Principles, Not Luck

Principles, Not Luck

by Bert Kerley

Transcribed from the original recording; may contain errors.

I must apologize, first of all, for not having an interpreter with me tonight. Couldn’t find anybody who could speak English. It is so nice to be back to Winnipesaukee. So lovely. I wasn’t quite sure whether I should accept the invitation because they’ve been told that you can’t repeat a spiritual experience. And my last camp here was a spiritual experience.

But in the short time I’ve been here, I can see God can do it and is doing it because it’s been so wonderful what has already happened. So lovely to be back with your friends. And to share the speaking with Tommy. Wonderful. When we had an international camp in England in 1976, we ran it just as a camp. We thought that would give the right atmosphere. And so we had two speakers. And one was Norman Renshaw. And when we asked which of the Americans, perhaps that all the Americans love to hear most, they said Tommy Tyson. And so straight away we wrote to Tommy. And he was a tremendous blessing. Tommy, that was a great experience. Lovely being with you again.

I find the American people very friendly, very courteous. Of course, I mix with the best of them, don’t I? Although I did manage to get someone to take me down to Harlem and the Bronx and all the rest of it one day. And my first four hours in America was down in downtown Buffalo. So I walked on streets there. So I get some idea of the problems in this country too. But I do meet a lot of wonderful Christian people. And I like their courtesy too. I like the salesman that parked in the no zone area. And being very courteous, he put his little notice up on the window to the policeman if they came along. “Dear sir,” he said, “I’ve circled this block 20 times.” He said, “And I have to make this call. And if I don’t make this appointment, I shall lose my job.”

“Forgive us our trespasses.” And when he came back, he saw another little notice on the car. And it was from the policeman, courteous as ever. “Dear friend,” he said, “I’ve circled this block for 20 years. And if I don’t give you a ticket, I shall lose my job.”

“Lead us not into temptation.” And the way that you give the weather. I do love that. The way that you do the weather. Yes, so very friendly. The weather, you know, is partly cloudy with scattered showers followed by a hurricane.

Or another one I heard. Tomorrow will be colder. And the reason for this is that the temperatures will be lower. And the farmer who had a lot of chickens. I do love the way you people get on with a life. It’s so wonderful, really. The farmer who found… He had his chicken farm. And he found every morning. He went out and he found three of his chickens or two of his chickens lying flat on their back stiff with their legs up in the air. So, he wrote to Washington, to the Department of Agriculture. “Sir, can you tell me, I go out every morning and I find these chickens there laying stiff with their legs up in the air.” Six weeks later, a lovely letter came back. “Dear sir, your chickens are dead.”

It’s wonderful, isn’t it? Wonderful to be back again, friends. I’d like to turn for the reading now to John chapter 3. John chapter 3. If you’ve got your Bibles, you can join me, but you don’t have to, friends. There’s no oughts or musts or shoulds here. Just… Oh, bless you. Thank you very much. That’s a lot of help, that is.

Can’t read me notes now. LAUGHTER John 3. Wonderful here. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. The same came to Jesus by night and said unto Him, “Rabbi, we know that Thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles that Thou doest, except God be with him.” Jesus answered and said unto him, “Verily, I say unto you, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said unto Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, You must be born again.”

And then it goes on, and I want to read now from 16, 17, this wonderful passage. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” Isn’t that a magnificent passage of Scripture? Have you ever considered what that passage of Scripture has done since Jesus uttered it? The lives it has changed, transformation in so many nations, so many countries. How many people have been brought to an understanding of God’s love through that one passage alone? How many sermons have been preached on “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son”? Magnificent.

Wasn’t it a bit of luck that Nicodemus went out that night and asked Him that question? Wasn’t it? We wouldn’t have had all that. Wasn’t that wonderful? Now, listen to this other chapter. Chapter 4. This is verses 6 to 8. And you remember Jesus was going through from Judea to Galilee and He had to go through Samaria.

