Well, I was on my own and not without money. Wanting to help him I
offered a prayer to God for guidance and reverted to using a coin in the
urim and thumin manner of the Old Testament. Having fifty pound in,
mostly, five-pound notes – and seeing the fellow walking further in to
the distance – I tossed a single coin repeatedly. ‘Heads I give him five
pound, and tales I cease from giving him any more. Well – no
exaggeration! – I almost got in to a sweat as the notes I’d been guided
to give him increased. The car was low in petrol and I’d travelled quite
some distance. Well, it was only when I tossed the coin as to what I
should do with my last five pound note that God reversed the process and
the coin told me to keep the last of those notes for my own imminent
need.
I tell you this: we must never gamble or treat God flippantly or
lightly; but in times of urgent need such as this one God had clearly
told me how much to give to Bradford’s prophet on the last day I met him
(now 20 years ago). And, as on previous occasions, he smiled gratefully-
though he was at first reluctant to accept this £45 which he said was a
lot!. I told him of the tea we’d shared at my humble home over about
twenty years previous, and he remembered it more vividly than myself.
Well, I may not see this fellow – who’d once been a Salvation Army
officer and became a hermit after a broken love affair – on this earth
ever again. But, please God, I’ll meet him again in Heaven!.
Friends, there are saints on this earth – they are not of the stained
glass variety. They let far more light shine through them! We meet them
in the unlikeliest of places; and very many of these ‘down to earth
saints’ are amongst the varying regiments of the animal activist
movement. I don’t know about yourself, but I’m honoured to be amongst
such company; and I’ll let you in to a secret: I sense that You – with
all those feelings of a haunting inadequacy - may well be one of them!
So – in the words of our Blest Redeemer; yes, and for the many animals
too:
‘Take heart little flock. It is the Father’s will to give You of His
Kingdom’.