So the very first night of a nine day God-Seek, God says I got you covered, and you have not failed to hear my voice. I have a mantle for you and it is a mantle fitting the spiritual DNA I put in you, in these sixty years of training. You are not on the wrong track. This church was what you needed in order to see the need of what I put in you. There is a need. You have a part to play in my body. Trust me and it shall come to be. Walk with me. And so began The Path of the White Feather. (Build it and they will come?)
I have done vision quests in which I felt I was hearing nothing the whole time. We even included fasting as part of those quests, but I was hearing nothing. It was a test of faith and we continued though hearing nothing. All the “hearing” came “after” the quest. The quest was spiritual preparation and testing. However, this God-Seek did not include fasting, and yet God spoke from the very first night in such powerful ways!
I am only going to speak of the powerful ones in this blog site. There were many little ones also, but they allow much speculation as to whether it was God or not. Those are for my own heart to judge. I’m only speaking here of those so unusual and beyond our control that it is hard to deny some unseen force was involved. From a little child I have been raised to know His voice. Perhaps I will eventually share the encounter with God I had at a Bruce Lee movie when I was early twenties, I think? That changed my life and put me on such a path as I have traveled all these years now.
DAY TWO: The big thing on Day 2 was to climb “Bear Butte”. This is the place books say the Indian, Crazy Horse, had a great vision. I was hoping to hear from God there too. We were not actually in Black Hills yet, but this was sort of on the way. I had climbed it twenty years ago, now I was back, and this time my wife hoped to climb it with me. Please understand, my wife had never done one of these vision quest with me before. This was a first for her, and she is not the rugged outdoor type. This was going to be a great challenge for her to climb Bear Butte, even though it was easy for me. My challenge would be a place called “White Butte”, and also “Harney’s Peak” in the Black Elk wilderness.
I actually did not expect her to make it all the way to the top. I figured she would climb for maybe an hour and then see a nice spot she would stay while I went the rest of the way. But she had caught the vision of the vision quest. She knew she could not climb the other places I was going, so I did not know, but she had determined if at all possible, she was getting to the top of Bear Butte!
So we hiked and hiked that day, following the rugged path winding its way slowly to the top. She stopped many times for rest, but always got back up to go again. It took us over two hours to get up there, but she finally made it and I was so very proud of her. It was great to be able to share what was going to happen up there. She would witness it first hand, not just as a second-hand story I would tell her when I came back down.
It was a beautiful day, bright with sunshine, but we also found snow on the path as we got higher. It was a white path at the top. (Church of the White Path?) The views were amazing, and when we finally reached the summit, we found a nice spot in a few evergreen trees and settled in. We had coffee, snacks, and my Bible with us.
Here is where the story gets interesting. The view before us is spectacular. A wind sweeps across the top in the bright sunshine, and there are many Indian “prayer cloths”, brightly colored, yellows, reds, blacks, blues, whites, hanging from the trees and blowing in that wind. It’s hard to describe the feeling I get when I’m up there, but my wife and I were there together, and so was God.
It had been a slow trip up, but we had made it. I do a teaching called: “What’s in a name?” The spiritual name for my wife has become, “Turtle Faith Lady”. She has always collected turtle ornaments, and the name is very fitting. The trip up Bear Butte confirmed her name. Slow, but full of faith, sacrifice, and determination. This had been her climb of the quest. God was now going to speak.
My Bible was in my hand and I was trying to figure out what to do with it? How was I feeling led, as the sun shined, the wind blew, and prayer cloths waved before us? I thought about flipping it open to see where it would land, but somehow that just didn’t feel right. There was something else.
After about five minutes of setting there in the pine trees praying and debating with myself, I happen to notice something. There was a very special movie / documentary I had purchased some time back, and a card I picked up about it I had placed in my Bible so as not to lose it, and also remind me of it. I had not placed it any special place. I had simply thrown it in, knowing I would not lose it, and I would see it there. Now the Holy Spirit seemed to be prompting me about it. “I wonder where that card just happened to land?”
You see, the documentary was very special to me. I have done a lot of teaching about the differences between the Christian who lives like a flapping little sparrow, and the Christian who lives in the high places and soars like the eagle. This movie was about the very first female who was being trained to be an “Eagle Huntress”! It is a very special thing a nomadic tribe in Turkey do, but it has always been just the men. Now for the very first time, a young girl was training with an eagle, and was going to compete in a great contest with other Eagle Hunters! This card was so special to me, and where had it landed? Would God speak to me there? IT seemed perfect. It seemed right. So I opened my Bible where the card was marking and purposely focused on the first place my eyes would fall, not knowing what it would say.
There is a special point to be made in what it said. I think it would be best to make that the next article. The name of the documentary is “The Eagle Huntress”. I highly recommend it.
Path Without End 