614 Charlotte

Check out the new blog for 614 Charlotte

2008-12-09T11:45:00.004-05:00

HOPE is RISING in Charlotte North Carolina...

Captain Sanda Pawar & Ashish Pawar are beginning a new chapter in the J.T. Williams Neighborhood of Charlotte North Carolina.

Visit often to see pics and read all about their adventures at Charlotte 614 - where Hope is Rising Everyday.

614 Charlotte: Hope Rising Blog

Important Update!

2008-08-11T20:10:00.003-04:00

Announcement - Leadership Change of 614 Charlotte

Captain Sandra Pobjie ________________________________

http://www.xanga.com/thejoyproject

I am the new Director of the Charlotte 614 Outpost!!!!!!!YAY!!!!!!!I am super excited, super blessed, super humbled and totally ready to get there and begin.....I will be following in the footsteps of some amazing and godly people, people who have dome some amazing things in that community and so that is scary.....but I am excited to be continuing on with what they have all started......they have all set the bar really high...it is going to be an adventure thats for sure.....And the best part Ashish can come with me....yay..I can live with my HUSBAND once we are married...how wonderful!!!!!!!So if you want to know more about how I feel about this amazing appointment read the post below....otherwise just rejoice with me!!!!!!!

Continue to DREAM

Over the last few months my heart had been stirring and my mind has been whirling with ideas, with hopes and with dreams, my prayers have been specific and expectant......On friday some of the most important of my prayers were answered ....and so all weekend, my heart was stirring even more, my mind constantly thinking, dreaming, hoping....It is such a beautiful place to be, right where I know I should be....a place where so many of the dreams I have kept in my heart for years are beginning to see fruit...I feel myself becoming alive again, alive with passion and hope....When I was younger I read a few books that changed my life and my prayers...I read Chasing The Dragon by Jackie Pullinger and I prayed that I would one day have a ministry like her.....I read No Compromise about Keith Green and prayed that I would have an open home/ community like him and his wife....I read a book called Passion and Purity by Elisabeth Elliot and prayed for a romance like that.......and now years later I see my prayers coming to pass...it is amazing....the way Ashish and I met, the things we have been through to be together is right from the pages of her book, where I am heading and the ministry opportunities available to me soon is just like Jackie Pullinger and Keith Green...it is incredibly humbling to see how God has caused all my hopes and dreams to collide, to come together....it is humbling and exciting...I think I have learned my lesson...I have learnt that God does hear our prayers, even the silent one we quickly pray as we read a page in a book, I have learnt that he loves to please his children, he loves to bless them and he loves to give them good gifts....I have learnt that I don't need to be afraid to ask him for what I want...and that I can be expectant that he will answer and that he will give our hearts desires...A few months ago I found out some information, that there would be an opening somewhere...I decided I would write to people in the know and tell them I wanted to be a part of something....but my Dad in his wisdom said NO...and so I prayed and I prayed and I prayed....i began to feel like I wanted this too much and God would see that and not answer in the way I wanted....but then I continued to pray and to believe....my heart stirred with visions and with hope and I just prayed.....AND God answered my hearts desired and I am humbled.......of course he still would have been a good God if those prayers not answered, but the fact that he has heard me all these years, the fact that he has answered my prayers so specifically is amazing....Why am I telling you all this....I guess as a testimony....as a reminder to let you know and to remind myself that God is a good God, he hears our prayers, he loves to bless his children and we don't need to be afraid to come to him with the desires of our hearts...and to remind ourselves that God is the one that plants those dreams and hopes in our hearts in the first place....be hopeful. be expectant and just pray and wait for him to answer....cause he will!!!!!

A word from Travis...

2008-02-25T10:15:00.000-05:00

Please Click Here

And the winner is ..... Corporal Travis Roberts

2008-02-21T11:47:00.004-05:00

Hey guys, thanks for all the encouragement and prayer.

Corporal Travis Roberts, TWC Martyr and a Phase II Grad, has been named interim urban outpost director in Charlotte. He is well suited and well on fire for the appointment.

He has been with us in Charlotte for almost the whole two years and has literally run straight into gunfire to protect the local kids. Thats the main requirement for a position around here.

He really did!

Travis has a deep love for Jesus' friends and the able hands to do something about it. My only regret is that I will miss him being with us in Toronto. He is able and so is he.

This blog will continue to be up and running so that you can to continue to get updates from Travis' team in Charlotte.

We will have a new one soon.

R&H

Long Time Eh!

2008-02-12T00:38:00.000-05:00

As of March Heather and I will be living in Canada full time again.

We are going to begin a new season and a new ministry in Toronto. We will be developing an after-school program for a local church and leading nieghbourhood outreach.

More details to come.

Love you all.

Ain't no party like a Playhouse party...

2008-01-16T12:50:00.000-05:00

Resolutions !

2008-01-09T16:19:00.000-05:00

This is a copy of WBz New-Year resolution back in the day.

SIX RESOLUTIONS by William Booth (age 20)

1. That I will rise every morning sufficiently early to wash, dress, and have a few minutes, not less than 5, in private prayer.

2. That I will, as much as possible, avoid all that babbling and idle talk in which I have lately so sinfully indulged.

3. That I will endeavor in my conduct and deportment before the world and my fellow servants especially to conduct myself as a humble, meek and zealous follower of Christ, and by serious conversation and warning endeavor to lead them to think of their immortal souls.

4. That I will read no less than four chapters in God’s Word every day.

5. That I will strive to live closer to God, and to seek after holiness of heart and leave providential events with God. 6. That I will read over this every day or at least twice a week. “God help me, enable me to cultivate a spirit of self-denial and to yield myself a prisoner of love to the redeemer of the world.”

2008-01-08T16:59:00.001-05:00

It was my absolute joy today to sit at the Playhouse and listen to my little friend Tamar read out loud to me the story she has a test on tomorrow. Uncle Jed's Barbershop. She's a great reader for her age and the story was pretty good too. I admit that I had to raise an eyebrow at the fact that though she stumbled over words like "though" and "lather" she didn't miss a beat on "segregation."

In the dust of the Rabbi

2008-01-05T19:12:00.000-05:00

I was sitting Ray Vander Laan's feet today. He is a greatly gifted teacher. Check out ... http://www.followtherabbi.com/.

I could go into so much, but I just want to keep it simple. He reminded me that Covenant is about relationship. It's not a deal or a contract, it's a relationship. I thank God that our relationship is in the context of covenant.
Another cool take on covenant is marriage, he taught that the covenant of marriage is not between a man and a woman but rather between God and a couple. I like that.

Grunge Again !

2007-12-28T23:02:00.000-05:00

O.K. grab your uncles old work coat, that ugly sweater you got for your B-day three years ago, smash a glass bottle and begin to tear holes in your jeans and to top it off do not comb your hair and burn a bottle cork in order to smudge around your eyes. Welcome to grunge! I say this because I consider myself one of the great surviving members of the class of 1994. I was in first period when it was announced that Mr. C was dead (Kurt). Wow. I remember when all my aunts were excited when bell bottoms made a short comeback but I never really got why it was so exciting. Well, lately there has been this scary thing happening. Gen-x alt grunge seems to be on the rise ... again. Except there is one problem, its in the window of The Gap. I remember when my friend introduced me to the clothes by the pound thrift store. Grunge was supposed to be the big death to the man, the revolution of freedom that brought truth through insolent actions of self imposed depression and applied anti-neocolonialism. Our intentional complacency was supposed to stop the whole world, and it did ... for 15 minutes.

Anyway .. The moral ... any revolutions with someone else on the cross can just be bought and sold later to the victims of fashion.

Okay, I can't blame the kids cuz some of these santas are downright creepytown...

2007-12-22T22:08:00.000-05:00

I found this site through www.i-am-bored.com tonight and some of the photos were so bizarre that I laughed right out loud...I don't normally do the whole cutesy kinda blog (except if I'm featuring the entirely adorable kids from around here) but I had to spread the santa cheer on this one and give others a chance to give their heads a shake and say aloud, "why do we do this whole sit on the knee thing again?" My personal fave is the pic where the little guy can't even handle ceramic santa...

Merry Christmas...