And then He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar. Now, I’ll give you… Matt said this last time. When you come to a name you can’t pronounce, say it confidently and everybody else thinks they’re wrong and you’re right.

Sychar. Near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now, Jacob’s well was there. Jesus, therefore, being wearied with His journey, sat thus on the well and it was about the sixth hour. There cometh the woman of Samaria to draw water. And Jesus said unto her, “Give me to drink.” For His disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat. Then saith the woman of Samaria, and she goes on to a wonderful conversation with Jesus. And you have out of that conversation these beautiful words coming. Jesus said to her, “Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again, but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst again. But the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” And the woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.” Then we have another lovely bit of conversation with Jesus and the woman. And then we hear these wonderful words. “God is a Spirit. And they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” Now, aren’t they wonderful words again? Magnificent. Especially that the water within. The tremendous truth there is in that passage.

We shall never exhaust the truth in that passage. And also coming to this lovely secret. God is spirit and therefore we must worship Him in spirit and in truth. Wasn’t it a bit of luck the woman came down just at that moment to the well when the disciples had gone up there? Don’t you think that was a bit of luck, friends?

Isn’t that wonderful? I’ve been thinking about this bit of luck. And for a long time, I have been considering whether there is luck or not. And I’m sure many of you have pondered that too. I’m going to share a story. And I may have said this once before to you here. But I think it’s worth saying for those that haven’t heard the story. But when CFO International sent us letters abroad, and there is still room to make up the wait for the stamp, they’re very, very careful with the money. And they put in a lovely little piece of paper. And some of these papers I carry around with me. And I’ve seen them around the world too. They do a lot of good. And this one was the story of the faith, the Chinese farmer and the son. And I told you last time. But in this context, it’s important. And you remember, it tells the story of the farmer who had a son who had a horse. And the boy loved the horse so much. And every day we’d go out riding on it. And then one day he came back and he put the horse in the corral and forgot, it seems, to lock the corral. And so he got up the next morning and looked out the window and the horse had gone.

And so all the villagers come running up to him and say to the farmer, “What bad luck, your son has lost his horse.” And so he says to them, “How do you know that’s bad luck?” Well, sure enough, three days later, the boy looks out of the window when he gets up and he sees that his horse has brought back 12 wild horses and they’ve gone into the corral and shut the gate.

And so all the villagers come running up and say to the old man, “What good luck, your son has now got 13 horses.” So the old man says, “Well, how do you know that’s good luck?” Well, the boy starts to break in the horses and he breaks in one, he breaks in two, he breaks in three. See, I’m telling the story different. Last time I only stopped at three. So now it’s four.

Just to add a bit of variety. Anyhow, the fourth one tosses him off the back of it and he breaks his leg. So, all the villagers start coming running up to the old man and says, “What bad luck, your son has broken his leg.” So, the old man says to them, “How do you know that’s bad luck?”

And sure enough, four weeks later, along came the warlords picking up all the able-bodied young men and boys and they’re looking for a take-em-away to war. But they couldn’t take him, you see, because he got his broken leg.

So, all the villagers come running up again and says, “Well, good luck.” Now, in that story, it’s very interesting because, you see, the man knew that there was no such thing as good luck or bad luck. There were principles involved.

In Claude Bristol’s popular book, The Magic of Believing, he tells of scientific experiments in psychokinesis, telepathy at Duke University. And he says he proves that the so-called luck factor is in reality an influence brought about by powerful thought vibrations. And I’m just going to put my glasses on because I’m having difficulty getting that. Rather than coincidence and chance. Right as long before these experiments at Duke, declared that the luck factor came about by a determined mind, a combination of visualizing, concentrated thought, willing, and believing. And there’s a great deal of truth in that. I wish they would add something else about circumstances planned by the Holy Spirit. Right? But there’s a great deal of truth in that. You remember I told you that when I was healed from my mental illness, although the doctors couldn’t heal me, no drugs could help me, no electrical treatment could help me, no semi-narcocic treatment could help me. You remember I told you the story last time of when my wife was dressing the children and she said, “I’ll be down in a minute, Bert.” And I was standing with my case down in the foyer and I saw this book on the table, Prescription for Anxiety. And my wife, instead of being down for a few minutes, she was about 10 minutes.

