‘And it shall be in the last days,’ says God, ‘That I will pour out My Spirit upon all mankind; And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, And your young men shall see [divinely prompted] visions, And your old men shall dream [divinely prompted] dreams. Acts 2:17 ( Amplified )
There is a famous oil field in West Texas called Yates Pool. It’s 14 miles from the town of Iraan, about half-way between San Antonio and El Paso on a Northwest to Southeast line with a small portion of the field extending across the Pecos River into Crockett County, principally southeast of Iraan.
During the Great Depression this field was a sheep ranch owned by a man named Yates. Mr. Yates wasn’t able to make enough on his ranching operation to pay the principal and interest on the mortgage, so he was in danger of losing his ranch. With little money for clothes or food, his family, like many others, had to live on government subsidy.
Day after day, as he grazed his sheep over those rolling West Texas hills, he was no doubt greatly troubled about how he would pay his bills. Then a seismographic crew from an oil company came into the area and told him there might be oil on his land. They asked permission to drill a wildcat well, and so he signed a lease contract.
When the drilling reached a depth of 1,115 feet they struck a huge oil reserve. The first well came in at 80,000 barrels a day. Many more wells followed which were more than twice as large. In fact, 30 years after the discovery, a government test of one of the wells showed it still had the potential flow of 125,000 barrels of oil a day. And Mr. Yates owned it all.
The day he purchased the land he had received the oil and mineral rights. Yet, he’d been living on relief. A multimillionaire living in poverty. The problem? He didn’t know the oil was there even though he owned it.
As Kayla McClurg reminds us:
“Jesus is privy to a secret that allows him to relax into union with God and into remarkable accomplishment…..The secret? We will not be acting alone. A Spirit will continue to guide and teach us, living God’s life through us. God’s intentions have no expiration date. The Spirit will show us little by little by little what is uniquely ours to say or do or be, and progressively, incrementally we will learn the Spirit’s customs and language. Doors locked in fear will open; staunchly held opinions against others will soften; forgiveness will begin to trickle in; suspicion will turn to curiosity will turn to compassion.”
As someone has noted, the message of the gospel, the (good news) of Jesus Christ, can be summed up like this: “The best news this world can hear is the news that a Spirit, not of this world, can be infused into human life – even the most hopeless human life. And the person who opens herself/himself to the same Spirit we witness in Jesus Christ, can expect to become a new creature.”
The coming of the Holy Spirit takes an old song and sets it to a new tune……
How Sweet The Sound, 
Jon (the Methodist)