Preface
Imagine a man who believed the world to be flat. He believed this to be true the first 50-years of his life as did everyone he loved from his past and present; his parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews and extended family. He attended private schools that also reinforced the belief the world is flat. Everyone important to him believed this to be the truth in their minds, their hearts and their souls.
He lived the majority of his life by this belief marrying a woman who also was a flat-world believer and they raised a family in the same manner as his parents and grandparents.
Until one day, God gently showed the man the world is not flat. The man was given a gift, an amazing gift of an intimate relationship with the Creator, a light that fills his essence with a peace that can only come from enjoying God’s presence. The man was humbled by God’s grace.
It was only natural that the man wanted to share God’s message with his family. The man reached out to a couple of his most trusted loved ones and the revelation was not well received. “How can you go against everything we have been taught to believe for generations?” they asked. One of them insisted he seek a “flat world” expert trained in exorcism. She insisted the flat world was beautiful and the “one” truth. She reasoned the man had obviously become “influenced” by a demon for him not to be able to see this. Another “flat-world” believer suggested the man’s broken relationships and medical sufferings were God’s punishment for “falling” from the flat-world. The Holy Spirit reminded the man of Job and his detractors.
Nevertheless, the man complained bitterly to God, and God smiled and said “what did you expect? Were you not one of them? Would you have responded differently without my grace? Do they know your heart like I do?” The man pleaded, “But, they are my family and the people I love most in this world, what am I supposed to do?”
The LORD said, “pray for them and remind them they were bought and paid for by the work my Son did on the cross, and they have been given the gift of The Holy Spirit. Encourage them to ask the Holy Spirit with all of their hearts, minds, and souls; with their whole being and entire essence to bring them into My light. They only need to ask as you have.”
Gabriel’s Testimony
Several years ago, I sailed my charter boat from Annapolis, Maryland, to the British Virgin Islands with the help of three men. It was an opportunity to earn extra income during the winter months by placing the sailboat with a charter company in Tortola, BVI. During that eleven-day trip to Tortola, both my relationship with God, and my life as I had known it, would change.
I was raised in a traditional Italian Catholic family, baptized and received most of the sacraments. Over the years, I served as an altar boy, attended Catholic schools through college, married a Catholic woman, and we raised our family in the Catholic church. I attended mass weekly, and sometimes daily during the most stressful periods of my life. There were spiritual retreats in my teenage and adult years. However, all of that changed during this particular sailing voyage to the British Virgin Islands, where I experienced what I call my “spiritual awakening.”
There are no rest areas on the ocean, so you sail or motor (if there’s no wind) twenty-four hours a day. The daily distractions of life are also absent. There are no cell towers, you are totally unplugged from home, work, the news, sports, and social media. With four of us aboard, we each took two three-hour watches each twenty-four-hour period. The day shifts were enjoyable and full of camaraderie. Other than an occasional nap, the crew was mostly awake. We ate our meals together, talked about our families, and shared our life stories. As much as I loved the daily stories and camaraderie, I also savored the peace and solitude of my night shift while my sailing companions slept.
My thoughts were on my family. I wondered how they were getting along and wished they could be with me to experience the beauty the ocean had to offer: the remarkable creatures, sparkling blue water, sunrises, sunsets, the moon, and moonless nights. The stars were infinite, with some of them so clear and bright they seemed only a few hundred feet above the mast.
My initial reaction was to marvel at the remarkable beauty of God’s creation. Next, I considered the enormity of it—and how small and insignificant I was among all that I saw around me. At that point I first felt God’s smile and an overwhelming peace—and I heard his spiritual voice in my head, telling me, “You may be small in comparison, but not so insignificant, for I created all of this for you—for everyone”.
I know, it probably sounds strange to you and even weird to me as I write this, but it truly occurred.
I was not exactly sure of what was happening or how to respond. To show my appreciation, I started reciting the “Our Father” and “Hail Mary” over and over again to acknowledge God’s presence. His spiritual voice said, “Stop, and just talk to me.”
I struggled with this (and still do at times), asking “How do I speak to you when I am not sure if I am hearing your voice or my own?”
He said, “Speak to me with the love, trust, and confidence you once did as a child. “Speak to me with your heart.”
Thus, the short, eleven-day Atlantic crossing began a spiritual journey that would change my life as I could have never imagined. I call Him Abba, as did Jesus. I rarely recite a vocal prayer except for the “Our Father”. God is no longer a distant deity to me. I realized that His Spirit is already in each one of us and has been from the moment of our creation. Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection were not just about forgiving our sins—more importantly, they were to help us know God, His Father, our Father, Abba, more intimately; to open the door for us open and allow us to receive God’s light!
During those conversations on that sailing trip, the illustration on the right panel formed in my head. In fact, I think the illustration is the most important thing God wants me to share with you. Study the artwork and meditate on it. Where do you see yourself in the illustration?
The illustration produced a lot of journaling. The Holy Spirit has a way, a gentle yet unrelenting manner, of nudging you once He has your attention. The journaling became a book, Enjoying His Presence. The book represents my transition period from being a very “religious “person, a Roman Catholic, to a “non-religious” man, a man of God, a Christian man with a deep desire to increasingly know God more intimately.
I wrote the book before actually “studying” scripture. So, the book has interpretations that are not entirely Biblical and I would definitely change a few paragraphs if I were writing it today. If you are curious, you are free to buy the book, but that is not the purpose of this blog.
The purpose of this blog is to help us – help each other; to turn towards Him, to be filled with His light, and to share it with the rest of the world. In my humble opinion, it is better than standing on a street corner and yelling at people through a bullhorn.
Please feel free to share your testimony.
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