You see? And the book was just there. Now that wasn’t anything to do with me at all. That was purely in the plan of God. You see? And it wasn’t a bit of luck that my wife stayed up there. Got it? So I think it’s important that we should examine these things. But you notice in sport, you know, in snooker or pool, you can see some people who seem to be in rhythm and they seem to be so concentrated and relaxed at the same time that everything seems to go right for them. And in fact, if you’re watching on television, and I love sport, and now and again I watch it, you can usually tell who’s going to win. You can usually tell who’s getting what they call the run of the balls. Got it? And even if you’re not getting the run of balls, you can have a ball right near the pocket and you can have your cue ball line straight up with it and hit it and everything goes right over the top, doesn’t it? When you’re not having the run of the balls, so they say.

One coach says that the more you train and the harder you work, the luckier you’ll be. And there’s something in that too, isn’t there? See? I have a sister who’s 84 years old and she’s in… she’s got a flat in a retirement home and she’s so positive, so fit, so positive, so relaxed. She laughs a lot and she keeps herself really fit. In fact, she’s the oldest person in the house and they think she’s the youngest. And she goes in for all these sort of bingo sessions and tickets and… She wins so many times. Nowadays, she stops saying, “I’ve got the winning ticket.” She’s so embarrassed because she’s a very positive person. And I don’t think that’s an accident.

You can see this, you know, in the story, again, in Scripture. If you come to the story of Joseph in Genesis, you’ll see that Joseph, 17-year-old boy, with… He’s sort of a favourite to his father and he gets this lovely coat of many colours and he gets a bit proud. And, of course, he tells his brothers that one day he’s had a couple of dreams and they’re going to all be bowing down to him. And so they get a little bit upset and you can imagine that, can’t you? So they decide that they would do away with him. And they put him in the pit.

And just as they put him in a pit, they were going to kill him at first, but they decide not to kill him. But just at that time, the Midianite traders, there’s a little caravan, starts coming along and they see it in the distance. Got it? And they decide, as it comes near, they decide, well, they won’t leave him in the pit, they’ll sell him.

Wasn’t that a bit of luck? That they came along just at that time? Do you know, if it hadn’t been for that, we wouldn’t have half of Genesis? Would we? Is that right? Because the story goes on well into Genesis, doesn’t it? You see? And so what do they do? They bring him up out of the pit. Got it? And they sell him to the Midianites. And he sells them to Potiphar. Now, wasn’t that a bit of luck, too? Because Potiphar really was quite a decent fellow. And he got done ever so well with him. And he used the talents that this boy had. And he got on very, very well indeed.

And then, he had a bit of a problem. Potiphar’s wife took a fancy to him and wanted him to lay with her. But this time, he’s got his principles and he doesn’t want to upset his master. And he doesn’t want to do the wrong thing. And so, he says, “No, not on your…” Well, I won’t say the cockney for that, but “not on your side.” But, anyhow, he chooses not to lay with her. And therefore, she decides to frame him as if he had raped her. You see? So, Potiphar doesn’t like this, the wife tells him, and so, he gets put in prison. You would think, what a bit of bad luck. You know, but this time, he was doing good, wasn’t he? But he was put into prison, and there, with the butler and the baker of Pharaoh.

Well, he’s with them quite some time, and he’s listening to their dreams, and with his gift for dreams, he shows that he can tell them and interpret them what it meant. And he’s holding them both. And the butler got out of it, and the baker lost his head. Now, two years later, the butler had forgotten the story, but the pharaoh had a dream, and he couldn’t find anybody to interpret.