Day 1 Gift Distribution

2007-12-19T23:20:00.000-05:00

Our house has become a warehouse, but it's all good in the 'hood.

Christmas Party '07

2007-12-19T22:26:00.000-05:00

I thought I would share some of our week. Lets start with our annualy Christmas Service and then on to gift distribution. God is good ... and Heather cry's everytime she see's all the gifts.

So you think YOU can dance?

2007-12-18T12:37:00.000-05:00

All I Want For Christmas is...

2007-12-14T01:27:00.000-05:00

For some background info on this blog, check back by clicking here and here.

So this past Wednesday, I'm driving "NN" to her DSS appointment as usual, so she can have her weekly supervised visit with her 4 brothers, her mom and her grandma. When we arrived, the oldest brother "D" had a big green garbage bag and a big ole grin on his face. Before we were three steps in to the small space set aside for broken families to visit, he had thrust a gift, drawn from the garbage bag, into his sisters hands with demands to "OPEN IT! OPEN IT!" Apparently D had saved up his allowances for weeks and then made a very specific christmas list, and his foster mom had helped him to go and get the gifts and to wrap them all up.

After all those weeks of anticipation, he was just SO HAPPY to be able to give her that gift, that when she protested (rather weakly, in my opinion!) that she should wait and open it on Christmas, he practically tore it from her grip and and began to open it for her. Well, that's all the encouragement she needed and between the two of them, the present was opened. On and on would D reach into his bag and draw out gifts for his brothers and sister, and when she arrived, his mom got one too.

During this 20 minute spree, I heard exclamations like "oh dang! I wanted one of these" and "hurry NN! Open it up!" right down to the second youngest, "M" doing a dance of joy on account of the FBI set he had just received, with a real badge, a gun and a stick to beat people with...

Initially I enjoyed it all, but didn't think anything of it, however, the more I was enveloped by the spiritual atmosphere of the room, the more it dawned on me that they were celebrating Christmas together, as a family, in the only way that was available to them these days. In a crowded room on the 6th floor of a building uptown with some lady watching and recording their 'interaction' for an hour. Doing the best they can.

That was really really sad to me. Due to the fact that there are 5 children that are in DSS care, they are split between 3 homes, which is just too much to coordinate with the foster parents to make being together on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning possible - especially considering foster parents have their own children and family traditions at Christmastime.

So these kids won't see one another this year for Christmas. I don't doubt that wherever they are, they'll feel accepted and cared for and well-fed, but c'mon now, we all know it's just not the same.

It's messed up - I wouldn't wish upon them to be back in the home situation they were in for last Christmas - or maybe even 5 Christmases ago...but my heart tells me that what'll happen this year - while for their own good - just ain't right either.

By grace, I have relief in my heart over this that the God who created these children, and their mom is a God of restoration...and I know that He sure needs to be too, seeing as there is so much 'messed-upedness' in the world. Like I said yesterday, "we are committed to...whatever it takes to reveal the heart of the Father..." but before I can do any of that, the Father has to reveal Himself to me. Expereincing life with people has brought me more than I baragined for in terms of knowing God, knowing myself and experiencing mankind as it truly is, apart from my sheltered life. God has become more real to me and bigger and more capable than I ever really understood before. And I need that from Him so that I can be okay...

So back to the kids - I wondered what Christmas would be like for them next year - where they'll be living, who will be caring for them. Should I hope that they remain in foster care? Should I pray that they'll be reunited with their mom so that they can move back into our neighborhood (or one like it) and we'll all pretend these last 6 months didn't happen? Or maybe they'll be farmed off to some aunt/grandma/cousin so that they stay 'in the family'.

This is where the Spirit helps me in my weakness. when I do not know what to pray either because I am totally unaware of situations in the lives of those in my parish, or because I feel so out of my league that I don't know what to say that won't sound contrite or from a hallmark special, Holy Spirit searches my heart, and intercedes on my behalf.

My responsibility in this? (and really, the key to this whole incarnational ministry thing) Is just to show-up with my head and with my heart, to keep my mind and my eyes open to see what is going on around me, to really see with the eyes of my heart, and to wonder what it must be like to be that person. God uses me through that intentional heart and head participation - He uses it to change the lives of those around me through prayer and practical helps, but even more remarkably, He uses it to shape me too. More Lord.

The Future of the Church?

2007-12-11T11:11:00.001-05:00

We think so...but what happens in this child's life between now and then will not be left to chance! As his church family, we are committed to walk with him step by step, to shield, suffer and succor - whatever it takes to reveal the heart of the Father in ways he can understand, appreciate and adopt.

Don't be misled friends, this Great Commission, this building the Kingdom is not a spectator sport...and yet neither is it a flimsy concept, philosophical and hard to grasp...

Building the Kingdom of God means:

Befriending a troublesome boy or girl

Reconciling quarreling parties

Breaking sad news to those concerned

Searching for your missing friends

Dedicating babies

Conducting weddings

Writing letters for others

Praying for your parish

Preaching to the saved and the unsaved

Reading the scriptures

Suggesting and directing the charities of your flock

Putting the hungry in the way of a meal

Putting the weary on the road to a bed

Caring for neglected children

Saving the drunkard and outcast

Protecting the weak

Searching the night-haunts for wayward girls

Giving the ex-prisoner a new start

Staying the suicide's hand

Visiting the sick

Training the beggar to work

Showing you the way to heaven

Conducting funerals

Caught between the smile Jesus gives me and a grin from little Cam I know I'm in deep -way over my head! I'd do anything, go anywhere and give it all up just to make a difference here on earth for Christ's sake.

And I don't mind that one bit.

posted by:
HD

list excerpted from Adjutant Jack Sullivan in the Corry Journal, October 1, 1936

Stay Tuned!!

2007-12-09T22:03:00.000-05:00

We closed off a chapter of our lives this week here at 614 Charlotte with the closing of the Alma Court playhouse. Opened in April of 2006, it served its purpose relatively well, but we just need more space. Stay tuned for info on our new location for "The Lois M. Walker Memorial Community House" or as the folks 'round here call it - "The Playhouse".

Any given Sunday !

2007-12-01T13:22:00.000-05:00

I remember back when I first got saved, I was listening to a prophecy given on a prayer CD proclaiming that in the times to come there will be a day when there will be so many people saved and such a unity in the body of Christ that there will be no longer be any venues left big enough to accomodate corporate worship services except for professional sports stadiums.

I was at an NFL game last Sunday and was blessed to vision just such a thing. The stands filled with the saints. We'd all call ourselves 'the Church in Charlotte', not the "First Apostolic Memorial Ebeneezer Southern Primitive New Conference Church of the Holy Resurrection" @ Pine and 6th.

The collections would be long though, with 70,000 people to pass the bucket to; maybe we could just charge $54.00 like the NFL instead ?!?

Imagine a cell network in a city that was completely saved! In Charlotte that would be like 80,000 house churches; cool. There would be one on every street...

Imagine meeting all the time to pray with your neighbors and worship together and then hopping in the car pool down to the Bank of America Stadium on Sunday. The whole city would get SAVED ! Then we could send missionaries to the next city.

Do it LORD !

Segment 3 of the Jesse Birthday Video

2007-11-26T12:19:00.000-05:00

Segment 2

2007-11-25T10:09:00.000-05:00

A Belated Birthday Project

2007-11-24T11:05:00.000-05:00

The faith community of 614 Charlotte got together over about a week, armed with a digital camera and some big ideas and created this media presentation in honor of one of their beloved pastor's birthday. I anticipate this as the first of many "704" productions! It has been broken up into three segments. Enjoy!

2007-11-19T14:21:00.000-05:00

Sometimes people wonder what we do around here. Well, seeing as we've got a digital camera now, I thought I would document some of the 'goings-on' for your interest.

For example. This was Rob's late morning project. I shall call it:

"Nailing Up The Crackhouse"

2007-11-19T14:19:00.000-05:00

This is so cool....it reminds me of life 'round here!

http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=13199108

Bells are sounding !

2007-11-18T20:02:00.000-05:00

Christmas fundraising has begun and we are in full swing. I am driving a route this year and also this year our leaders gave us one kettle to stand at in support of our programme. Our goal is $ 8100.00 usd. This would send every kid to camp and a few conferences. Please pray the Lord's favor on this as he loves to do immeasurably more than we can imagine. Do it LORD !

