Hello, thank you for joining me today for Give Him 15.

And the title of today's post is The Harvest is Ready.

It was 1973.

I was attending college, traveling fast, but going nowhere.

I'd been running from the Lord for two years, serving the gods of alcohol,

drugs, rock and roll. Though I had been raised in church, dad was an evangelist and then a pastor,

and had surrendered my life to Christ at a young age. At age 17, I rebelled from the Lord.

Our family had gone through some devastating circumstances,

which resulted in my and me becoming extremely bitter and disillusioned.

The pain was so great and my confusion so strong that I didn't

know how to cope with it. I rebelled, turning away from God and the life I had known.

God was very patient with me, knowing my pain had caused the rebellion.

He loved me through my pain-filled responses, didn't take them personally.

Then, in 1973, at a bar named the Boar's Head, aptly so, since I was a prodigal and this was my pigpin,

while I was listening to a rock band and stoned on marijuana, Holy Spirit spoke to me.

This was not the first time he had done so.

God would often speak to me through my thoughts when I was alone.

He was never condemning, only affirming.

Often I would lie in bed at night when the world around me finally became quiet, thinking thoughts about God, life, what I was doing with mine.

I know now that Holy Spirit was stirring those thoughts, reaching deep into the hidden places of my heart, keeping me tethered to him.

On this night, in the boar's head, however, his tactics were different. He shouted through the clamor and

noise around me, drowning out even the loud music.

...