Following His Direction
by Chaplain Jim Robinson

It’s not easy describing in a few paragraphs thirty years of listening to the Holy Spirit and doing His bidding. Over thirty years ago He drew me to a restaurant where "things happened" that seemed unusual. Things such as spiritual counseling of strangers, leading unbelievers to know Jesus Christ, and a whole family coming to know the Lord as a result of a Sunday afternoon meal with my family.

The Holy Spirit made it abundantly clear to me that I was to leave the Navy and minister at that restaurant. Friends told me it was a foolish and irresponsible thing to do (they meant well!) but the Holy Spirit drew me and I followed His pull. The time, spent at the restaurant with no means of income, was scary but exciting. The Lord fed and clothed us as nicely as He did Elijah when He sent ravens with provisions, and there was fruit (souls) for the labor.

I remember a night of deep discouragement back in the early 70s. The setting was our home in Pleasant Hill.  I am not sure what day of the week but I think it was a Monday. Our children had no breakfast (none of us did) because there was no food in the house and no money to buy any. They were sent to school with no lunch or lunch money and no prospects for dinner. We went on doing what God had called us to do that day; I was pretty discouraged and had questions for God. That night I decided to attend a church service. I had heard that Alan Redpath was speaking at the Evangelical Free Church in Walnut Creek. I told Fleta I was going to go and hear him.

If the sermon were judged by its effect on me, it must have been a great sermon. However, I only heard the introductory statement. Alan Redpath began with the statement, "The best place any Christian can ever be in is to be totally destitute and totally dependant upon God, and know it." That’s all I heard but I heard it loud and clear as it reverberated in the empty space between my ears.

I sat through the remainder of the service re-running that statement through my little brain and trying to hide the tears that flowed down my face. I had moved from discouragement to ecstasy as I realized that I was in the best possible place any Christian could ever be. (Incidentally the next morning I got a phone call from a stock broker who surprised me by telling me that a Christian brother was donating some Caterpillar stock to the ministry. That solved our finances for the next few weeks. Praise the Lord!)