There is a Cloud
By CHÉ AHN
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And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; then he bowed down on the ground, and put his face between his knees, and said to his servant,“ Go up now, look toward the sea.”
So he went up and looked, and said,“ There is nothing.” And seven times he said,“ Go again.”
Then it came to pass the seventh time, that he said,“ There is a cloud, as small as a man’ s hand, rising out of the sea!” So he said,“ Go up, say to Ahab,‘ Prepare your chariot, and go down before the rain stops you.’” Now it happened in the meantime that the sky became black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy rain.
- 1 Kings 18:42-45
The history of HIM really begins when I was a junior at the University of Maryland, just a 20-year-old, as I was driving up to the main campus entrance. I was at a red light and the Lord said,“ Look out the window, I want to show you something.” When I looked out the window I saw a relief map of the world, in the cloud’ s formation. I thought to myself, surely I must be making this up, but the wind wasn’ t distorting the image. The clouds stayed in perfect formation of the world; North America, Latin America, Europe, and Africa. But, China and India were twice the size of the rest of the map- twice what should have been to scale. I pulled the car over to the side of the road and looked up. The wind still wasn’ t distorting the clouds for at least five minutes, so I said,“ Lord, why are You showing me this?” In that moment, He spoke to my heart that I would impact every continent, especially Asia.
So, I immediately shared this encounter with my pastor at the time, Larry Tomczak. He told me to record the vision and if this was of the Lord it would surely come to pass, but to wait on it, according to Habakkuk 2:2-3. I told him that my interpretation was that I’ m called to the nations and maybe I should drop out of college and become a missionary. Larry said no, you’ re not ready yet and you just need to mature and continue to be faithful to what’ s in front of you. But, I also shared the encounter with my dad, and I said to him,“ Dad, maybe I am supposed to drop out and become a missionary.” And my father said,“ No, you’ re going to graduate from college.” He also said something very interesting to me. He said what felt like a promise to me that,“ Not only will you graduate from college, but you will also go to seminary.” That was the first time that he ever mentioned that he wanted me to go to seminary. So, my“ small” interpretation of that experience, when I was just 20 years old, was more of the traditional missionary. I had no idea that I would be leading an apostolic
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