And so, the butler then said, “I know a man in prison.” Wasn’t that a bit of luck, that he remembered that, and the pharaoh had a dream? He’d have still been there now, wouldn’t he? Well, you know, it’d take a few years. But, you know, isn’t that marvelous? So, he remembers, “I know a man,” he says, “who can interpret your dreams.” “Get him out,” he said. So, he came out. And, because he interpreted the dream, he was made prime minister of Egypt. So, this young boy, who is a proud young boy, has now become prime minister through a set of circumstances. And anywhere along that line, you could have said, what a bit of bad luck. What a bit of good luck. What a bit of bad luck. What good luck. Couldn’t you? See? But, you know, some of the reasons he got into trouble was to do with himself.

And that’s with us too, isn’t it? A lot of the things that happen to us are to do with ourselves. The way we act, the way we react. Got it? Other things are to do with lessons we must learn. Tommy mentioned that last night. Lessons we must learn. There are lessons. And he was right when he said, we’ll still have to keep on learning that lesson until we’ve really got it. So we might just as well learn it the first time. Aren’t we? Because it’s painful.

And then, of course, there is that plan that is working. That unseen plan that is working to bless us, to bring us to our full potential, to change us. That plan that was watching over me in my life when I was in such a mess, largely brought about by my own problems or my own ignorance. Got it? So there’s… All this is going on and we’ve got to understand this.

When I left Winni last time, I was still just serving the Lord just where and where He led me. I didn’t have a job. I didn’t have a movement behind me. I didn’t have any organisation or two. I just served the Lord and I’d been doing that for around about seven years. And then I got this feeling, this inner feeling that I should… I should change. And God gives you that feeling. You get it deep, deep down within. You know that there’s something going on. You’re not quite comfortable. You know there’s something else God wants you to do. So… And I needed, I think, some more structured life and I felt I’d like to work with people again, people around me. And so I prayed God would show me the way and I made a couple of applications for jobs which I thought I would, you know, reasonably well, able to do. Both of them Christian jobs, both of them needing organiser and planner and also someone who could care for people which was in my field.

One person came to see me, a minister, with his secretary and she came along and they came along to the house and in the discussions they noticed that on our windows in our house we got rainbows. Now my wife loves rainbows and we got rainbows on our windows, we got rainbows on our grandchildren’s windows, see, just because we love rainbows. And when he asked me where I’d been recently and what I’ve been doing I talked to him, well I’ve been to American camps and that, I could see the look on his face. He thought I was new age. And he just didn’t give me any time at all.

So you might think that was a bit of bad luck. Got it? But anyhow, and then another job came along, and the man interviewed me for 15 minutes and says, “Well, I don’t think you’ve got anything we could do with, Mr. Kerley.” He said, “I think you should look elsewhere.”

Because this can be very putting down, can’t it? If you feel like that. But when you understand these truths, you know, you have to realise it’s not bad luck and it’s not good luck. So one day, I said to my wife, well, let’s go to this little village church. We hadn’t been there for a long, long, long time. And when we got there, we found that one man was preaching who was born in the same place that I was born in the middle of London, in a place called Islington. And although I’d spoken to him over the years, I hadn’t seen him for a long, long time. So at the end of the service, he came up to me and we hugged each other, a great man of love. And he said, “I’d like to have a word with you, Bert.” So I said, “Well, that would be nice, Ron. Yeah, sure, you phone me when you’re ready and I’ll come and see you.” So he, about, it was about the middle of the next week, I was sitting down typing and the phone rang and he said, “I’ve got a cancellation of an appointment, could you come up now and see me?” So, I went to see him. Actually, he’d just started a family, Christian family, counselling ministry.

And he’d only got two working for him and he wanted, it was growing so much, he wanted another person to help him. And he said to me, he said, “Bert,” he said, “I’ve been praying.” He said, “And the only name that keeps coming to mind is yours.”