Pray also that the LORD would give me opportunities to share his power and love as I drive the kettle workers to their locations and pick them up every day.

My guy's and girls are Vanessa, Deborah, James Jr, James Sr, Gwen, and Daryl.

Happy Birthday Jesse!

2007-11-13T12:15:00.000-05:00

God bless Jesse, we give THANKS for her and the time you allowed us to journey alongside one another here in Charlotte. Even though she is back in Australia, and we don't get to see her face, let her know she is written in our hearts, that we're glad she is alive and that she has left an indelible impression on each of us. Hallelujah! Amen.

Seeing as she IS on the other side of the world and can't exactly run over to my house and box my ears or anything, I am free to do (drum roll here)

A Celebratory Pictorial Tribute To Jesse Green, 2006-07

Girl! You know we love you!

Our Website and First Movie

2007-11-02T03:34:00.001-04:00

that us folks down here at 614 Charlotte have a community website?

well we do. Check it out by clicking here.

The site holds upcoming events, contact info, bios, a Wall to holler on, the Scripture we're corporately moving through and OF COURSE,
we've posted LOTS of up to date pictures there - including pics of Wednesday night's crazymadouttacontrolcandyandfireworksparty....

In FACT we put together a little production - check it out!

Say hello...

2007-11-02T03:11:00.001-04:00

...to our newest community member

born 8lbs 9oz, on Monday October 30

Za'Narriana Leondra Smith

Her proud momma is was our very first friend and next door neighbor Antavious, she is a new little sister for a VERY excited - albeit somewhat confused - 1 year old Za'Cariya.

This is one sweet baby - all the times I've been to visit, she has never cried once, not unless she was hungry...and that's even incuding all the times when I held her. haha...
but seriously, look at all that hair!

Highz n Lowz

2007-10-30T22:52:00.000-04:00

We have a tradition that you will likely find at many a 614 cell group meeting worldwide - highs and lows. Each participant shares a Highlight of their week and a Lowpoint in their week.

The highs and lows shared end up becoming prayer fuel for thre group each other as well as enriching the fellowship by making discussion real and tangible.

Some highs and lows from my Jpod (cell group) tonight broke my heart .....

High - playing Football tonight as Jpod activity.
Low - My Mom has not been home for a month and I have to just get food however.

High - I have a big brother now. He let me move in with him since his Mom hasn't com home for a month.
Low - I do not know where my Mom is.

High - Football.
Low - I have not seen my Dad for years and I do not know where he is.

High -Football.
Low -I came home yesterday and all the adults at my house were gone out of town, and they didn't pay any bills so now all the power is cut off.

Those were just a few, but you can see the trend. The average age of these kids is 13-14, and they are orphans. Not necessarily in the 3rd world sense, but even amid our modern society many children live day to day without parents and basic services.

This is when the enemy comes to prey on them in the form of Drugs, Prostitution, and Larceny. The root of all this is the abandonment of entire generations of children to the streets where opportunist criminals become their big brothers and sisters. Their family.

It truly is a reverse Gospel. A false community that allows the rejected to become accepted and provided for. The reason why it works is because it is because this 'street family' is based on relationship not programs, so as long as the Church continues to fight injustice and oppression with programs alone, whole generations will continue to slip away.

The reality is that that hungry, cold lonely kid can either go up to the corner 24-7 and get "help," or on the other hand get hooked up with some church, in some place, who will sometimes offer his Mother a bag of broken lasagna and canned green beans that nobody else wanted between 1pm and 2pm every other Thursday. That's assuming she's got all her proper I.D., of course.

If we begin to value community building over 'the building' it would make all the difference in some kids world.

If we left the building and went to the community we would change the world.

I know that God is going to win, and that He has already, I just don't want to lose anyone along on the journey to the victory party.

Part 1 of 3

2007-10-29T17:17:00.000-04:00

I ripped this off of armybarmy.com's blog and dug a little deeper online and was just SO inspired, that I couldn't help but post it up here for y'all to see and be fired up by too...

This excerpt is drawn from a book called The Life of General William Booth, by Harold Begbie. These are William Booth's words, spoken at a missions conference gig about 130 years ago.

What is a Mission Station?

"To this I reply, that, as I understand it, it is not a building, or a chapel, or a hall; it is not even a society, but a band of people united together to mission, to attack, to christianise an entire town or neighborhood.

When an Evangelist receives an appointment from this Conference, it is not contemplated that he shall deal merely with those who are already within the walls of certain buildings, or with those who may be induced to come inside them; but it is intended that he shall be an apostle of the Gospel to all those who live around.

When you reach the station assigned you, if it has not been done already, you should take your stand in that hall, or theatre, or tent, and draw a line around the breadth of population you can hope to reach, and make that your parish, and aim, with tears and prayers, and the trumpet-blast of the Gospel, to christianise every soul within it."

"Never lag in zeal and in earnest endeavor; be aglow and burning with the Spirit, serving the Lord." Romans 12:11, Amplified Bible

This counsel speaks volumes to me...as my comrade Leo would say, "that right there is FIRE" and it's true - words so piercing that they puncture the flabby bubble of monotony that buffets my spirituality...

It speaks of ACTION. It reeks of PRACTICALITY. It demands FERVOR.

and it awakens me to something...exciting.

stay tuned...

Okay, pray for these folks...

2007-10-25T11:39:00.000-04:00

because this is some SERIOUS spiritual warfare...

I received this email today from Heidi and Rolland Baker, Americans living in Mozambique, who run Iris Ministries, an interdenominational mission located in Mozambique. They have really wild, supernatural God things happen there all the time...check out their website to see for yourself.

http://www.irismin.org/p/home.php

Skim the list below, and even if you just grab onto one thing to pray at, you'll be doing them some serious good.

Prayer Request for Mozambique and Iris Ministries

From Heidi Baker
October 22, 2007

Psalm 18:33-34 (All Scripture is from the NKJV.)
33. He makes my feet like the feet of deer, And sets me on my high places. 34. He teaches my hands to make war, So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

We are posting this special request to our family in Christ around the world with the hope for stronger prayer covering. We have faced intense spiritual warfare, some of the most difficult months of our lives, and severe physical attacks. We are so grateful for those who have been
praying, fasting and crying out to God. We thank Jesus for each of you.

We are absolutely trusting the Lord with the situation and confident that His ear is not too dull to hear nor His arm too short to save (Isaiah 59:1). I have never felt stronger in my life. Jesus is helping us. He is setting our feet like the feet of the deer on high places. He is teaching our hands to war.
I feel like a weight lifter who has built up muscles over the years of past trials so I am now able to face greater challenges. In this time of heavy attack, we would like to solicit your prayers as we push through tremendous spiritual warfare.

Here is a partial list of the trials that have occurred in the past few weeks:

1. Rolland has been very sick, lost forty pounds, had heart trouble and flew to Amsterdam for treatment. I am leaving today to take care of Rolland. Please pray for Jesus to move in powerful healing.

2. Last week, the head of the transport department, Pedro Simbini, had an accident and totaled our administrator Julio's new car while driving it up to Pemba for him.

3. Julio, our head Mozambican administrator in Pemba, drove down with his girlfriend Rachel to deal with the accident.They rolled their car on the way there and were hospitalized. We have been told that the third person riding with them is in serious condition. Rachel is not in
very good shape either.

4. Dr. Don Kantel, Associate Pemba Base Director alongside the Bakers,
has just had violent malaria since last Monday and is in the hospital
with a critical infection. We had to emergency fly him to South Africa.
(The good news received a few moments ago is that once Don got to SA,
the infection began to respond. Don's wife, Elizabeth has just spoken
to him at the hospital while he was visiting with the Wheelers and Dr.
Eric who accompanied him. Don was so encouraged to hear that he may be discharged tomorrow and be able to fly back on Tuesday.)

5. The same day another missionary hit a child with her Landrover. I
also had to take an emergency flight out last week due to an accident.
My face was split open and needed stitches. I'm recovering well.

6. My Mozambican secretary recently had an accident with her motorbike, as well as Luciano, our associate pastor to Jose, who is our provincial leader over the Iris churches in Cabo Delgado province.

