Personal stories from Ian’s life that are included in Gems and available to read and search as stand-alone stories here.
Seeing Connections Everywhere
I trust it will be enough to remind you that the Bible opens in Genesis with a “garden” , “ river” , “fruit” and the “blessings and life flowing” . Note that it closes in Revelation with the same themes. Do you think that is a coincidence? No I don’t think so. Learn to look for the connections. Your understanding of the Word of God will increase dramatically when you do. I was especially privileged that when I did my Bible College course I was allowed to do something that no-one else after was allowed to do. I was allowed to do 1st year, 2nd year and 3rd year Old Testament all in the same year. The same thing happened to me in my 2nd year of Bible College where I was privileged to do that same thing again for New Testament. That included doing the preliminary courses for Hebrew and Greek before starting each year of full study. It meant that during my studies I was able to do the introductory course at the same time I was doing the 2nd year intermediate papers and the third year exegesis in the original languages all at the same. I was seeing connections all over the place, every day.
The Privilege of Giving Someone a Bible in Their Language for the First Time
This last week I have spent being with people who have just received the Word of God in their language for the first time. I was given the privilege of giving one pastor his first copy of the Scripture in Ambai language. It was obvious how precious this was to him. It reminded me of the last time I saw someone receive the Scripture for the first time, her name is Indo’ Bonang, She was so excited that she was speechless knowing she was holding the whole of the New Testament for the first time in her language. It was a very sobering thing to experience. Challenging for me to maintain perspective concerning the Scripture. Therefore one of the things I want to do with these Bible Gems is not to tell you “the answers” – I am not so presumptuous. Rather it is to open up the way for you to find the answers to digging deeper for yourself.
What's Happened to My Husband
On June 8th, 1981 I was praying at the end of day with Tania. I had been reading a mission book called Bruchko and it had stirred my heart. That day I had been wondering if this was of God and “mission” was for us. We started praying. That night I started praying in my prayer language, in tongues. Sometimes I did that, sometimes I prayed in English. Well that Monday night it was like the Holy Spirit took over my prayer. Within seconds I was sitting on the bed, aware of what was happening but seemingly it was not me who was praying. It was the Holy Spirit. I suddenly started groaning, crying, sighing, moaning and uttering sounds from deep within. That kept going for maybe 10 minutes. Tania was sitting on the bed and wondering what had happened to her husband. This was very unusual. She probably thought she had a right to question my sanity.
At the end of the time I turned to Tania and said “God is leading us to the mission field, I know it.” Then my rational side kicked in. Do you have a spiritual side and a rational side like me? I know you do because you are body, soul and spirit. I found myself praying – "Lord confirm that this book is part of Your will for us." I was sure something had just happened of a spiritual nature but I want confirmation of it. After praying I thought to myself, "Well that was a dumb thing to pray Ian. How is He going to confirm the book?" That was Monday night. Wednesday night I went off to cell group. At the end of the evening the woman of the house (Yvonne) asked to speak to me and said she had something to share with me that God had told her. She came out with a magazine turned to a book review of the book “Bruchko”. She said “Here Ian, God said to give this to you.”
Wow the Holy Spirit was sure working that Monday night in me and then some more in Yvonne on Wednesday as He spoke to her about showing me that page of the magazine. That’s what happened and so I share it to help peel back the meaning and the possibilities for you. I will share the second part of that story (Yvonne’s part) with you tomorrow again to give you insight into prayer and the Spirit’s leading and work within us. Unless I get hordes of protests that I am messing with the Bible Gems in a way you don’t like.
Show That Page to Ian Vail
Wednesday June 10th Yvonne was praying in her Quiet Time as per usual. She was going through the church directory and praying for people in order. She came to Ian and Tania Vail on the list and started praying for us. As she prayed the usual kind of things Yvonne looked at the magazine on the side table beside the bed which was advertising a book called “Bruchko”. She thought nothing about it until the thoughts came into her mind “show that page to Ian Vail”. The people she was just praying for. She thought, "That's silly, what would I want to do that for? What’s the point?" But the thought came again and again. It was like she couldn’t shake it off or get rid of it. So at the end of the day when cell group was finished she summoned up the courage and risked being thought a fool to tell me that God said to give this to Ian Vail. And of course you already know what significance it had.
