It happened in England in 1989

Sitting here tonight, (Sunday night 10-23-2011 2345) I am reminded that testimonies are important...they also are things that NO ONE can ever take away from you. They are unique to us all and our own faith journey, and I think God allows us to have them so that they can be remembered to encourage others and encourage ourselves long after the mountaintop type of experiences that the Lord allows us to have. There are so many things in life that I am not sure of, it seems the older I get the more complicated life seems to become, but I do know one thing, I have experienced some amazing things with God in my life, and they can never be taken away from me. I remember speaking once, a few years back to an amazing priest friend of mine, a man who I really think of as very a very holy person, whose hands handle the body of Christ, and whom I really respect. I started talking about times that I had experienced the Presence of God, powerfully, personally...and just assumed that he knew what I was talking about. It was a shocker to me that he had never experienced anything like what I was talking about...it also occurred to me, that he didn't need to have either, his faith was just as strong. It also occurred to me just how blessed I was to have these memories. It happened back in England in 1989, I was in the Air Force then stationed at R.A.F. Upper Heyford and I lived off base near the village of Croughton at #2 Pimlico Farm in Oxford shire. I had a small cottage there that I just loved, a very quiet spot with a little bubbling creek behind the cottage. I was a member of a very vibrant Pentecostal Church there called The Christian Serviceman's Center. I was a faithful member there who felt a call to minister on my life, and was doing my very best to serve God and love my neighbor with all of my heart. Of course I had many failings and shortcomings, but God was merciful with me and I grew strong in the Word and in the fellowship of the faithful there. I would often sit near my red brick fireplace and meditate on the word and pray. I would often start out reading my bible, and then would be get into deep study only to be brought to my knees thanking God for all His blessings, interceding for my friends, family, and my church, and I would always feel that warm presence of the Holy Spirit come over me, comfort and strengthen me even in the damp English winters. But this one night was different, and if I were to die tomorrow, I would want people to know about it, because it was real, and I would never deny this to the point of death. I was there, reading my Bible, and I felt compelled to go to my knees, but this time, not burdened to ask God for anything...but out of love, I just wanted to tell Him how much I loved Him, and how I wanted to get closer to Him. This is where things got strange. My eyes were closed, and suddenly I felt an overwhelming presence in the room, like a million volts of electricity were pulsing around me thumping....Holy, Holy, Holy..suddenly I was terrified, because although my eyes were closed, I could see a light through those closed eyelids...fill the room with a penetrating warm light! I knew it was all around me, and for the first time I really understood those scriptures that talked about the "fear" of the Lord. Although I intrinsically knew that God was my Father, and that He would never harm me, I understood Peter when he said, "Get away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!", or Isaiah when he said, "I have seen Him and must die because I am unholy! I am not kidding, I was really afraid, and I just knew that if I opened my eyes I would see the Glory of God in the room with His angels in array, and I would surely stroke out right there. And so I knelt there, frozen, terrified, but so honored to know that He had chosen to visit me for some reason this night. I trembled and slowly from behind my closed eyelids the light seems to dim and I could smell Frankincense in the room, like from my memories of Midnight Mass from when I was a little boy....how it would fill the room and perfume everything and everyone...Holiness was about! And so, it all slowly faded away...and I knew that the throne room had come to me that night, and though I don't know why it happened, or why God chose to bless me in this way, the memory of that night has long encouraged me when my faith fell on harder times. When the world seemed turned upside down and church seemed like an empty emotion generating machine with no depth...when the people I though were holy seemed shallow to me and let me down at me lowest point. When the Presence of God seemed to be totally absent, and I would study and pray and just.....nothing. I would think back to that night and say, NO, I know it was real...and I probably experienced something that night that many men would have begged to have experienced...so I should not doubt now. Reflect back...remember...be encouraged, you were visited once...