the line in that direction and come back with a fish! Amazing! I was astounded.

As I watched him closer, I noticed that when he was looking for the fish, he kept adjusting the position of his sunglasses. Hmmm, could this be the secret? So the next time he pointed to the imaginary fish in the water, I asked him for his sunglasses. Lo and behold, as soon as I put them on, I could see the outline of fish swimming in the water exactly where he had pointed!!! It was amazing! The power of polarized sunglasses! Of course I had worn polarized sunglasses before...but they were strictly for protecting my eyes (and looking good ;) ) not for fishing. But the glasses held the secret!

I thought about that experience for the rest of the evening. It was a perfect example of revelation...or unveiling. So many times in our ministry, I have come in contact with those that for the longest time could never fully grasp the doctrine that we were teaching them. I would get so frustrated because I could see it right there in black and white, but no matter how hard I tried I could not make them see. In my simple mind, I just decided they didn’t WANT to see it. It never occurred to me that they actually COULDN’T see it! At least not until God gave them a REVELATION...which usually came through much prayer and fasting.

When revelation comes, it is a bit like those sunglasses. All of a sudden you can see what others have been seeing all along and it makes you want to look for more and more and more! (I didn't want to give Bobby the glasses back!) It is such an incredible thing!!! And it's so exciting to watch when someone gets a revelation of true salvation or the oneness of God! Now, when I see someone seeking for something more of God but not realizing that it is actually right in front of them, I determine to pray that God will give them the ability to see through His glasses! When we see things the way He sees them, our world becomes a much more beautiful and interesting place! And we find there are places we can go in the Spirit that we could never have imagined!

That was probably the most productive fishing trip I have ever been on. And we didn't even bring any fish home. HA! Go figure!