Have You Ever Read the Book 'Bruchko'
There is another woman called Sherry who lives in Texas USA. She is an intercessor and regularly sat on her lounge floor with a map of world at her feet and laid her hands on the nations of the world and prayed for them. She told the Lord one day that it was too hard praying for the world, she knew too much about it and there was too much to pray for. She asked the Lord to give her one nation. “Indonesia” came at her from every quarter over a two week period. She said “OK Lord, I will pray for Indonesia.” She prayed for Indonesia for three and half years and then said the same thing. Lord I know too much about Indonesia now. There’s too much to pray. Give me one island.” She looked at her wallmap of the nation of Indonesia at her feet and she thought Sulawesi looks a strange island right in the middle of the archipelago. I will pray for that island.”
A number of years later she joined Wycliffe’s Bibleless People Prayer Project and asked them for a people group. She received the Rongkong of Sulawesi. She was over the moon because that was the island she was praying for. She poured her heart into praying for the Rongkong and the translators who would go to the Rongkong. One thing among many others that she prayed was the following: Lord you have given me a such vision for the mission field through the book Bruchko. Father I want to ask that you will use the book Bruchko in the lives of the translators you will send to the Rongkong of Sulawesi as a part of their call. Will you do that Lord? Use that book so they may know that they know they are called to the Rongkong.
Bibles For China
In 1980 I received a substantial amount of money from a salary rise that was backdated in high school teaching in New Zealand. We planned to replace our car. But we attended the Sunday night service and heard Eddie Cairns talking about the need for Bibles in China and how they were going to take one million Bibles into China for the believers there. We both felt convicted to give the whole of the amount that we received from the backpay to Bibles for China. I don’t believe it was a coincidence that from that moment on our life changed. Suddenly God seemed to take an intense interest in us and our attitudes and plans. He began leading us in very specific ways (see Bible Gem 197 & 198) the end result of which was to lead us to join Wycliffe Bible Translators. Interesting isn’t it? We give our money to Bibles for China and 18 months later we find ourselves joining Wycliffe Bible Translators. “For where your treasure is there will heart be also.”
Those Two Beasts are for Vails
Returning home to Matamata from our work overseas we had lunch with Robin & Christine Collins and their family who were supporting us. I told them how much their support meant to us. Robin let me know in no uncertain terms that they were being blessed because they were involved in the work with us. He said to me "Oh no Ian. It is us who should thank you. Being involved with your work has brought blessing to us and has enable us to see things that we would not ordinarily have seen.”
Robin told us he was on the farm one day and his attention was drawn to two calves in his beef herd. The Lord seemed to speak to him about two specific animals among his beef stock. the thought came to his mind, 'These two are to be set aside for God's future purposes". Instantly he thought, 'OK, Lord I can do that'. He told his wife and she agreed. Closer to the time they were to be sold he felt the Lord say the money was to go to the Vails.
He duly took eight beef stock down to auction, including the two which had been set aside for us. All eight head of stock were in the cage at the same time. But he felt strongly that the two specified beasts were the first fruits. So he asked the auctioneer to auction the two specified ones first and to leave the others in the cage. As they went on the floor the bidding increased significantly above market rates. The two beasts were sold for over $500 each. This was twice the market rate at the time. People around him asked made comments like: "What is so special about those beasts?" "Why are people bidding that much?" "They're not worth that much."
Minutes later, when the other six beasts came up for auction, the price had come back down to what it was before the two beasts had gone up for auction. The other six sold for half of what the two beasts had sold. He said it encouraged his faith to see that indeed God had a special reason for asking him to set aside those two beasts. His own faith was strengthened realising he had indeed heard the Lord correctly in setting aside the calves. His comment "It is a privilege to watch it all happening before your very eyes. It blesses us to be supporting you. We know God is in it."
Ian Warren Vail, Are You Calling Me a Sinner?
I know this first hand. My father was a drunkard, an alcoholic. My growing years were not “nice”. My mother was a fine living woman and had high moral fibre. My father became a Christian and for a while my mother rejected the gospel because my father had accepted it. He knew he was a sinner. My mother found the notion abhorrent. She became angry at me, using my full name, including my middle name when she was mad at me. “Ian Warren Vail are you calling me a sinner just like your father”. “Yes mum. We all are.” That was Paul’s point in Romans 3.
