It is suggested to listen to this worship music while reading this post.
This day was special because God was revealing His presence to us in so many ways. One of our team had been praying for revelation and God answered in a miraculous and beautiful way. God loves numbers! The science of our extremely finely balanced, improbable universe, the physical constants, natural laws, patterns of nature based on mathematical fractals. All this can be described by the language of numbers, mathematics. And our universe is so finely tuned so as to make life possible. That’s us, we can exist because this world is just right for us.
In fact, research has been carried out on Nobel Prize winners. The question was investigated in each discipline, what proportion were at some point in their lives atheistic or agnostic?
Humanities – around 30%
Biological sciences – around 8%
Physics – only around 4.7%
The conclusion is that great scientists, especially those doing the hard sciences, tend to have spiritual beliefs.
Encounter – Meaning in Numbers
A father and son came to our tables. They came from Liverpool and were visiting friends in Surrey Quays. The boy was about 11 years old. From amongst the many pictures on our tables, he very quickly chose a picture of dice, shown below.
Some words of encouragement were said for this picture. Then our team member asked why he chose the picture of dice? The boy explained that his granddad, who had just died, loved playing dice. Then the Holy Spirit nudged our team member to ask if the numbers on the dice meant anything at all? He pointed out to the boy that 5 and 4 are showing on the top of each dice and add up to 9. The father said “not really, it doesn’t mean anything”. Then, the boy exclaimed “wait dad! granddad’s birthday is the 9th June!” Not only do the two numbers on the top of each dice add up to 9, but it was noticed later, after the father and son had gone away, that the left hand dice is showing 5 and 1, which makes 6 (the sixth month is June).
In fact, there are two number combinations showing for 9 and two number combinations showing for 6. All number combinations showing point to 9 and 6, the 9th June! If the father and son had known that, they surely would have been astounded. Unfortunately, the number 6 and the other three combinations were not noticed until after they had gone away.
The chance of that happening randomly are so small as to be zero. They were visiting Surrey Quays shopping centre just at the right time to find that picture of dice showing numbers that all point to the birthday of the boy’s granddad, who had just passed away. They both said thank you, and went on their way, but they will be processing the encounter later on.
We believe God has plans for that father and son and pray that they will have another God encounter soon. Our team member who had this encounter is thanking God for revealing His presence in this beautiful way with numbers!
Encounters – Meaning in Worship
A Christian chose this worship picture; prophetic words of encouragement and prayer were given. Later on, in two separate encounters with different, unrelated individuals, two more Christians came to our tables and chose the same picture of worship. And later on again, another Christian came along who was wanting more God! This was a day when we were encountering even more people hungry for God. The worship picture was popular indeed. It is associated with our sense of awe, the sacred, the love of God. This is so important, especially in our modern, scientific, techno world. We are awash with data, information, but we seem to have forgotten wisdom, our origins, the sacred.
Science is a very useful tool, but does not explain the meaning of life. Many people are searching for meaning, a more satisfying connection with the world and the deeper questions of our very existence, which leads to the spirit, love, God, eternity and what happens to our souls after death. And the realisation that our life is our soul, but our physical body will decay and become dust. And that our soul should be guided by love, because God is love.
What is life if there is no beauty, no purpose, no goodness, no truth? This is not about fantasy, but about reality. There will always be things that we can’t explain, mysteries. Science will always be finding new theories, revising old ones, even scrapping old ones. But in this rapidly changing world, we need to know there is a someone beautiful, constant, powerful and faithful who loves us more than we can ever know. We really do need this to give us strength, comfort, peace, joy and so much more!
Encounter – Meaning in Connection
A Muslim woman in a wheelchair came to our tables. She really wanted to talk to our team member and had so much to say. She kissed his hand in appreciation for the words received. In the end, he had to give his apologies because he needed to talk to other people. She understood, said thank you and departed.
Encounter – Meaning in Loneliness
A middle-aged man told our team member that he was an alcoholic and also took drugs with his friends. He knew that it was not good for him and really wanted to change. But he also explained that he is lonely and the only friends he has are these similarly broken people. And he keeps going back to them for companionship, but in this desperate need to avoid loneliness, he ends up drunk and stoned. Another team member who has experience spoke to the man about it. The man gave his address in Surrey Quays, because he is hoping someone will visit to make him less lonely.
Other Encounters
Below are the testimonies of some team members, written in their own words. Together with those described above, they provide just a few highlights. There were hundreds of people encountered that day, who all experienced in different ways the light and love of the Holy Spirit.