More than a Stained Glass Window

Malcolm Watson of Stratford N.Z says .......

"People are looking for a faith that is alive - not a stained glass window. That, for what it is worth, is my assessment of the situation, and I reckon I should know because I've been there - on both sides. I know what it's like to pay lip service to religion, taking a ten minute trip through the bible and thinking I'd paid my dues to God. But thank God, I also know what its like to have the power of God energising your life and moving mountains.
Despite the best upbringings the power of God was a long time coming to me. I grew up in Reefton around the middle of a family of 12 kids. We had a great example in my father: he was a pillar of the church and a hard worker but he always gave time to his family.
He didn't believe in working on Sunday, apart from milking the cows and other farm chores that can't be left. We children got the clear message that he was choosing to make himself available to us - and that meant a great deal.
Because Dad ran the Sunday School we all got thoroughly versed in the bible but it was all head knowledge to me: there was little heart in it. I won lots of prizes but there wasn't much show in the way of moral fibre - like most young fellas I did whatever I could get away with.
I left school in the fifth form and shot up to Taumaranui to work on a farm. I was there a couple of months, then it was back to the South Island to start a carpenter's apprenticeship in Hokitika. I worked there for three years before finally finishing off my time in Nelson.

Ups and Downs`

During this period of time Christianity was pretty much an on-again off-again experience. I'd go to a meeting, get a lift for a while and then drift back into the old ways. At times I could have lived the life but there seemed to be to precious little underneath it,
I started building on my own and though I was making money I couldn't seem to shake off some major debts. this was bad news for a newly married couple (I'd met courted and wed Barb by this stage) and as a result we decided to put our house on the market and try our hand at farming.
We located a farm for auction up in Taranaki and so we prayed like crazy that our place would sell in time for us to bid. Our house did sell - one week after the auction.We decided to shift to go ahead and shift anyway. I had a job and a house lined up for a month and Barb and I simply trusted God to pull something out of the hat before the money ran out.
Sure enough one month later we were on our own place. we'd sourced and arranged the finance in just 10 days and reckoned that was something of a miracle. In fact it was the first time I had really known the hand of God in my life.
Even so it was still a remote kind of knowledge. There was nothing personal and alive about it. And that deeper level of awareness of God was something I was hankering after. I knew it existed - I seen it in the lives of my sister and her husband. But how to find it for myself - that was the hard part.

Power comes down

It all came together for me the night Full Gospel Business Fellowship was launched in Stratford. I went along to the meeting and we talked about why we'd come and what hopes were for the chapter. Then we prayed for each other and Kapow! - the power of God was there and just like that.
Anointing, Power, Baptism - call it what you like - there is no denying it once you've experienced it. For me the big difference was authority. A sense that God was in control and that I didn't have to be beaten by temptation or habits, A sense of victory.
Since then it's been a learning curve, finding out what God wants and getting in line with that. Trusting him completely. The rewards of this way of living is that you start to see God in everything. (Previously I couldn't see God for looking!) Take having children for instance. We'd had two boys and the process of giving birth had been pretty diabolical for Barb. She'd had to be induced both times, and she hated having the drip in her arm - it ruined the whole event as far as she was concerned.
When our third was due we prayed and believed that God would allow it to come naturally. I remember the night Sarah came. Barb and I had milked the cows and afterwards I went off to church. After the service I was chatting to some friends when Barb's sister-in-law turned up and said it was all go back home. I raced to the house and promptly panicked. Barb was four minutes and closing!
I bundled her into the car and stepped on the gas. the nurses took barb straight into the delivery room and a half hour later the baby was born, with not a drip to be seen.
On the farm we see god's involvement too. We're on 99 acres - a marginally profitable dairying unit - but with the building work that comes our way and Barb handling the night milking we get by.

Travelling on

One of the great things about Christianity is that it is not static; it's not just a set beliefs or rules which you sign your name to and that's the end of that. It's a process of growth and change which gets better all the time.
For example being a typical Kiwi male, emotional sensitivity wasn't one of my strong points. Yet I'd often prayed that God would give me more compassion for people ; more tenderness, especially with people who are hurting.
A few months ago God answered my prayer, taking me through a time of humbling and giving me the gift of tears. - something I'd found very difficult in the past. Now in my relationship with people there's a lot more gentleness and patience and I'm seeing that God's power and his compassion go hand in hand.
In my earlier years a lot of the problems was ignorance. The idea of knowing God - really knowing him - was a foreign concept. Church was a burden, and I'd use every excuse under the sun not to go. Now it would take a draft horse to keep me away!
The bottom line as far as I'm concerned is knowing God. Not just believing in him, knowing him. And that makes the difference between a living faith and a stained glass window. "

Do You want to know God in your life?

Malcolm and Barbara Watson live with their three children (Mark 13, Paul 11 and Sarah 8) on their Stratford dairy farm in NZ.

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