Deacon George Sebok has been a prayer partner of mine for many years. I am not sure whether he personally knows Father Sam or not, but they serve the same God, and are both members of our diocesan clergy.
I have watched my friend George grow in faith for almost 25 years now, and the transformation in him through a life of prayer, and also through diaconal formation which led to his ordination a couple of years ago into the gentle spirit that he is, has been profound. He has often heard the voice of God in prophecy and I came across this particular one when he loaned me a book recently, in which he had made notes and had written the words that the Lord spoke to him one particular day.
George is not the best of students in the traditional sense. I remember him not really enjoying all the reading involved in the formation programme, but I also knew that he was faithful to do his reading. He made notes in this particular book about his being a procastinator, and his efforts to learn to be more orderly in his work, to be better at organization. He was kind of beating himself up in journalling on this page of the book, when the Lord spoke to him and gave him the following words:
"My Son, I am not disappointed in you, because you have at your fingertips everything you need to reach Me. My Son's gift of forgiveness is an example of all the gifts of the Spirit in you. Just use them and you will be guided day by day, moment by moment, to achieve my guided plan each day. I do not disregard schedules, commitments, goals and plans. Just fit me into them and you'll be guided towards living out My plan each day."Like my friend, we can be tempted by the devil to think that we are not good enough for a task the Lord has set before us, like entering into diaconal formation at nearly 60 years of age. So, this word from the Lord is a reminder to all of us that repentance of our sinful thoughts, words and deeds, as well as failures to act when called on, and above all His forgiveness of these faults is a grace filled gift from God for us.
And to add to it, we all have been granted the gifts of God's Holy Spirit to guide us daily to and on the path that He has for us, which will take us to the foot of the cross on which hung Our Saviour for US.
The kingdom of heaven is at hand, or at our fingertips as the prophecy says. We can reach out and touch our God any time we choose, or every moment of our days.
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