Now, prior to that, I’d said to the Lord, after those two interviews, I said, “Now, I’ve done my part. You know where You want me. You know what I can do. I’m going to leave it to You.” That’s what I said to Him. After the two, you know, refusers, I thought, well, I’ll leave it to You. And then this came, this church visit, and I saw Ron and he said, “I’ve been praying.” He said, “The only name that keeps coming to mind is yours.” And it’s wonderful, really, because, you know, it’s the work, you know, that really just fulfills me so completely. I didn’t ask him how much money I was going to get. He didn’t ask me what certificates I got because I haven’t got any.

And he didn’t know what qualifications, he didn’t ask me for qualifications. I didn’t ask him what pension rights there was and how many weeks holidays. He just said, “I want someone,” he said, “to help me with these people.” And he told me one or two little things he wanted to have. Wasn’t that wonderful? Wasn’t that a bit of luck we went to that church that night? Wasn’t it? Isn’t that wonderful, you know, that we just said we go to that church? Isn’t that wonderful? Yeah. It’s very interesting. I might as well tell you this while we’re going along this. But it’s very interesting because it does show you the beauty of CFO. But one of the things Ron asked me to do was to look after the people who were lonely and who were nervous and anxious, as well as counselling marital couples and others.

And he said, “Can you do it?” I said, “Yes, I’d love to.” And do you know what I thought of immediately? Was the CFO programme. And so we would get every spring and every autumn, I would get 14 people, all of them clients, all of them with severe problems, either very lonely or nervous or depressed. And I would have them come for one Saturday a week each month. So I had them for three days. And I gave them the pure CFO programme. And the difference at the end of the three days was wonderful. Wonderful. People who were so nervous were hugging each other, loving each other, making friends with each other. Some of them are now going to CFO camps, some of them are on the council rings. Isn’t that wonderful? We really have something very, very precious here and beautiful.

Saying that, I had a drama experience today here. Magnificent. Who was it? Jamie, was it? I’ve never seen anything like it. I always go to drama first because I don’t like it. And I thought I’d get that over with first. But I’m getting better and better. And you know, I felt today. I was so free today. In fact, if it hadn’t been for CFO, I would have had a miserable time today. Because this really was testing. What an experience. He’s got something there which is really so beautiful. And I’m going to take some of that back with me. Really good. Anyhow, where was I? Back again to Bodie House. Anyhow, we go back to this place called Bodie House. This is where I worked. Lovely little place. Big wooden bungalow. About four offices with a lovely long waiting room which we use as a lecture room. Because we’ve grown now and we actually teach carers from churches to take the elementary steps in counselling.

Still haven’t got any qualifications, but they don’t know that. Anyhow, so we had this place half built and they built the other part on so that when I came I could have an office. And then we started to look around for furniture. We’ve got the carpet down and then I said, well now we want a desk and a couple of lovely relaxing chairs. So I said, I’ll go down to the old antique place and the old furniture shops and see what I can see. And I went down there and this day it was shut. And there it was completely shut. All locked up. But outside one of the stores was a big desk standing on end. And you could tell it had been well used because all the coffee cup stains were on the desk. It looked like sort of five Olympic games on it, you know. All the circles on the desk, you see. And I saw this desk, couldn’t see anybody around so I took a phone number and I phoned the gentleman up. And I said to him, “Tell me,” I said, “that desk outside your shop, is it yours?” He said, “Yes.” I said, “Well, what’s it doing outside?” He said, “I couldn’t get it inside, we haven’t got any room.”

So I said to him, “Well, how much are you up for it?” He said, “15 pounds, 30 dollars,” you see. So I said, “Well, would you take 10?” He said, “The wood’s worth more than that.” And I knew it was too. So I said, “Fine.” I took it back and polished it. Do you know that’s a beautiful antique desk, it’s worth 300 or 400 pounds. Wasn’t that a bit of luck that the thing was shut and he couldn’t get it in? Wasn’t it? Wasn’t that wonderful? Wasn’t it? So we got the desk in, so I’m standing there, well, we need a couple of chairs. And the phone rang. And it appears that a lady had phoned up the Citizens Advice Bureau, which is a bureau sort of we have, man voluntarily, to help people with all their problems. And it appears that this lady had moved house and she’d come and taken a little bungalow to be near her daughter. And she wanted to get rid of some chairs.

