Following the Crossover Camp, Leo and Roxanne continued to run the Kingdom Worldview Seminar, hosting Darrow Miller from a state of homelessness and temporary shelters. There was strong spiritual warfare because of the nature of the couple’s work and the family of three – and friends who assisted them in their ministry – took turns to fall sick one after another. About that time, the couple also received the news that their ballot for a HDB flat was unsuccessful. The last straw came from the pent-up frustration the couple had when they were repeatedly unsuccessful in trying to collect urine sample of their sick 3 year old daughter: with each miss, it was another 3 hours wait; and they had waited from morning to night at the Hospital to no avail. By evening, after another miss, Leo was driven to seek the Lord for answers as to what’s happening.
“Lord, are we to serve you from a state of discomfort? Do we not even have a secure place call home for us to rest our bodies as we serve?” “Why haven’t you protected us from the spiritual attacks?” This was when the Lord told Leo about the importance of building a team of intercessors around them and for him to not be complacent about the ministry he has been given. The Lord also answered Leo about his request for a home,
“Wilderness is from where you will launch out.”
With this word, it seems like the couple’s priority of getting a home was not the Lord’s priority. Leo shared this message with Roxanne who then prayed to the Lord herself. The Lord responded to her by prompting her to look through the “wilderness” passages in the Bible. When she did, this particular verse jumped out:
“The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” – Isaiah 40:3
Right at this point, a song rang in Roxanne’s mind – Days of Elijah:
These are the days of Elijah
Declaring the word of the Lord
And these are the days of Your servant Moses
Righteousness being restored
And these are the days of great trials
Of famine and darkness and sword
Still we are the voice in the desert crying
Prepare ye the way of the Lord!
Now, Roxanne is someone who dreams dreams. But she is not one who receives songs from the Lord. Leo is the one who usually receives songs. But this time, the Lord gave Roxanne a song! And Isaiah 40:3 is sang in the song! Isn’t that a confirmation from the Lord that Isaiah 40:3 is a verse for them? Excited, Roxanne told Leo what had transpired when they met. As she shared, Leo’s spirit was leaping in excitement. Everything was beginning to make sense – from wilderness; to the movement for Biblical worldview; how worldview would help prepare the Church and His way; and to their burden in advocating for the family and for the Lord’s kingdom. Immediately after Roxanne ended her sharing, a loud fluttering noise distracted them. They turned to their right and saw a huge but peculiar looking bird perched on a shophouse window that was attracting quite some attention from passersby. The bird had a very long beak and both Leo and Roxanne mistakenly thought that the bird was a toucan. The magnificent bird suddenly took flight and flew over them, its wings outstretched to land on a nearby shophouse. Leo said to Roxanne, “Let’s take a picture, it might be spiritually significant!” This was what they captured.
Upon research, Leo and Roxanne realised Toucans don’t exist in South East Asia. The bird was actually a hornbill! Curious, they studied the difference between the two, and realises that hornbills have an additional bone structure above its bill. This hollow bone structure – called the casque – acts like a horn which amplifies the hornbill’s call. Hornbills are known for their loud resonating calls that travel distances in jungle. Isn’t that the voice of wilderness – an affirmation of Leo and Roxanne’s call?
In addition to that, hornbills exhibit a most unusual breeding behaviour. During incubation, the female seals herself in an enclosed cavity, leaving only a narrow slit through which she is fed. Her life and that of her chicks become totally dependent on the male hornbill, who makes as many as 70 feeding trips a day to feed his family. Despite being apart from the female hornbill for months, the male remains faithfully monogamous, and dedicated to his familial responsibilities. Should the male hornbill come to any harm and dies, the whole family sealed in the enclosure perishes with him.
WOW.
Isn’t that amazing? Through this, hornbill became the icon for the couple’s ministry!
With the hornbill experience, Worldview Partners renamed themselves to VOW (Voice of Wilderness), to better align with the Lord’s prophetic call in an urgent time such as this. Watch the prophetic message from VOW to the church delivered at the National Prophecy Conference here. We pray you will be blessed and will spread His message with us. Thank you!