7. Pedro Langa, the head of our Pemba kitchen, just broke his foot by
falling off his motorbike. He is in a cast.

8. As we all prayed together and warred in the tent, a large construction truck weighing four tons tipped over inside our new church building under construction. We had to war and literally push the 4-ton truck out of our church.

I, felt the Lord told me to stand on a pile of rocks and proclaim the
victory in Jesus' name, draw a line in the sand, and tell the enemy
that he could not cross it anymore. I felt led to tell the crowd
gathered that I was going to push the truck up and out. I asked,

"Who would be with me?"

Hundreds gathered around and we pushed the four-ton
truck, which in the natural world would have needed a crane or large wrecker, as we celebrated the victory with shouts of joy.

9. Witch doctors tried to poison Pastor Jose and me in a village. God kept us from eating the witch doctor's poison.

10. Surpresa Sithole, one of the four international directors of Iris Ministries, had to attend the tragic funeral of his brother Pastor Sithole and his cousin after a group of radical religious
anti-Christians cut him up into pieces because he was preaching the gospel. Pastor Sithole will be greatly missed.

In Pemba, we are currently doing a corporate 21 day fast, as well as organizing times to pray and worship together for the next 21 days. After that, we will launch our next 24-7 prayer week.

We earnestly request that you stand with us, covering those those who have been in accidents and the sick, especially Rolland, as well as praying for protection for all of us here. Jesus purchased the victory and we know He has amazing plans for Mozambique beyond anything we have seen so far.

In the middle of all these trials, God spoke to me to rest in the boat even in this storm. In the past few days, I have been meditating on Hebrews 4:9-16:

9.There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. 10. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. 11. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.
12. For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any
two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and
of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of
the heart.
13. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are
naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
14. Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through
the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
15. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our
weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
16. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may
obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

We recently received a prophetic word that if we would enter into a
season of rest, God would release a revival that would never end. Weare clinging onto Him, this High Priest. We are holding onto His
promises in our time of need. Thank you for standing with us for full victory.

In love with Jesus,

Heidi Baker with Melissa Stanton and Shara Pradhan

Sight for the blind...

2007-10-17T12:09:00.001-04:00

November 1/06

Today was SO awesome. I got to do something a bit different in practical ministry by taking one of the teenagers in our community to the optometrist. Which was so amazing because this girl is like seriously almost blind. She got a voucher from her school, but had no one to book her appointment or take her to the doctor.

We were able to help her with that – everything from getting her eyes tested to helping her pick out beautiful, brand new glasses, which she’ll receive sometime next week.

She got to pick whichever frames she wanted and add every feature she could get for the lenses. Just like a ‘normal’ kid.

Having glasses changed her life dramatically for the better...no longer mocked for always peering and squinting at people, places and things, her grades improved markedly, and she began journalling, which soon led to writing poetry.

The picture above was taken at one of our corporate worship gatherings, where she chose to stand before the congregation of almost a hundred people and read aloud a poem she had written about her life. An unthinkable task only a few months beforehand became an opportunity to share her creativity and her story with her community in a really positive way.

"Jesus came to Nazareth where he had grown up. As he always did on the Sabbath, he went to the meeting place. When he stood up to read, he was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written,

God's Spirit is on me; he's chosen me to preach the Message of good news to the poor, Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, To set the burdened and battered free, to announce, "This is God's year to act!"

He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the assistant, and sat down. Every eye in the place was on him, intent. Then he started in, "You've just heard Scripture make history. It came true just now in this place."

Jesus said that He was sent to bring sight to the blind and bring good news to the poor. It's not rocket science, my friend was blind as a bat, and now she can see. She used to feel shy about reading in front of others, and now she's testifying about God's presence in her life. It's not rocket science, but it's got JUSTICE written all over it...

Luke 4:17-19, The Message

Things you wouldn't hear at training college...

2007-10-16T21:49:00.000-04:00

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

I think I have lice.

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

False alarm. No lice here.

Pie Anyone?

2007-10-14T08:52:00.000-04:00

November 23/06

Jesus is so faithful and amazing.
We received a phone call from a lady we met at a Church, like nine months ago, and she shared that the Lord had led her to spend the day baking a pie for every family in our neighborhood. Her only question was " how many should I bake? "I tallied up every family we minister to and so last night 30 pies showed up at The War College residence, complete with a tub of Cool Whip for every pie.

It was great! So we all grabbed some pies and just began heading out to deliver them. There were attempts at organizing the whole endevour but everyone was so blessed up by these pies we couldn't help ourselves but to keep grabbing more and running out to pass them around.What a blessing to see the body working together, one family baking all day, another family passing out the pies, and another one eating the pies knowing with every bite that Jesus is the kind of guy who wants to be part of the little things, that he simply desires to be a part of this years thanksgiving meal; and he'll use a pie to get there!

One thing that I know is that the real big eternal difference we are making here does not come through the sermons and apologetics, they come through a cup of cold water given in Jesus' name.(Matthew 25)

We have one family of five kids here, 10, 10, 13, 14, 17. Their Mother left two weeks ago and just never came back. I felt very humbled when bringing them their pies because they were truly thankful. The two little guys hugged me so hard I thought that I would drop the pies.

What did I ever do to deserve such a blessing of being loved by orphans and the forgotten?

I am truly thankful that I am not burdened with the nice things, the pretty things, the useless things of Man's striving, but am surrounded by Jesus' most precious treasures; children with no hope at all but him.

2007-10-12T10:35:00.000-04:00

As we approach our 2 year anniversary here in Carolinas, we've been reflecting back over the blogosphere and reminiscing. Sometimes with a smile and sometimes a grimace! So in honor of what God has done at 614 Charlotte, we'll be featuring excerpts from the online journals of our missioners, celebrating the events from our inception right up to the present, for your enjoyment, intercession and sometimes, amazement.

grace,
Heather & Rob

Love Capital

2007-10-08T10:34:00.000-04:00

I was thinking about capital, not money, but virtual capital. Politicians gather political capital, religious leaders gather moral capital, and all to spend in the marketplace of influence. I would like to dedicate myself to gathering love capital all to spend in revealing a faithful loving Father to a lost world. How rich we would all be.

2007-10-02T10:50:00.000-04:00

This past weekend, we were at a Jason Upton concert. As usual, between the music, he was edifying the body of Christ with words of instruction, revelation and exhortation. And as usual, I was doing my best to scribble them down so that not one of them would fall to the ground in front of me and be wasted - or forgotten....

This is one of them.

"God didn't create for human approval, He created for human discovery."

The Saffron Army

2007-09-26T16:16:00.000-04:00

If you have been following the situation in BURMA, you will note that a revolution has begun. Under some of the worlds toughest regime machines justice has been twisted for years. One of Burma's leaders, Sue Chin Ye, has been the recipient of a Nobel peace prize yet has never been allowed to leave the country to receive it. Burma, or Myanmar as the fascists call it, has abundant natural resources yet your average "JOE" lives in miserable poverty. The thing that looks different about this revolution is that it is being led by " Buddha's Saffron Army," yep the monks and nuns of the nation. I believe that the Jesus Church should take notice. Seriously, when the Buddhist Monks rise up and take to the streets for justice we should really ask ourselves what we have done lately. The protests are all non-violent and peaceable, however the people of the nation could not help but rise up and follow when they saw those with great moral authority leading the way. Imagine a mobilized Church leading the way; with our very lives there would be no option but to follow! We constantly sing and say that we want a revolution, an uprising, but how long O'LORD till our prayers meet our muscle ? Am I sugesting that the Church actually take to the streets and march ? Yes, Yes, Yes I am. There are 160 Million Christians in America, just vision that all of them or even half of them took Friday off of work and showed up at their local state capital demanding action in regards to a justice issue. Then imagine if they showed up on Monday too, and Tuesday ...

Faithful cords of love

2007-09-19T12:53:00.000-04:00

Sometimes God just amazes me with how faithful he truly is. His promise to go after the one lost sheep continually shatters my fleshly expectations. If you read our blog you may remember us sharing one of the toughest days ever, when CPS came and removed 2 brothers and 1 sister from their mom's custody. The blessing is that we are still in contact with the children and one of our friends still gets to come to her J-Pod (small group) every week now. The greater blessing is that today after school we are picking her up and taking her out, unfortunately to a cold government building, but one where her 2 Brothers will be waiting to visit with her. It is extremely hard in so many ways, but still so amazing how God can be so faithful to keep a family connected even through brutal brokenness.