So I said, well, I’ll come along and have a look at them. So I got in the car and drove up, and sure enough, two beautiful chairs. Put them in the back of the car and we got it. Isn’t that wonderful?

Youngsters, we’re telling stories here, but try to get beyond the stories to something else that’s happening. Don’t just treat these as little stories and think, oh yes, isn’t that an answer to prayer? Isn’t that an answer to prayer? Think… Because during the week I hope to take us a little way along this trail to see, get behind the scenes. I know it may seem as if it’s a little bit trivial tonight, but I want us to get behind the scenes. It makes a lot of difference to our lives.

So I got the chairs, I’m alright from my room, but we’ve got another new room which wants furnishing. Just as we put the carpet down the phone ring. “Citizens Advice Bureau here, we’ve got a lady here, can you help?” She’s been told that she wants… She’s been told that she’s got to clear out her house for a friend who had died, you see. And so I went along there, and it seems as if somebody had been there before me, and they had taken all the best of the stuff, and there was only the sort of rubbish there. But I happened to notice two chairs, and the covers on the chairs were so stained that they didn’t look any good at all, you see. But I did notice that the woodwork was beautiful. Just that a little bit of woodwork that was showing out was beautiful, and the legs looked beautiful too. And my eyes were attracted to those, and I thought, well, that’s worth it. So I took them. I took them back, and I took the covers off, thinking we’ll wash those. And as I took the covers off, underneath the cushions were absolutely brand spanking new. And each chair, so my colleague told me, was worth 300 pounds, 600 dollars. Wasn’t that a bit of luck?

Wasn’t it? Isn’t that amazing? So you see, I want to read to it what a couple of friends said about this. I don’t know how many of you have heard of Gertrude DeKock Keehn. She was one of the great speakers in CFO years and years ago. Magnificent woman, and I do hope you can get her tapes from the CFO lending library. But she says this, “True success is not a matter of chance or luck, but of divine law.

If we break the divine law, it is the same as breaking any other law. We suffer. But if we cooperate with it, then we become happy citizens, living here and now in God’s kingdom of love and happiness.” See what she’s saying again? Don’t think in terms of luck. There are laws operating all the time. Leslie Weatherhead, the man that wrote that book that saved my life.

One of the greatest ministers and psychologists in England of this century. He was minister at the City Temple, which is called the Cathedral of the Free Churches in England. And it’s in the centre of London. And the people used to queue up outside to listen to Dr. Leslie Weatherhead. So I recommend you read some of his books. He’s a really wonderful man. And he says this, and he was talking on chance. “And with God, there is no such thing as chance. For this word, even to us, simply covers those happenings which are the product of laws we do not fully understand.

If you knew all the laws that operate when you throw up a penny, you would know whether it would come down heads or tails.” Isn’t that interesting? I wish I’d have known that when I was playing sport and tossing up the coin.

It’s challenging, isn’t it? Because we so often think in terms of luck and chance. When we’re at the family ministry, I often ask people, how did they meet? We sometimes do in a course, when we have a course of 24 people to start a course, we would suggest to them that they go and select another person and sit and talk with them for about five minutes. And then they would talk and they would think we were going to ask a question what they talk about. But we say to them, why did you choose that person? And it’s very interesting to see that there was a reason that each one chose the other person, although they were not conscious of it. Do you know, friends, that’s going on all the time. All the time. You’re attracted to someone or you’re repelled by someone. I think we need to learn this for very many reasons. And understanding it would help us in our own lives and help God in the Kingdom.