That Car is Backing Out Without a Driver!
Allow me again to share with you a personal testimony of me coming to the understanding of this. One day while living in Matamata, New Zealand before we became involved with Wycliffe I had been thinking about the things of God. I had been musing on worship and people being eternal. I took Tania to the hairdressers and was sitting in the car waiting for her angled parked to the curb. I had a cassette playing worship music at the same I was reading my Bible and praying. I started looking at people passing on the street, some I knew; some I didn’t. Suddenly I noticed the car beside me was reversing out of the car park WITHOUT A DRIVER. I was amazed and totally focused on this car backing out without a driver. Then my car hit the curb. I had not put the handbrake on and the car had been in equilibrium until my moving around caused it to roll forward. While my senses told me the car beside me was backing out because I was not doing anything to move my car forward relative to the car beside me, in fact it was my car moving forward.
God took that moment to download to my spirit in an instant gigabytes of thought. He seemed to say to me just like with the car, you have to see from a new perspective. My perspective! In a instant I was aware of His perspective related to worship and the souls of people and what God wants of us. I was looking at people passing by on the footpath but I was not seeing them as they were in the flesh. I was seeing them as spirit bodies, or seeing their souls. The size of the person physically didn't match what I was seeing in the Spirit. Some of the large, tall people I saw as short and shrivelled. Some people of small stature I saw as tall and strong. I realised I was seeing the soulish or spirit being rather than the physical stature of the person before my eyes. All that dropped into my spirit in a nanosecond. The things of God are to be perceived and understood spiritually. Oh how we need His help.
Shenol’s Question About the Trinity.
I was asked by my friend Shenol to explain the Trinity. I thought how do I do this in a way that satisfies him? I used the analogy of the three states of water (liquid, solid, gas) and the example of the orange (flesh, skin, pip) but I could see by the look in his face it wasn’t enough. I prayed a “help” prayer and asked God what to say. I had a strong impression to say “Shenol, if I were to explain the doctrine of the Trinity in human terms would that satisfy you? He said “Yes, that's what I want”. I then said “There are some things of God that are just too deep to explain. I am happy with that. I am pleased that God has teaching that I can’t get my mind around; that boggles my mind. I think I am more satisfied with there being unexplained things of God than if I could explain everything about God in human terms. I am more content having a God who is unexplainable rather than a God who is completely explainable.” That wouldn’t satisfy me.
Shenol stayed silent for what seemed a long time and then finally he said, "Ian that is deep. I have to go away and think about that." I would like to report that he returned and accepted Jesus as his Messiah / Saviour. He didn't, but I believe that what the Lord had me share with Shenol was what he needed to hear and was timely. I leave the rest to God who is orchestrating his journey as he has mine.
A Lesson for the Fayu
Do you think you could come to the point where you are willing to suffer loss for the sake of your brother or sister in Christ? For many of us the issues of justice are heightened when it is a fellow believer who is “doing us wrong”. An option is to yield the ground and leave it to God who judges justly. Klaus Peter Kugler found that truth when living among the Fayu. The chief's son constantly stole crocodile meat from him. One day he felt God telling him give more crocodile meat to the chief’s son who had just stolen the crocodile meat he was drying. That one act of going the extra mile turned the Fayu people around and opened them up to the Gospel. How strong is your gospel? Strong enough to overcome your own predispositions?
What Family Planning Methods Do You Use?
We have to learn set aside our inhibitions and talk about the real stuff. Tania and I have learned to do that while in Indonesia. There are certain topics that are taboo in some cultures and certain topics that aren’t. But the problem is like our concepts of sin (see Bible Gem 340, 341, 346 & 353) taboos vary from culture to culture. Some things that are never talked about in one culture are talked about freely in another. We would meet strangers in the supermarket when we first arrived in Indonesia who would ask us what family planning methods we used. Our initial reaction was to hide behind our taboos but we soon learned to just come right and tell them. Because family planning was a hot topic here and because we had two girls who were older and no boy, it was obvious to them that we used family planning methods. So strangers just came right out and asked. Just like Paul, I learned to play with words. More in the next Gem.