The LORD places the lonely in families but even moreso he fights to keep them there. Amen!

P.s. We now have a community web site to share more of what is happening, check it out at www.lifetogether614.com , Its growing and will soon be a place for our small groups to connect in cyberspace. Also soon we will be able to highlight some of the justice issues in our community and what God is doing about it.

Risky Missions

2007-09-17T10:08:00.000-04:00

Risk taker of the day - Boniface, 721 a.d.

"Boniface resorted to reckless challenges to prove the superiority of the Christian God over the pagan god's. For instance he decided to "lay the axe at the root of the tree of superstition."

At Geismar, in eastern Germany, he learned about a huge ancient oak that had been dedicated to Thor, the god of thunder. A tradition had developed that anyone who touched the tree with an axe would be treated as a desecrator by Thor. This involved a curse that would entail either extreme physical illness or death.

In the presence of a large number of pagans, Boniface boldly buried the cutting edge of the axe into the sacred tree. He continued to chop, while the onlookers reviled him and warned him of his impending fate. Before the task was finished, a strong gust of wind toppled the tree. As it crashed to the ground, the tree split into four parts. The pagans expected evil spirits to leap from the shattered tree and swarm Boniface.

Since no misfortune plagued him, Boniface made a cross from the wood. Then assisted by some onlookers who changed over to his side, Boniface hewed timbers from the tree and erected a chapel to honor St Peter. This convinced the pagans that Boniface was the messenger of the true God, and many embraced the new faith."

From Exploring Evangelism (Pg. 102)

God grant us fresh boldness like this!

Update

2007-09-13T14:35:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone !

Just an update. We have been transitioning from summer to back to school schedule, we will re-open our after school ministry this Monday. We are looking forward to cell groups kicking back up, we have renamed them J-Pods. Some exciting news, you may have caught that we live next door to a crack house. The owners contacted us and would be willing to renovate it if we would be willing to rent it. Six months ago we were cleaning it out and praying that God would give it to us, I forgot about that prayer apparently God did not !

Be blessed.

Recycleship?

2007-08-26T07:56:00.000-04:00

'Round here we pour a lot of our focus into spending time with our neighbors. Especially the kids and teenagers. Naturally, as a result, many of them are in discipleship relationships with our missioners. It's a beautiful thing - combining McDonalds Double Cheeseburgers, Hi-C and one another's lives and it's working, we're seeing our young people grow in Christ.

Well...not too long ago I had a couple of my cell group boys show up at my door - they're both 6. They came to have a 'meeting' with me.

"How come you don't take us to McDonalds once a week like Travis takes Fred?" they asked...very seriously of course, because this was a matter of supreme justice...

"Well..." I responded, "Travis and Fred are in discipleship and that's what they do...it's like cell group but with just one or two people and you talk about more stuff."

"And you eat double cheeseburgers?"

"Yes, sometimes."

"Well we want to have recycleship! Will you recycle us?"

Whats in a name ?

2007-08-25T19:47:00.000-04:00

I was thinking about names today, probably because I was at a baby dedication.

God Bless Justice Andrew Mikles, you are cool !

But also during our students debrief this week they had to share highlights of their year at The War College. One student in sharing pulled out a paper with everyones name on it that she got to minister to this year, wow. Now our big thing here in Charlotte when we invite people here to minister is, get to know your neighbors name. We believe that if you can know everybodies name then God can open the door to the hard work and let love flow through, it may seem too simple but it works for us. So she shared this page with us and it had almost 200 names on it, and not just random names but names of people that she got to love, weep with, share her food and most of all share Jesus with. That's cool that one girl in a 'hood could change what it looks like both in the physical and spiritual all by introducing herself. That's community and that's Jesus.

Who are the people in your neighborhood ?

Whats their name ?

2007-08-21T12:02:00.000-04:00

The Army Spirit is hovering over at Jesse Green's blog these days... check it out!

"But who is to go (today)? You!
You who read this; who else is there to go?...
You are saved.

You say your sins are forgiven, and that you belong to the family of God. You say the promises apply to you; why not the commands?

Have one and shirk the other?
Never, never, never!
They are united. Do not say you are a child and not a servant.

You must go yourself. This is a personal call which comes down through the centuries to you! You cannot evade it and remain true to your self and your God."
General William Booth

2007-08-13T12:31:00.000-04:00

This is an amazing picture to me, why, because a month ago this house was filled with dead bodies after a shoot out. Today little girls are playing out front celebrating life. The Psalms say that a cry from a baby will send the enemy running, just imagine sidewalk art from children drawing God's love as they see it. I do not think that the enemy could run from that, I think Jesus would make him watch.

They will rebuild the ruined cities.

24/7 TYI

2007-08-07T09:25:00.000-04:00

Wow, we've just returned from Camp Keystone, Florida and the Territorial Youth Institute and it was truly amazing. Our responsibilities were to be counsellors, lead three seminars and to oversee the 24/7 prayer hut. Overall, Jesus was lifted high, Amen!

We started praying on Sunday at noon and the prayer room had someone continually lifting up Jesus until the next Sunday at noon. How can we measure the increase of God's power and presence because of intentionally choosing to abide with Him all day and all night? I could look at stats and try to figure out a difference from years past, but then I would miss the entire point, so we will just have to measure it by love, and man, there was love.

It was amazing to watch as God made a tangible deposit of His glory in these young people - lives were won for the Kingdom; bought back from hell and written in the Lamb's book of Life.

The part that bears witness to this increase of God's presence is this: if all of us adults had just left the building it wouldn't have mattered. The young people as they were led, just began to minister to one other, and they were leading one another to Jesus for Salvation, deliverance, healing and holiness; it was rich. They were led by Holy Spirit and we could not have stopped them from running closer to Jesus with all our might.

Now there were several elements that fueled this increase and all of them were essential, but the 24/7 prayer and worship, I believe, tipped the scales. It is God's promise that if we call He will answer and that when we pray in fullness He can then come in with fullness. Let it be.

Young people, from every nation, gathered and got dirty in prayer. They truly were an army advancing on its knees. God grant victory and favor to this generation of warriors.

There was some serious revival seedin' preachin' goin on too, as Captain M. Platt brought fire from above with his sword and shield. Captain Marion also brought testimony and truth of the Lord's second blessing of perfect love, and I believe many delegates received this blessing as a result of his testimony, teaching and the cry that was in their hearts for holiness.
God, please command your angels in concerning this man of God.

To top it all off though, the best quote of the week was this ... "I know it now, God is real!"

Crazy Times ...

2007-07-28T22:06:00.000-04:00

Someone requested a top craziest list ... Here goes.

1. Jonathan E finding a special B-day present in an alley. (A Corpse)

2. On street combat, someone throwing a glass bottle at Danielle and Zion; they were offended that there was a baby in the DTES.

3. Watching people wash themselves in the toilets at Crosswalk cause there were no showers to be found.

4. Watching people inject each other in the jugular vein.

5. Wheel Chair Roger jumping out of his chair and running after someone with his knife, or when he cast his fishing rod with hook into females bottoms for fun.

6. The Washington hotel giving out glasses of Lysol to residents for "cleaning purposes."

7. Waking up in my hotel room with a strange man eating out of my garbage can.

8. The Police allowing people to convulse in the road.

9. A body landing at my feet from a forth floor window.

10. A demon possessed man crashing a Robert Marshall homiletics class, we held him down and cast out the evil spirit(s). Our teacher was not really aware of this part of the curriculum and had quite a strange look on his face when asking some students, "What is going on in the next room." and with screams and howls chilling the room, some students responding " Oh they are just casting out some demons in there."

There are just a few.

Incendiary Session

2007-07-27T23:05:00.001-04:00

614 Charlotte is currently accepting applications for the Incendiary Session of The War College, starting this September.

The dictionary defines ‘incendiary’ as follows:
1. used or adapted for setting property on fire;
2. of arson;
3. tending to arouse strife, sedition;
4. a person who commits arson;
5. a device that burns with an intense heat;
6. a person who stirs up strife.