This is, of course, the cause for a lot of troubling marriages. People who are attracted for the wrong reasons and don’t know why they’re being attracted. Isn’t it? So you see, it’s not luck. Something else is happening. So, in all our life, in every area, whether it’s sport, whether it’s our work or career, whether it’s in relationships, whether it’s our finances or health, there are laws and principles at work. In matters large, such as governments, economies, politics, all those things, or in matters small. I was at Shasta a few years ago. And I was there. You know, it’s a wilderness camp. They call it a wilderness camp. I think they’ve changed the name now to Camping Camp, because wilderness frightens the life out of people. And I was getting so few there. But now they’re getting more. But on the first morning, they asked me to lead the rhythms.

And so we went on to a meadow, well grown over. The grass was pretty high, but we had to start somewhere. So we started on this meadow. And we all got lined up ready to do the rhythms. And I think it was either the first or second rhythm. I was jumping up in the air. Showing them how to jump up in the air, you know. And I said, “Let’s have a big jump,” I said. And up I jumped really high. I came down. And I realised that the ground was uneven. So I went over on my ankle. And, the agony. It ballooned up in such a way. You know, the first morning at camp, you know. Now, Shasta’s miles away from anywhere. And I didn’t think there was any chance of getting a doctor. But they all run around and got some ice. And they all prayed over it. And that was wonderful. And I managed to carry on, you know, and get to my little hut. They got one little hut there. And then I thought, this is going to be really troublesome. Because there’s no… I don’t think there’s a square foot of ground that is level in Shasta. If you’ve been to Shasta, you’ll know that. It really is rugged. So every step was agony.

But I needed help. And so eventually I got a little piece of a wooden stick and I sort of walked along this. And I happened to get near a whole pile of rubbish. Stones and old wood and all the rest of it. And there it was, all this rubbish. And I saw something sticking out in the middle of it. And I moved towards it and I really couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Sticking out of this old pile of wood in the middle of a forest, miles from anywhere, was one wooden crutch.

What a bit of luck. Wasn’t it? See? And it was just right for me. You know? And all the rest of the week I hobbled on that crutch and my leg got better. But I can tell you, the thing I wanted there, apart from the prayers, was a crutch, wasn’t it? Wasn’t that marvellous? What a bit of luck. Another lovely instance… And I’m telling you these stories so that we get aware. I mean, I know that you could all tell me stories now, because it’s going through your head now. That’s right. How about that? How about that? And if we put all our stories together, what would you get? Something very powerful, wouldn’t you? Something very powerful. I remember that the first time I came over here was for the 1973 International, the first International CFO, down in Lake Junaluska. And the second camp… the second International Camp, we invited everybody over to our place in England, and we ran the International there.

And Dante Anderson asked me if I would arrange for a board meeting of 40 people from all around the world to come to London before the camp and have a board meeting. Well, he didn’t realise what that really meant. I mean, first of all, it was a tremendous expense, apart from the inconvenience of everybody getting there. And so I did… I rang up a friend with an idea that I had in my quiet time about having them come round to our sort of small… It’s more than a village, it’s a little bit more than a village, but it’s not a town. And I thought, what if we could get all these 40 people housed here for a week? So I rang up a friend and she said, “That’ll be fine, but I think that’s a great idea.” So we went ahead with it. And so we organised this board meeting for a whole week in our area. And then it was my job to allocate the people to the people who had offered their homes. And I didn’t know any of these people then. I know all of them now, of course. But I didn’t know the people. And so it was a wonderful experience. It was wonderful to see how each couple went into the right home.

There was a Japanese friend came over. And he was very, very keen on photography. And lo and behold, I had allocated him in the house with a professional photographer. There were others. There was a minister that offered his home. And I put him two Indians, the C.S. Das and D.C. Das. And I allocated them to him. He had always wanted to be a missionary in India. And he had a great desire to go to India. In fact, he actually went for CFO afterwards to India. And served there with Reg Goff.

