In my book, "Activation: A Story of God's Transforming Power," I dedicate a chapter to my favorite story from my Activation adventures, at least so far. It's called "Hearing from Ravi." It really demonstrates to me that God can make unexpected connections in your life that can lead you to a life of adventure and fun surprises. Here is an excerpt from the chapter:
I
was introduced to a series of amazing documentary movies in 2012 beginning with
Father of Lights. Darren Wilson and his company, Wanderlust Productions, began
creating movies in 2007 with the release of Finger
of God and have gone on to produce Furious Love,
Father of Lights, Holy Ghost, and most recently, Holy
Ghost Reborn in the fall of 2015. Each movie is
unique and awesome for various reasons, and it’s a great opportunity to see how
the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit work together as One for the love of God’s
children in the world. If you haven’t been exposed to modern day miracles, this
is a great opportunity to see them first hand.
While
all of these movies are great, I think my favorite may be Father of Lights,
which features Ravi Kandal. Incredibly, God speaks to Ravi audibly each day,
giving him instructions for his ministry. In the movie the film crew follows
Ravi as he embarks on amazing adventures that were directed by God’s
instruction. If you get a chance to read Darren Wilson’s book, Filming God,
you can read about many more adventures with Ravi, including times Jesus
himself has appeared to and spoken with him!
Who
wouldn’t want to know someone like that? Well, that’s where the story gets
nothing short of crazy. In October 2014, I received a request from Ravi to
connect with him through LinkedIn™! I was shocked and amazed, but then I
wondered if it was even legit. Why would he contact me? Is this a scam? But God
talks to him audibly. Did God speak my name to Ravi?
His
profile showed he was connected to several people from Darren Wilson’s movies,
so I took a chance and accepted the invitation. I sent him an email asking how
he found my name, and I didn’t hear back right away. My family started teasing
me about being so gullible. “Adam, it’s obviously some kind of joke or scam!” I
wasn’t convinced and emailed him again asking how he got my name. Several days
passed, and I then received an email from Ravi:
“Thank u for accepting me. My brother the fun part of our father is
1. He talks,
2. He connects people for a reason.
Be blessed.”
It
was so incredibly exciting to enter the world of the documentaries I was such a
big fan of, and I couldn’t wait to see where this connection would lead!
Since
I was still mystified and wanted to better understand why this connection with
Ravi happened, I perused his connections to see if there was anyone that I
should connect with. I had been interested in writing another book at that
time, so I was immediately drawn to one of his connections, who is an author
and book editor. I ended up not moving forward with that book idea, but when
Activation came into focus in early 2016, I reconnected with Jackie to help with my book. I’m excited that Jackie Macgirvin, nationally recognized
author, helped me put together the book you are reading now!
Even
with this connection already made through my linkage with Ravi, I have a
feeling this is not the end of this story. I look forward to learning more about
why God made this connection and what further contacts this will bring in the
body of Christ!
Then incredibly, I was able to add the following update to the book just before finalizing the manuscript:
Well,
the story doesn’t end there. As I was looking for a publisher for my book, I noticed from my church’s bookstore that we have our own
publishing arm called Gateway Publishing. I found someone on LinkedIn™ who worked
for the group and sent an invite to connect. He responded the same day, and I learned
that Gateway was making an effort to expand its book publishing capabilities
using Burkhart Books, founded by Tim Taylor.
I
looked Tim up on LinkedIn™, and saw that he shared three connections with me — one
of which was Ravi Kandal!!!
When
I connected with Tim, I learned that he had also received a random request to connect,
and had not known Ravi. So the story has come full circle, with God connecting
me to my editor and book publisher for this book through Ravi!
Better
yet, given all of these connections, I emailed Ravi after not hearing from him
since late 2014, to tell him about my adventures with his connections. You can
imagine my surprise when I received a call on my cell phone from an unknown number,
only to have Ravi on the other line! After spending a few minutes talking about
my book, he explained to me that in the fall of 2014, God had given him the
names of 682 people to connect with on LinkedIn. I was one of the names God called out to Ravi!
Latest Update: I was fortunate to have Ravi write the foreword for Activation, and I met him in person in late 2017 (pictured here). I've connected through LinkedIn with many of the 682 people Ravi was given, and I'm looking forward to learning more about how these connections fit together!
Latest Update: I was fortunate to have Ravi write the foreword for Activation, and I met him in person in late 2017 (pictured here). I've connected through LinkedIn with many of the 682 people Ravi was given, and I'm looking forward to learning more about how these connections fit together!
