The
story of the “green gumball” has been a pivotal point for much of
my life. The story of how God touched the heart of a young man
through the color of a gumball is inspiring and quite amazing.
However, not all aspects of that moment in time have been
re-affirming or positive.
That
event has been the focal point of a radical, risk-taking faith; the
evidence of a faith that fully trusts in the power of God. A faith
that is not encumbered by the opinions of any one person but yielded
to the revelations of His Spirit. In that moment, all that mattered
was my obedience to the prompting of His Spirit...the nudge to ask
Eric a very simple question; What color do you want?
It
was not a risk in my mind – at that moment - to ask the question.
It was the question that He wanted to ask Eric so I simply obeyed my
Father by asking the question. There was no fear in that moment.
There was no doubt of the outcome either because I trusted my Father
to drop the gumball in the color Eric wanted. I was convinced that
the gumball would be the color Eric verbalized.
I
Corinthians 2:5 tells us that God intended that our faith be
established by trusting in His almighty power. If I truly
believed that He had the power to create all that we see....that He
had the power to part the Red Sea...that He had the power to crumble
the walls of Jericho...that He had the power to raise Christ from the
dead...that He had the power to heal my body of the 2nd/3rd
degree burns with no scars... how then, could I not trust that He had
the power to drop a green gumball?
The
faith that I had at that point was based on the stories I had read in
the Old and New Testaments plus my personal experiences (my body
being healed of the burns being one of them). My faith had been
established by trusting that the stories in the Bible were true
combined with my personal encounters with the power of an Almighty
God. My experiences with God had taught me to trust in His ability
to perform His Word....there was no doubt in my mind that God could
do what He said.
That
is until the “elders” began to criticize my actions. Apparently,
to the more “...mature in the faith...”, my actions were
reckless, irresponsible, lacking wisdom and most of all...they had
the potential of being catastrophic for Eric. It seemed that
stepping out and acting on the prompting of the Spirit made the
elders a bit uneasy. I was faced with many “What if...”
scenarios to which my only response was that I KNEW it was God; there
was no other explanation other than I knew the voice of my Father and
I acted upon it.
To
those older and thus wiser than I (yes, that is what I was told),
actions such as mine were not acceptable. The only reason given to
me as to why it was unacceptable was that had the gumball not been
green, I would have destroyed God's opportunity to reach Eric. The
words spoken to me by those in leadership were the tools used by the
enemy to crack the very foundation of my trust....not in the ability
of God but the trust I had in knowing the voice of my Father.
The
experience of the gumball was more thrilling and humbling than almost
any other experience I have had in my journey thus far. However, the
experience that followed my act of obedience was one of the most
spiritually damaging battles my faith has ever had to withstand.
This
morning during my time with God, I was directed to a series of verses
that He used to unravel the deception that began when the words of
ridicule were spoken over me almost 25 years ago. I sit here in awe
at the reality of just how much power there is in the spoken word.
The
power of life and death are in the tongue (Prov 18:21)
Since
that experience, I have struggled to trust that I hear the voice of
my Father. That doubt has brought untold emotional stress and
torment...always questioning IF what I thought was God was truly Him
and not knowing if I should fully trust that which my heart wanted to
embrace. That struggle sparked a battle between my mind (what is
rational) and my spirit (which is eternal); a true spiritual war.
During
this journey, I have lost some battles along the way just as there
have been victories granted. This morning however, I believe that
God, in His infinite power, has put an end to the war!
The
faith that God has gifted to me IS radical....it IS risk-taking...it
IS a spirit-revealed truth; one that has been illuminated by His
Spirit! (1 Corinthians 2:13-15)
He
has restored to me the ability to trust that I hear His voice.
Today,
almost 25 years later, God has given me the Green Gumball!