That defines what we want to train students to be, fairly well.

We want them to be used to set territory on fire (1), to start and spread fires (2,4).
We want them to arouse sedition, or, rebellion against the government of satan (3,6).
We want them to burn with an intense heat (5).

Any takers?

http://www.thewarcollege.com/

No peace ...

2007-07-25T13:39:00.000-04:00

I believe that one of Satan's plans is to give us no peace, especially when he has a stronghold in our lives. I can remember being homeless and just yearning for a bit of solitude, just a moment in my day that was not filled with 150 other peoples stuff too. I remember having nowhere to just be, and it was suffocating.

This morning a crack addict came to my door asking to use the phone, I said "of course," cause I am the christian guy so I have to. I made sure that I gave her the home phone, not my cell (cause she could run off with that,) and then I proceeded to position myself just close enough to hear what was going on but not too close to give the impression that I was listening.

Eventually, I had to let this one go, so what if we lose our phone? So I returned to my desk and let her be...in peace.

I wish that I had had some joy in this good deed, but I did not. I didn't even offer her a glass of juice or something to eat, I just wanted her to leave.

It is interesting how our failures show us the perfect beauty of Jesus. I'm not all broken up about it, but it did spur me into prayer for more joy in serving others.

Matthew 25

'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'

Reflections

2007-07-24T10:14:00.000-04:00

For another couple of weeks, we have a missioner from the Vancouver campus of The War College, here for his summer placement. Matt and I were talking yesterday about his upcoming graduation and his overall experience at The War College. The conversation got me thinking of some of the highlights from my year at TWC, and I have created a top-ten list of my War College and 614 Vancouver experiences.

1. Meeting my wife and clearly hearing the voice of God say "Isn't she beautiful and lovely." Then me responding "YES!" and then The LORD saying "She's the perfect one." Amen.

2. My leaders, who not only brought me back from the dead but who also taught me why life was worth living abundantly.

3. Early prayer meetings in The Empress. They were kicking.

4. Street ministry with Commissioner Wesley Harris - He got us invited into a private drug party where he shared Christ with the owner of an Amsterdam style pot bar. The owner was so offended that we tried to get in, that after we were bounced out he came out following us down the street angrily exclaiming " What does the Sally Ann want with my place?!"
He thought we were coming to protest or to report him, The Commissioner simply replied " We heard the coffee was great and thought we would try a cup." The owner was stunned, "What !" " You want to come in for coffee, at my place?" The commissioner said "Certainly." So the owner invited us into his private booth, and insisted on buying our coffee, while he took hits off his bong. I have never seen spiritual evangelical authority like that before and I have not since. We turned down the brownies though.

5. Invading the same pot cafe with prayer and a Booth Tucker Institute love assault. Major Doug Burr, now area commander of Rhode Island, led this one and less than a week after, the place was burnt to the ground. Shut down. Praise God, and by the way no one was hurt in the mysterious fire.

6. Elaine's Chai Tea and all the love that came with every cup.

7. General Eva Burrows visit, especially at the opening of a new shelter. As we all heartily sang "Storm the forts of darkness," She wielded a hefty sledge hammer and rammed it right through a solid wall. Amen.

8. Club intercession with Jenn Ivany, Man she can dance with the worldliest of 'em.

9. Shopping cart open-airs. Enough said.

10. Watching Jesus save people from Hell.

I have so many more, but I'll save them for my memoirs in 30 years.

I WILL ...

2007-07-22T11:12:00.000-04:00

In preparing for some upcoming seminars I was going over my/our Soldiers Covenant. We can focus on the whole do not get loaded stuff and read your bible everyday ETC, but we rarely get motivated about the meat in the meal.

I WILL be faithful to the purposes for which GOD raised up The Salvation Army, sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, endeavouring to win others to Him, and in his name caring for the needy and disadvantaged.

I WILL be true to the principles and practices of The Salvation Army, loyal to its leaders, and I will show the spirit of Salvationism whether in times of popularity or persecution.

Now that surely is a cause to die for !

I'm going to go out on a limb for a minute, this is the War Cry of God's Army! Lately a lot of people state that anyone can be in Gods army; I don't buy it. Look above, what did God raise up The Salvation Army for ... for covenanted warfare. In any army in the world it is a punishable offence to desert your post. In war time, it is punishable by death !

Did you know that F.B.I. agents are covenanted to serve, including a no drinking clause, because they are considered always on duty.

My friend says that one issue within Post-modern, Jesus wants me to meet him at the bar for a beer, Christmasanity is that it is "easy to get in," and "hard to get out." In Jesus time it was "hard to get in," and "easy to get out." Chew on that for a minute.

I do not see Jesus anywhere in scripture, or my spirit, saying, "Hey lets go get tipsy and giggly on some booze and then go worship." NO, I see and hear him saying lets move, lets get something done, let the dead bury the dead and lets go ! I'm not saying that we should negate intimacy or personal devotion, I'm just saying that it is meaningless if the poor do not know your name.

Listen ... the whole half measure, lukewarm, when I feel like it deal is not evil or anything like that, I believe that you can get into heaven by the skin of your teeth. But if you are not fighting for a cause that you could die for, than what are you living for ?

Love Actually ...

2007-07-16T09:44:00.000-04:00

In my rations today I was reading Colossians, this challenged my heart ...

Colossians 2
1For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, 2that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, 3in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

The part in Verse 2, their hearts being "knit together in love."

What would Gods Church look like with our hearts knit together ? What blessings would be poured out ?

God knit our hearts together.

Moving Mountains

2007-07-05T09:36:00.000-04:00

I have thought much on the subject of moving mountains since my birth into full life, it has always been an amazing concept to me. One of my favorite places to chill is in urban concrete jungles, post modern mountain scapes scraping the skies.

The concept of mountains moving excites my spirit, it uplifts my heart . In the physical usually mountains or cities only shift by an act of God. In the spiritual realm God is definitely about moving mountains and shifting city scapes. We can tend to be too narrow minded in the Church at times, we can look to see how we are changing the church, the congregation, but rarely do we look to see how we are effecting/infecting the broader community in which God has placed us. A more accurate measure of success would be how we have touched our neighborhood, our city, our nation ! Recently God has been showing me this in action. Recently our youth group has taken up the task of doing justice. Two months ago there were 29 abandoned crack houses in our neighborhood and through a seriers of events, the youth of the community went before the City of Charlotte asking some questions.

1. Why is the city allowing this issue to continue ?

2. Does the city want us to grow up among crack houses ?

3. What will be done ?

Well, God has begun to move some mountains ... or crack houses, there more like mole hills in the scheme of things but that's a good starting place. The city came out to the neighborhood within three days of the kids petition and began inspecting all the abandoned houses, then issued an order that every home had to be brought up to living condition by July 12th or it would be demolished. If the owner did not comply then a $500.00 a day fine would be issued for every house. The renovations started quickly and the old crack houses are being transformed into the nicest apartments on the block. Soon families will be moving in and within a city that has a goal to demolish all the "poor neighborhoods" there is one that is being restored. This is actually happening but still every time I walk through the courtyards of these apartments I can not believe it, it is beyond my belief. It is only 16 homes right now, but if God can do this for 16 homes then he can do 32 the next time and then hundreds and then whole communities and then entire cities. I'm learning as I go but I think that this is the whole ... Matthew 25:21

"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!

I know this can seem arrogant but let me testify that I can take no credit for this, other than just being here. Also I want to believe that God can use us to change whole nations, that a simple Jr. Soldier brigade and a couple of War College students can shift the spiritual make-up of a community, I am witnessing it and I long to see more.

Pray that God would make a way for us to serve and love our new coming neighbors, and that he would hedge this jewel of justice with his fire.

Our God is an Awesome God !

Jesus

2007-07-04T07:23:00.000-04:00

We spend a lot of time, as followers of The Way, trying to do everything that Jesus did.

I wonder what paradigms would shift if we spent all our time trying to NOT do all the things that Jesus did not do ?

Seriously, Jesus did not ...

get a job, get a car, get a house, get a life, get a retirement portfolio, get settled, safe or sane. Jesus did not spend his energy on pleasing people or plotting on how to gain reputation or position. Jesus did not turn back, he did not give in, he did not hesitate to stop and serve the one that Holy Spirit placed in his daily path. Jesus did not believe any lies that Satan spoke and as the Son of God and a man, Jesus did not sin.

