March 24, 2013
The afternoon of the 3rd session of the Hidden Bible Truths Revealed Seminar was so unbearably hot! Usually it’s not that
bad, but this time, it was extra hot! We realized later on that it was a sign
of what would happen later on. We set everything up and prepared for another
usual evening like all the rest. A few clouds lazily drifted by and everything
seemed peaceful and promised a good meeting. However, it was not to be…
Before the open-air meeting, lots of people had opportunities to have their pictures taken with the
Batchelors and the meeting
began at 6:30 as always. After the usual musical numbers, Dr. Blessey got up
and began explaining how to make vegan ice cream. The audience was very interested! She had also brought lots of samples
along for everyone to have a little taste of what vegan ice cream tasted like. As she was talking, the clouds
grew bigger and more ominous. But most of us didn’t notice as her lecture was
so interesting and everyone was enjoying it! Right in the middle of her
lecture, the first rain drops began to fall.
Then we started getting worried.
Immediately we began to pray silently that God would hold the rain off so we could continue
the meeting, but the clouds continued to fill the sky and it grew darker - not just from the darkness of the night coming on, but also from the thick, heavy clouds. Most Filipinos carry an umbrella with them, they just pulled out their umbrellas,
stayed in their seats and Dr. Blessey kept on with her lecture since there was a
roof over the stage, so she wasn’t getting wet.
It just sprinkled for awhile, but all the PA people, cameramen,
and technicians weren’t too sure that it would only sprinkle. So they ran
around putting tarps over the speakers and umbrellas over the cameras and
projectors. We continued to pray. After about 10 minutes, the sprinkles turned
into more sprinkles until it wasn’t sprinkling, it was gently raining! Then
everyone began running for cover. The stage was the only roof for the whole
area, so that’s where most of them headed. Thankfully it was a good-sized stage
or the people would never had been able to fit on it! Some went home, but most
stayed and joined the ever-increasing group on the stage.
Dr. Blessey kept right on with her lecturing. The PA had been quickly
covered with tarps and still was working. Pastor Doug realized that the
likelihood of him preaching that night wasn’t very high, so he took the mic and
told everyone that he would pray that God would stop the rain so the meeting
could continue. So he did. But God had other plans that night and the rain didn’t stop one bit. During this time, someone asked Pastor Doug what he thought of everything that night and he said, "This is God's meeting. If God wants to cancel His meeting, that's His business, not mine!" What a great attitude! We had been on
the stage for around 15 minutes and the rain just kept pouring and pouring. We
were able to stay fairly dry under the roof of the stage, but knew that if the
wind picked up and started blowing the rain sideways, we’d really be wet! The PA was soon turned off, since all the cables were in water and
someone might be electrocuted.
 |
| Dad doing the dismissal of the people. |
But some were just arriving. The traffic here in Manila is so bad
that sometimes you can spend 2-3 hours going from one end of the city to the
other and some had just gotten there, since many of the streets were flooded
and they had to take alternate routes. Most of us were soaking wet, but in spite of being wet and a little cold, we were happy! What a night! But it was full of
adventures, for sure! Thankfully, because we didn’t even have the meeting, we
didn’t get home late, but we were sure tired when we did!
What was Pastor Doug's topic for that night? The 7th day Sabbath. No wonder we had such an exciting night! The meeting was postponed but the evening
ended with smiles and hope. God’s word would still be revealed.
