by Mike Andrews
In the early years of the public internet, engineers at John Fluke Mfg. Co. in Everett, Washington used net.religion.christian — one of the first religious newsgroups — to share their faith with a nascent global audience. Mike Andrews was among the most active of these early voices: a lay evangelical in the Charismatic tradition who posted frequently through 1985, mixing personal testimony with practical theology in a voice that was warm, unguarded, and unambiguously sincere.
This post, from November 1985, is one of his finest. It recounts a moment at a prayer meeting where Andrews found himself reaching for something he could not name — a deeper understanding, a spiritual attainment — and received instead a quiet word: ask for a simple faith. The account captures something real about the phenomenology of contemplative striving and its dissolution, and it represents a genuine form of early internet spiritual community: people sharing their inner lives with strangers across telephone lines because they believed it mattered.
Hi,
Just wanted to share something on letting go and letting God.
Last night at a prayer meeting we had a fantastic sharing and discussion. God's Spirit was felt and seen working powerfully.
During the evening, I kept wanting to reach with my finger tips for that last little 'whatever' that I just couldn't quite barely touch. Ever have that deep breath-holding reach? "If only I could reach that ----": can't even quite define what 'it' is that I was reaching for. I just knew I'd have that closer, deeper understanding of God and what He is doing or wants me to do. I tried so hard to grasp, even just touch, whatever it was. And I've tried so many times in the past, only to find what I thought I'd reached wasn't quite it, even though it seemed to work for awhile.
Then it came to me so softly, it was fun. Jesus spoke to my spirit, saying "Ask the Father for a simple Faith." That was it. He wants me to stop the frustrating reach for the unknown 'it' that would give me the knowledge I so deeply wanted, and simply, very simply, depend on Him to give me all that I need, a simple Faith. So I let go. I trust He is placing desires in my heart and giving the Gifts I need as I need them to do whatever He calls me to do. He is, without a doubt. He is bringing me to even deeper truths, the simpler my Faith becomes, the more open I am to His work within me. Please pray for me, I'll pray for you all, too.
Later it hit me that the desperate reach I'd been making time and time again, was for something that I could say I had attained, that I had finally reached. I would have said God 'helped', but still I did it — Pride. And head-knowledge of God, not heart-knowledge — the difference between knowing about God, and knowing God. But praise Him, He gave me something better, a simple Faith — giving up all control to Him. Ah — another thing just hit me, I've read somewhere that meekness is strength under Divine control. This is fun!
God Bless,
Mike Andrews
P.S. I had to pray for a simple Faith again today, and give all to Him again. I'll have to do it again tomorrow, too. BUT, I pray to God it becomes easier and freer, more childlike, to do each time.
P.P.S. Jesus Loves you personally, and He wants you to Love Him personally, too.
Colophon
Written by Mike Andrews, John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc., Everett, WA. Posted to net.religion.christian, November 15, 1985. Message-ID: [email protected].
One of the earliest personal spiritual testimonies posted to Usenet. Andrews was a lay evangelical in the Charismatic tradition; his posts throughout 1985 document the faith life of a working engineer who understood the new network as a community worth evangelising. This account of a prayer meeting breakthrough — the movement from effortful grasping to received faith — stands as a primary document of the inner life of early internet Christianity.
Preserved from the Usenet archive for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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