Lets try to not do all the things that Jesus did not do !

Amen

2007-06-30T23:28:00.001-04:00

3 more kids were removed from their home yesterday by Social Services. When I arrived, their auntie had just told them what was going to happen, and they were all crying. How can a 4, 6 and 7 year old be expected to understand all of this? I walked into their little house and their mother had closed herself off in one of the bedrooms, and the three children were altogether in the tv room - the two older girls sobbing hysterically, and the youngest boy just sitting, staring at nothing and stroking the teddybear he was holding in his lap. I had brought over a care package - paper towel, cleaning supplies, dish soap...I set it down in the kitchen/laundry room/storage area and picked up one of the girls and just held her. Within minutes my shirt was soaked through with tears and snot, all flowing from her face freely. I added my tears to hers, because there were three children calling for a mother who was geographically 6 feet away, but emotionally unreachable. She would not console them. I did my best to hold all three at once. I tried to pray, but I couldn't. I was weak. Nothing came out, but there was a lot being said in my heart.

"So too the [Holy] Spirit comes to our aid and bears us up in our weakness; for we do not know what prayer to offer nor how to offer it worthily as we ought..." Romans 8:26

Afterwards, I was talking with the Lord, sharing my heart and the brokenness therein. It is wrong that there was no one to comfort these children. After all, they are caught up in a situation that is out of their control, one that they didn't create. They were all alone in grief and uncertainty and I don't want children to ever be alone.

In response, He said "I didn't leave them alone. I sent you to them."
I said, "their own mother neglected them"
He said, "I sent you to hold them tight like a mother would."
I said "there is no one to share their burden - no one around here has given them a second thought"
He said "You will remember them. You will grieve and mourn and intercede for them. That's why I brought you there - it wasn't just to drop off paper towel and dish soap. "

When I was living in Vancouver, one of the lessons the Lord taught me, is that the most valuable thing I can give to others is myself. Not a cup of coffee, although that's nice, or a sandwich or a coat. I can give any or all of those, or a thousand things more, but there needs to be an ever-increasing measure of me in there as well. Arms that willingly hold tightly to a despairing child, a heart that actively chooses to let the life of another flow over and shape and disturb mine.

I'm learning continually not to walk through life and ministry unchanged and intact, unmarred and antiseptic, but to embrace the tears, the snot the blood, the crayon and pudding stains and the sweat - and to consider each a badge of honor in service to my King. God knows it ain't easy. But who signed up for easy?

posted by:
Heather

I'm in his hands ...

2007-06-28T09:11:00.000-04:00

Wow. Do you ever have a season where everything is so busy that you just do not know how everything that needs to happen will, but it does ? These seasons remind me that I am not in control, and that is comforting !

We have been working 14-16 hour days lately and have a ton of stuff to prepare for camps, upcoming business and life in general, and I just can not see it all coming together ... but it does. Somehow the Lord, who's name is faithful and true, allows everything to fall into place like we know what we are doing, it is amazing.

Next week we start our camp season and through many challenges everything has worked. Our last hurdle was finding a place to give every kid a medical exam to make sure they were fit enough for camp activities, this one was a burden because without the exam kids can not go to camp. So with a prayer and only one phone call it is done, our local Salvation Army shelter is going to provide medical exams for every kid. God Bless The Center of Hope!

Next week Captain Pobjie, the hippest Captain in the south, will be joining us to help until she leaves for her next appointment in the UK. God save the queen, and Sandra too.

God answered a big one, we have received financial support for our community house ministry and can start paying the rent on time now. The community house is a two bedroom house in the 'hood that is set up for our youth to hang out with Jesus and us too. Plus we were given 10 brand new "to us" computers, a $500 gift card from our women's auxiliary and lots of kool-aid. Heather has started a book club, which is all the rage, and we are believing for some air conditioners next.

You can pray for our van please, we are two cylinders down and four to go. I joked yesterday that it was only the dog hair holding her together. We named our van Ruth so if her name sake proves right she will make it through the desert.

Hi Mom.

God is so good to us I can not express it.

"Let Go and Let God"

2007-06-22T07:01:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was my hardest day. Ever.

Three of our little neighbors were removed from their home by Child Protective Services. We've known them since the start, and they've been loved dearly by every single missionary that has ever been a part of our team.

Rob and I walked them to the 'waiting white car', all of us holding hands. The little boy did one last back flip. The girl wept because she was old enough to understand what was happening, and the middle child gave us a painting he had drawn earlier that day.

We did our best to reassure them, and spoke soothingly about what to expect in the days to come, better lives, full tummies, clean clothes, good sleeps and God's big plan for their lives.

And then it was time to walk away, and let them go.

Sometimes people remark that they admire what we do, and the faith it takes to do it, but this is the most faith I've ever had to muster up and assert for anything, ever - because it's not just about the "Letting God" part so much this time but all of the "Let Go" that's involved.

For me, this is a real faith lesson - believing that even though to release them to the authorities felt like a hard, awful thing to me, and to them, that likely it was also the moment and event that God has been waiting for, to to some major transformation in their lives, and in the life of their Mom.

So even though it's cliched, and has always seemed kinda hokey to me, just for today, I'm gonna Let Go and Let God.

"...And where I cannot see, I'll trust, For then I know Thou surely must, be still my All in all."

posted by:
Heather Dolby

http://614firecrest.blogspot.com/2006/12/this-morning-i-awoke-to-ringing-of.html

Need Knows No Season

2007-06-17T10:24:00.000-04:00

Saturday was great !

In our city this year, due to cut backs, there will be no kids sent to camp.

In our community we have a handful of kids that went to youth councils and were forever changed by the experience, with many lives being won for God - and 3 months later, still holding! Since then, all of our kids have been begging to go to the 'week long youth councils' that they heard about from the other delegates - youth camp, at our division's Camp Walter Johnson. In fact, since March they have been asking about it almost daily, so when the word came down that there would be no money for kids to go to camp this year our hearts dropped. Heather and I gave each other that look, the one that said "I don't think so !" and began sharing with the Lord our hearts and minds on the subject.

Later that day we fired off a few e-mails and then gave God room to move ... a few weeks later we got permission for our youth to fundraise their own camp money, and Saturday was our first day hitting the pavement.
We started with one location, 5 kids and one afternoon, and as a result, all 5 kids will be going to camp this year, (Praise God,!) and will have enough money left over for proper clothes to take with them. We have permission to continue through June and July and now every single kid that wants to go to camp will.

Heather and I were thinking of the early Army, where everything was dependent upon divine provision, where officers often never received pay, and when they did they divided it amongst their community in need. Everything was difficult, except winning souls for Jesus; this seemed to happen naturally. Why ? God blesses sacrifice with eternal currency.

God Bless Harris Teeter, the grocery store that are allowing us to fund raise at their locations.

2007-06-15T08:26:00.000-04:00

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Police are working to solve a murder after a man was shot in north Charlotte.
When police arrived at the scene in the 2200 block of Alma Court around 5 p.m. Thursday, they found the victim shot in the abdomen.
He died at Carolinas Medical Center a few hours later.
Police have not released the man's identity.
They do not have any suspects yet.

There have been several murders here this summer and it always amazes me that afterwards everybody just goes on with business as usual. In the neighborhoods we grew up in a murder would devastate an entire community for months or years but here after the police tape is thrown away everything just returns to normal, children playing where a corpse layed, mothers hanging out laundry where a forensics lab was set up all with an eiry air of routine. You will notice the address as being one house away from our community house where the children of the 'hood gather for worship and play. It is their reality that murder and death are cultural norms, that 70% of them will never make it past grade 10, that 30% will be arrested and that 5% of them will get life, 1 in 3 will experience sexual abuse, 85% of the girls will be beaten Etc.

Now that being said, we do not live under that reality, Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil, to set the captive free, to trade glory for ashes and freedom for shame.

I am challenged to continually walk by faith not sight knowing that sometimes what I can not see is more real than what I can.

Open the eyes of my heart Lord.

