The
Meeting
Prove Me now in this . . . If I will not
open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that
there will not be enough room to receive it.
Malachi
3:10
"Apply yourself to the whole text, and apply the whole text to yourself," wrote Johann Albrecht Bengel, the eighteenth century German biblical scholar; and as 1974 drew to a close, Michael MacIntosh was doing just that. The more he taught in the Book of Revelation, the more he felt the beginning of judgment upon himself. It seemed that God was doing things inside him, that he was being brought to a place to die and see himself crucified with Christ. Three times he had tried to leave the work at Maranatha! Music because of internal problems, and each time Chuck Smith had told him, "Pray about it." But there comes a time when prayer alone doesn't seem to work, when something has to be done. "A time for every purpose under the heaven," Scripture reads (Eccl. 3:1). But when does that time come? And how do you know?
The Monday evening crowds in Hospitality House were growing restless. They wanted a church. They had rented a house in San Diego's Ocean Beach and put an army cot
Page 146
in it for Michael. By now Michael was spending two nights a week in San Diego, and a spirit of revival was in the air — a spirit that was all the more frustrating because of the turmoil back at the ranch. On Monday evenings six or seven hundred people were crowding the Hospitality House, and people were coming to Christ by the dozen. By November, the Ocean Beach Women's Club had been rented in order to start a Sunday morning service, and some forty persons began attending. Counseling was taking more and more time, and just finding a place to talk was not easy. The Ocean Beach house was a tiny cottage, and the benches in Balboa Park, which they were sometimes forced to use, were subject to interruption.
"What would you think," Michael said to Sandra one day, "if we were to move to San Diego?"
Sandra was pregnant with their fourth child and in no mood to move. But she was also aware of what Michael had been going through. She saw him being pulled two ways and sometimes three or four, and she was praying for him daily. She knew that Michael was still living with conflicts from his early life and that while there had been a lot of healing, it was only the grace of God that sustained him. She felt Michael had turned into a wonderful father. The man who had once told her he was relinquishing all rights to his children now would die for any one of them. She loved him for it. He was spending time with them, telling them Bible stories, doing things with them, even confessing his sins to them, saying, "I haven't been home enough; I haven't disciplined you guys enough. Let's all pray and ask the Lord to forgive us." She liked the fact that Michael was an exciting person to be around; he had a zillion ideas and was off in a new direction every day. Being conservative by nature, she thrived on it. But she also knew she could be happy anywhere with him.
"I know God is doing something in San Diego," she told
Page 147
him, "but I hate to leave here. It would be an awful wrench. But I'll go wherever you go. If you told me we were moving to Australia, I would start to pack and give God the glory."
The solution to the problem, obviously, was a meeting with Chuck Smith. For five years he had been Michael's pastor, counselor, instructor, guide, and visible seat of ultimate authority. After fortifying himself with prayer and the encouragement and support of Sandra, Michael went to the pastor's office. He was prepared to submit his resignation, but hoped he could stay on through the Christmas holidays so he would be able to buy the children some presents. He felt he had failed miserably, that Chuck Smith disapproved of his handling of the Maranatha! Music company, that his mistakes of judgment and commitment were irretrievable.
But what Pastor Chuck said to him was, "Mike, how would you like to move to San Diego?"
Michael blinked and shook his head. "Do you mean it, Chuck?"
"Of course I mean it. And we'll give you a month's paid vacation starting now, so you can begin there the first of the year."
It seemed that Chuck felt Michael had magnified the problems at Maranatha! Music out of proportion and misinterpreted how he felt about them. While Michael thought he had failed, he didn't realize that Chuck had been watching what was happening in San Diego and had become convinced by the Spirit of God that San Diego was ready, and Michael was the one to be there. He knew God was going to bless Michael and the ministry in San Diego.
Chuck stepped over to where Michael was sitting, and laid his hand on him, and prayed, committing him to the new work and to the care of his heavenly Father. And Michael, who thought he was "right with the Lord" but in
Page 148
Dutch everywhere else, was suddenly handed a ministry that he had never sought, never wanted, and never expected; and he sat in the pastor's study and bawled like a baby. For it was quite evident that God had never intended anything else.
