Fire in our hearts - The Jesus Army

FIRE IN OUR HEARTSAWAKE O ZION!beautiful — a place to open up and find godly friendships.Others found it dull and boring: ‘What! No tellies! No alcohol!No football! No going out for a good time! No holidaysabroad...!‘Man! What do you do? Just pray and talk to each other?’As we passed through this almost legendary era, our senseof identity sharpened up and Zion became less a concept andmore and more ‘us’. A patriotic zeal for our church arose thatbroke the chains of public opinion. Confidence replaced timidityas we felt our unity and strength. The danger, though,was the arrogance of youthful zeal. As God led us along thisradical path, it would be easy to feel that we were somehowspecial.Indeed, the move into community had precipitated a newculture. Now that we had the farm, just being up there on asummer evening picking gooseberries together left us withheartfelt gratitude to God and a great love for this Zion.By the time we were at Ashburnham again, we were determinedto explore more of ‘the beauties of holiness’ — and thebite of discipleship!‘The Lord has delivered me from all my fears! Amen!’A high-pitched voice echoed over the lake, and trailed offinto an embarrassed giggle.‘And again, Yvonne!’ shouted Liz from across the water. ‘Andwith the emphasis on all.’The Lord has delivered me from all my fears!’ she shouted.‘Right!’ echoed her friend. ‘Now jump up and down, praisethe Lord, and say, “I’m a super sister!”’145