April/May
2016
- Vol. 85
In the Shadow of the Almighty
.
- an interview
with Dave Hughes
in the recent aftermath of a
Terrorist Attack in Brussels
The following audio
clip is an interview with Dave
Hughes, President of the Association of
Ecumenical Communities in the Sword of the
Spirit. The interview was conducted by Spirit
Radio presenter Steve Johnson along with
Dominic Perrem as host presenter (both from Nazareth
Community in Dublin) a day after
the recent terrorist attack in Brussels, Belgium
on March 26, 2016. [Used with courtesy of ©
Spirit
Radio, Dublin, Ireland]
> Click here for mp3
audio clip of the radio interview (length 10
minutes)
An Interview
Afterword
.
by Dave Hughes
It’s been a little over week since the interview and
the tragic events in Brussels. My initial reactions
as captured in the interview were centered on two
things: a sense of the profound evil as we
experienced the attacks first hand balanced by a
sense of God’s sovereignty, protection and overall
control of our lives. In the week that has passed,
these two points continue to resonate and deepen
within me: there is great evil abroad in the land
yet the love of our God dwarfs and ultimately will
conquer this evil. We need not fear.
Psalm
91 has taken on a very profound and intimate
meaning for me:
Whoever dwells in
the shelter of the Most High
will
rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of
the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God,
in whom I trust.”
3 Surely he
will save you
from the
fowler’s snare
and from
the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover
you with his feathers,
and
under his wings you will find refuge;
his
faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
5 You will not
fear the terror of night,
nor the
arrow that flies by day,
6 nor the
pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the
plague that destroys at midday.
7 A thousand may
fall at your side,
ten
thousand at your right hand,
but it
will not come near you.
8 You will only
observe with your eyes
and see
the punishment of the wicked.
9 If you say,
“The Lord is my refuge,”
and you
make the Most High your dwelling,
10 no harm will
overtake you,
no
disaster will come near your tent.
11 For he will
command his angels concerning you
to guard
you in all your ways;
12 they will
lift you up in their hands,
so that
you will not strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will
tread on the lion and the cobra;
you will
trample the great lion and the serpent.
14 “Because he
loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him;
I will
protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
15 He will call
on me, and I will answer him;
I will
be with him in trouble,
I will
deliver him and honor him.
16 With long
life I will satisfy him
and show
him my salvation.”
Seen from this perspective, the
events we experienced can be seen as a very simple
message from the Lord: you are mine, you are loved,
go out and serve without fear for I am with you.
This message is not simply for the Hughes family, it
is for all of us.
Thank you.
Dave Hughes
 Dave Hughes is President of the Sword of
the Spirit's Association
of
Ecumenical Communities and is the senior
coordinator of Word
of Life Community in Ann Arbor, Michigan,
USA. Dave and his wife Jane have five children and
a growing number of grandchildren. They are
members of Knox Presbyterian Church in Ann Arbor.
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