Over time, I came to realize that God was acknowledging the love we had for each other. Over time, as I think about my lost love, I sense, beyond my five senses, God's wonderful compassionate love that reaches through to me, even through my grief today, with a wonderful symbol of love, that was briefly etched onto a screen, on which a program was sending random dots. Do you sense the poetry of it? Can this true experience of mine, at all prove that there is Something incredibly marvelous beyond our lives of programmed random dots, spewing onto the screen of our lives?

Just before my wife's death, we had all moved to Idaho. Now that she was gone, and as my grieving waned in intensity, I knew that God had more for me to do. What did He desire of me? What was His will for me now? From my home in Idaho, I began to search the Internet for Christian dating sites and, over time, found a lady in Indiana who had lost her husband to suicide. We wrote emails for a while, then we began talking long distance on the phone. I shared with her some of my songs (for I was a Christian songwriter) and we had many lengthy talks, for many, many weeks. One day, as I was sitting in my prayer chair to pray, I "heard" this thought: Why don't you look into what it takes to be married in Indiana? This was not my own thought. I was planning to take my daughter and visit her in a few weeks but, at the time I got that strange thought, I hadn't even met her yet.

That same day, while Eva was at work, she received the same thought: Why don't you see what it takes to get married in Indiana? She argued with the thought, saying, "Sure, I'm going to tell someone I have never met, to bring his paperwork with him so we can be married! That's absurd!"

That evening, I poured out to Eva about my encounter with God's voice that I had experienced that morning. With tears and trembling, Eva shared that the same message had been given to her. We were awestruck. We immediately made plans that we would get married, sight unseen, when my daughter and I came out to visit, because we understood that God had spoken to each of us. Though we actually got married a few months later, after I sold my house in Idaho, our marriage has been one of incredible spiritual growth for us both, and the creative spark has truly manifested in both of us, as we have written countless songs and books, both together and separately. There is no doubt in my mind that God sent His voice to each of us that morning, proclaiming what He wanted us to do. By the fruit, we can see that His will was for our highest good. That encounter with God echoes through my mind, even now, and I find myself even more grounded in my faith. Can this story help sprout your faith as well?

My next story should put a capper on whether miracles are tangible or not. Both of these previous miracles could be attributed to a quirk of the mind or a glitch in the computer software. I don't believe this one can be explained away or categorized that way.

I've prayed much and I've studied the teachings of Jesus. I have made a concerted effort to live as Jesus requested we live, loving the unlovable, praying for those who bother and irritate me, and trying not to judge, but forgiving people. One day at the Suds n' Such Laundromat, in Brandenburg, Kentucky, where I washed our family's clothes, I had an experience that cannot be explained in any way except as being the Hand of God's manipulation of clouds. What I do, at the laundry, is put my clothes in the washer, then come out to the car and pray for a few minutes, until they are ready to be dried. At that point I go back in, put the washed clothes in the dryer and go back to the car to continue praying. I cannot remember if this occurred during my first or 2nd prayer break, but I glanced out the car window at the clouds, then practically straight up (viewable from my driver's seat side window) and I saw the corner of cloud suddenly become cut off, as if with invisible scissors. Then, within that cut away area, there formed a huge letter, "Z". It faded, and then a large Valentine-type heart appeared. It faded, and then a huge cross appeared. When it faded, the presentation was over. The three images had occurred in quick succession in just a few minutes. This was not a plane doing skywriting, nor were those strange contrails. What did the symbols mean? I wondered. Z could be me, Zarley. The heart usually means "love" or "loves". Zarley loves the cross? Zarley loves Christians? Zarley loves Christ. I knew in my heart that the message was the last one: Zarley loves Christ.

I met with a prayer group that night (one we hold every week with another couple) and shared what had happened to me but, I told them it didn't seem that I should share this with anyone, because it somehow glorified me. Later, while studying God's Word, I found the extensive passage in John where Christ said, "If you love me, follow my commands." It all came together for me as I read that passage. God was happy that I was making such an effort to follow Jesus' commands. I, therefore, loved Jesus in the way that Jesus asked that He be loved. Are there so few choosing to follow Jesus' request to love our enemies, that I have to be notified via cloud mail that I'm doing something right? I believe it would be safe to say that He would prefer that we who call ourselves Christians follow His commands…after all, they are commands!

Loving others is not just based on body chemistry. Loving others is a choice we make, just like choosing our belief system. We draw upon the same power that propels the earth around the sun and manages all the stars in the sky, in order to make our choices and stick with them. Choosing to love others, when they seem to be undeserving of that love, is a very holy act of mercy. It makes God smile.

There have been other supernatural communications with God, but if these do not raise an eyebrow, or cause the atheists to reconsider their position, additional stories will not help, either. There is no earthly explanation for that last cloud story in which the symbols, Z, heart, and cross appeared successively in the sky. There is no human explanation for it and one can infer from this story, that God exists, that God cares when we follow His Son's commands, that God enjoys His Word and will utilize it to make a point, and that God considers the work done on the cross by His Son as all important and worthy of symbolizing His Son with it. It was a wonderful thing that happened to me and I share it now only on the hope that those asleep and believing tangible-ism only will awaken to the fact that a supernatural God exists and, beloved, that He cares for all of us!

In the next chapter I'll share the fourth extraordinary communication from the Holy Spirit with you. This one is detailed in my book, The Opening Window, available on this site.

Back

TOC

Next