But the interesting one that always stuck in my mind was to do with one of our dear friends, Glenn Harding. And Glenn’s dear friend, wasn’t he? He’s such a great fellow. And he, as you know, suffered seriously from diabetes. Very serious. Anyhow, I had a man allocated for him in a church. And then he rang me through and says, “I’m very sorry about to let you down.” He said, “We really can’t do it. Our daughter’s going to have a child. We’ve got to be away. So we’ve got to let you down.” But I had a reserve in a little council house. And I kept them in reserve. And so I rang her up and I said, “Well, could you take these friends?” That was Glenn and Esther. And she said, “Yeah, sure.”

So, Glenn came along and he was really tired and he was not too well because he’d been suffering from the jets and being out of rhythm with his eating habits. And then so I said, “Right, we better get you in a car then and get you around there straight away.” So we did. And we went over to the house. And then I said to the lady, I said, “I’m very sorry.” I said, because Esther had told me all this beforehand. And I thought, as she told me, I thought, my God, I’ve got a problem here. So, anyhow, I went over to the house and I said, “Listen carefully,” I said, “to what Esther has to say, because this is important to Glenn.” And so she spent a long time telling her what she should do or what she shouldn’t do. And the food he should have, the times he should have it and all the rest of it. And I’m waiting for some reaction and I don’t see any reaction in her at all. And then in the end I said, “Well, I hope this won’t be too much for you, dear.” And she said to me, “Perhaps,” she said, “I looked after my father with diabetes all my life.”

What a bit of luck! Wasn’t it? What a bit of luck! See? Friends, I believe it’s important that we should consider this matter of luck. For if luck or chance is eliminated, we are left with laws, principles and plans. Now, in saying that, I don’t want you to get frightened. In one of the camps this week, a lady came up to me after a talk I gave about knowledge of God. And she was so complimentary. And she wanted to apologise because she said, “When I heard you say the word principles, I said, oh, what’s this going on here?” It’s funny, isn’t it? Sometimes we get a word and we stick something onto it, and we don’t go all the way through and wait and see what happens. You know? Here again. It’s not luck. It’s something that’s already been put inside us to say, be careful, be careful. I don’t have that problem with Winnipesaukee. Maybe because I’m told you’re the most open-minded, open-hearted people you could find anywhere. So I’m not afraid. But you know, there are principles involved. And I think we need to know them.

In the case of luck, we have no control. But in the case of laws, principles and plans, we can, with knowledge and understanding and with wisdom, and with will and dedication, we can do something about our lives. We can cooperate with God so that He can help to bring about that abundant life that Jesus has promised us.

I liked another phrase Tommy used, to grow in that consciousness of God. And that’s really what it’s all about. Instead of thinking in terms of luck, it’s to be aware that it’s not luck. Something has happened. Perhaps something we’re doing wrong. Perhaps something we’re not doing that we should. Just be alert. It doesn’t mean to say we have to chase ourselves. Just be alert. And you know what it does too? It gives us a greater sense of awareness of God’s presence. Got it?

It’s wonderful, isn’t it? Wonderful. Let’s pray. If there’s been anything, Lord, that has not been of You during this last hour, then please erase it from our minds. But anything that is from You, help us to hold on to it. Bring it to our notice. Help us to be aware of Your leading. Father, we do thank You that Thou art there, always watching on, watching over us, caring for us, loving us, seeking to lead us by the hand into the new and living way, to the way of abundant living that Christ promised us.

What we pray for ourselves, we pray for all people everywhere. Let us now consider those of our brothers and sisters in other countries. It may be that one particular country comes to mind now. Before we pray our nine o’clock prayer, let the Holy Spirit settle a country in your mind.

Perhaps you’d like to see one of the little children of that country. Perhaps in your imagination you’d like to take them up in your arms. Feel for them. Kiss them. And now let’s join together. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Let there be peace on earth. And let it begin with me. Amen.