The difficulty Mr. Howells had was to find time for prayer. Really his only opportunity was on that two-mile walk to the mission, one mile of which was over a lonely common. He always tried to be alone for that mile, and, after leaving the last house behind, would remove his cap, and continue in the attitude of prayer. The conventions of those days made it an unheard-of thing not to wear a head covering when out of doors, but when alone, the presence of God was so real that he always bared his head. This became so much a habit that he never once crossed the common without putting his cap in his pocket, and when returning late at night, after the lights in the town were put out, he would go the whole way like that. But curious though it may seem to us today, nothing would have induced him to go hatless in the day-time! As he said, “The hatless brigade was unknown at that time!”
This apparently trivial habit was the first thing the Spirit used to make him dead to the influence of the public. One Sunday morning very early, he was with the Lord in prayer, he said, “and the glory of that morning was far brighter than the light of the sun. There was such a peace and solemn hush that I felt the place was holy ground. I had felt it sometimes before, but it was far more intense that morning, as though Isaiah’s words had become a fact: ‘And the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days.’ The Lord then showed me that the place of abiding in the intercession to which He had called me, was to keep in the attitude of prayer all day. For the first time I could not take my hat with me! To walk through the town, to go to the mission would be impossible, I could never do it! Never! The glory soon passed away, and the sun had no more light than usual, if anything less, and oh, the darkness that came over me! How I wished I had not gone out that morning. Even fasting was not to be compared with this. Only those at home were involved in the test of fasting, but in this thing I was to be a spectacle before the whole town. Never had they seen a man out of doors without a hat!”
-Rees Howells, Intercessor, Chapter 16, Called to A Hidden Life
Both Katherine McClelland and Toni King Mentioned Rees Howells and his hatless brigade to me when the first saw me without my beard. I had told them it was a practice in the art of letting go, to grow a beard for an entire year. They both replied with the story of a man who God told not to wear a hat and the embarrassment of the culture of that time.
It was pretty crazy that two women who I respect a lot both said the same exact thing to me when we talked about my beard.
Ani DiFranco - Your Next Bold Move
This apparently trivial habit was the first thing the Spirit used to make him dead to the influence of the public. One Sunday morning very early, he was with the Lord in prayer, he said, “and the glory of that morning was far brighter than the light of the sun. There was such a peace and solemn hush that I felt the place was holy ground. I had felt it sometimes before, but it was far more intense that morning, as though Isaiah’s words had become a fact: ‘And the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days.’ The Lord then showed me that the place of abiding in the intercession to which He had called me, was to keep in the attitude of prayer all day. For the first time I could not take my hat with me! To walk through the town, to go to the mission would be impossible, I could never do it! Never! The glory soon passed away, and the sun had no more light than usual, if anything less, and oh, the darkness that came over me! How I wished I had not gone out that morning. Even fasting was not to be compared with this. Only those at home were involved in the test of fasting, but in this thing I was to be a spectacle before the whole town. Never had they seen a man out of doors without a hat!”
-Rees Howells, Intercessor, Chapter 16, Called to A Hidden Life
Both Katherine McClelland and Toni King Mentioned Rees Howells and his hatless brigade to me when the first saw me without my beard. I had told them it was a practice in the art of letting go, to grow a beard for an entire year. They both replied with the story of a man who God told not to wear a hat and the embarrassment of the culture of that time.
It was pretty crazy that two women who I respect a lot both said the same exact thing to me when we talked about my beard.
Ani DiFranco - Your Next Bold Move