On February 3, 2020, I returned to Asbury University to testify at a chapel service celebrating the 50th year celebration of a world changing revival in 1970. (When God Comes - 50th Anniversary Celebration of the Asbury Revival). I was a scrawny freshman when I personally encountered Jesus Christ in the middle of the night of February 6, 1970. It was quite traumatic for me. Overwhelmed with the burden of my sins, I tearfully found forgiveness and salvation at an old-fashioned altar.
In preparation for my testimony, I found the concept of “Jubilee” in the Old Testament, a Hebrew concept that says debts should be forgiven every seven years. But then seven times seven (7x7=49) was the big once-in-a-lifetime Jubilee. The 50th year is a grand Forgiveness of debts and sins.
2020 was my 50th spiritual birthday, so it seemed right to celebrate this grand Jubilee.
After the chapel experience, I wrote a short ‘memoir’ of God’s Jubilee mercy for me over the past 50 years. The twenty (20) page message ended with the following three-point summary, finalized just a week before anyone had ever thought about the “Corona Virus”. In light of the 2020/2021/2022 Covid19 shutdowns, my words in February now feel somewhat ‘prophetic’. I am definitely not a prophet. However, I now look back twenty-eight (28) months and know that a Voice was speaking to me and through me:
“2020 should be a year of Sabbath.
This includes Rest. This means no stress. This means much prayer and preparation for the next seven (7) years. It probably means cancellation of planned events. It means saying politely ‘no’ to anything that feels like work.
2020 should be a year of Celebration.
This means remembering the past fifty (50) years. We are just getting started with remembering and celebrating.
2020 should be a year of Harvest.
Fishers of Men will find an abundant harvest. Lost souls looking for spiritual oxygen will come to the surface and jump into the Kingdom. For me, this will continue to be a concentration on India, Golfers and Lawyers. But it seems that for this season, living at Steelwood CC and in constant contact with golfers who need Jesus, I should ‘stay home’ and build a team of partners who will work with me in the Harvest field.”
So, sure enough. 2020 was indeed a year of Sabbath, not just for me but for the whole world. I still contend, by faith, that 2020 was also a year of celebration, since God Himself started shaking up the world in these days of chaos. And because of that, 2020 was indeed a year of Harvest. We have seen evidence of that in Alabama, in India and in Scotland. I hope you see the same.
You can download and read my personal fifty (50) year testimony, entitled “2020 Alabama Jubilee”.
You can listen to my fifteen (15) minute testimony from Feb. 2, 2020 below.