Faith

2007-06-11T07:17:00.000-04:00

I was talking to God this morning and He reminded me that, " without Faith it is IMPOSSIBLE to please him."

Hebrews 11:6
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

... So God was wondering what I was believing for lately. He reminded me that he can deliver immeasurably more than I could ever ask or imagine. He reminded me that I can still serve him with a realistic faith and that I can even be his child with an average faith level. But, for him to say " Oh yea, good job." It requires of me to believe for something bigger than I can fathom.

What are you believing for ?

Thank God for speaker phone. And big barking dogs...

2007-06-03T23:56:00.001-04:00

This is Heather by the way - Rob's been posting for the past couple months as I've been off the blogging radar. Until tonight that is.
What a weird week it's been!
Rob did a great job of catching the vibe of yesterday - in spite of the attempts to intimidate us and shut us down, we pressed on and had church anyways and it was one of my most favourite Saturdays EVER!

Tonight was a different story indeed.
Rob had taken the Junior Soldiers on an outing for the evening and it was just me and Samson the dog at home. We were doing fine until I heard a noise that sent the dog careening towards the back screen door (Which is sortof a misnomer seeing as there is no screen, just a big open hole where a screen should be).

Turns out that a group of boys was wandering through the neighborhood throwing firecrackers through open windows.
All that might seem harmless except that one of the houses caught fire. Happily, the kids that lived in that room were with Rob for the night, so they weren't harmed. But the room was gutted - mattress, clothes and all of their belongings. Gone.

Of course, down here, theories and rumours circulate rapidly and after talking it all over with some folks, it dawned on me that those same boys had been quietly poking around my open screen door tonight. I can't lie, won't even bother trying. The thought of someone wanting to do harm to us like that for some laughs got me good and mad.

I got back home and really, everything after that just went south. There were creepy people wandering around, hanging at the crackhouse and I was paranoid that any minute something fiery and explosive was going to come sailing in a window. It didn't help my imagination any that the dog was barking up a storm. It was really freaking me out! Then I started to get angry that I felt unsafe in my own home. Ooo that made me mad! Rrrr!!

So what do I do? I put out a prayer request of course...

I called up Rob and the Junior Soldiers and told them what was going down in the neighborhood. Then they began to pray.
They're fierce you know, our soldiers, when they get to prayin'...Rob just went and put the cell phone on speaker and they passed it around. There sure was some holy fire on those prayers...

I felt covered and so much better after we had all prayed, and I hung up feeling fortified, justified and gratified, determined not to let the devil get me down.

Friends, I know that Light belongs in the darkness, and that God has sent us here to open the eyes of our neighbors so they can see the difference between dark and light, and choose light, see the difference between Satan and God, and choose God.

But it can be really overwhelming to see the degree of degradation and darkness that is around us - especially in the children.

Please pray for us, that from God's glorious, unlimited resources He will empower us with inner strength through His Spirit, and that Christ would make His home in our hearts as we trust in Him, and that our roots will grow down into God’s love and keep us strong.

Amen.

Acts 26:17

Ephesians 3:14-17

A B&E Blessing ...

2007-06-02T14:59:00.000-04:00

I love community !

O.K. so this morning Heather goes over to get the chicken wings out of the freezer and comes back with bad news. " Rob, the community house has been broken into and trashed." " I have called 911 and the police are on their way."

So, I know this seems bad but this has been one of my favorite day's ever. After the police left we continued our day. The door frame is kicked in and a window is broken. One T.V. and a CD player were missing and the computers were thrown around. Firstly, every computer still works perfectly; nice.

O.K. here's the awesome part, shortly after the police left all the Parents, drug dealers and brothel owners decided to do a sting operation. So they hit the neighbourhood black market asking if anybody had TVs for sale. They narrowed the search down and got the word out to the thief that he should look out ! Before we knew it some how our TV and CD player were back sitting in an abandoned car out front, so we have everything back and all is well.

What a blessing to see the community come together in the cause of justice. People normally to be feared by society at large raced to the defense of our community house which serves their families, they did what the police could not and actually "did justice." Everything was back in our possession within two hours.

I never thought I would enjoy getting robbed !

Flock's Diner

2007-05-29T11:26:00.000-04:00

Check out Flock's Diner, @flocksdiner.com.

Flock's Diner is an on-line resource that is designed for those hungry for God, it is a post/past-modern watering hole for thought. Captain/Rabbi Jonathan Gainey brings revelation from The Word with a messianic punch of truth and zeal. You will gain understanding and wisdom with application for today from yesterday.

Check it out !
http://www.flocksdiner.com/

Pig Pick'in

2007-05-22T11:16:00.000-04:00

Some things in the south are just ... well from the south. In our division we have a men's camp coming up soon and in some prep notes I noticed the attachment for the Pig Pick'in crew. It said this ... please make sure that the Colonel gets to pick some pig. God bless the Colonel.

Fill It Up !

2007-05-19T18:11:00.000-04:00

I filled our mini-van, well the Generals mini-van, up last week when we were on vacation and it cost me 52.2 % of my weekly salary. That was more than my rent or food, sure I only make $ 175 dollars after taxes but that is crazy.

This made me think though, and I'm not trying to be a conspiracy theorist; I'm over that, if economics keep going the way that they are we may have some serious issues to deal with.

ONE - If fuel increased 50 % in the next 5 years it would cost a substantial amount to transport people back and forth to their worshiping communities. Plus I think that people would be less likely to use fuel to go to Church, this would impact attendance and eventual the core programs that are barely alive now. (no offence)

TWO - If an economic trend of inflation, increasing interest rates, and a higher cost of living continues in general people would be forced to collapse their social lives and fellowshiping from what it currently looks like. Mega Churches would implode and become empty super-structures.

THE ANSWER - Small Group Ministry. If all our current amenities and conveniences were lost the Church could only survive by coming together in local tight knit bodies of worship. What does this look like, well, it looks like neighbors meeting together in each others homes, sharing so that no one went without. The neighborhood that consists of several or dosens of small groups would still worship together but the flesh and bones of this super-simple-natural Church would be neighbors sharing their lot, be it simple, in order that every person would have enough. Even if the greatest economic depression of history hit America these cell based Churches would thrive and grow.

Love would be its fuel.

Family Seasons

2007-05-15T00:16:00.000-04:00

I have been praying a lot lately about different seasons that Jesus gives us, how some are close to our families and others take us far away. I really have experienced that by following God's will, even if it is far away from friends and family, us being obedient really frees Him up to move in our families. I have experienced a blessing watching him touch our family even as we have been far away, such a blessing !

It is still hard being away though and some tears were shed together thinking how short the moments are when we get back into the groove of morning coffee with Mom and Dad, home cooked meals, kisses on the cheek, familiar smells and sights etc.

I am also learning that our families are equally due our witness the same as each person we minister to at mission; and that Jesus has placed many divine opportunities to share his love right around the dinner table at home.

Thank God for family; let's cherish each and every moment.

As Psalm 68 says ... God takes the lonely and places them in families. Families are his model of community and fellowship.

Whats the mission

2007-05-06T00:37:00.000-04:00

Today at cell group one of our new kids asked me, " so what is the mission."

I gave him the speech etc. The thing is though as I was sharing our vision for community and restoration it did not excite me, I was not taken aback. It reminded me that we need to be asking ourselves this question more often, and when we do we better be about to burst with joy; at least that is my desire.

I want to reinspire myself everytime I tell someone what I do for Jesus. After all I am alive forever in joy made complete in eternal love sent from Heaven above that fills my soul with Glory. Amen !

Whats your mission?

2007-05-03T10:27:00.000-04:00

Did you hear about the rose that grew from a crack in the concrete?
Proving nature's law is wrong it learned to walk with out having feet.
Funny it seems, but by keeping it's dreams, it learned to breathe fresh air.
Long live the rose that grew from concrete when no one else ever cared.

By 2Pac Shakur

2007-04-24T13:01:00.000-04:00

I know this is graphic but it is what many young people are going home to do after school. Have sex. Not with a person but on the new hottest video game, Grand Theft Auto, Vice City stories.

You will notice by the image you are prompted to use the video game controller to have intercourse, change sexual positions, and to win raise your lust level to the point of release.
You are graded on your performance based on speed and rhythm and afterwards you can pay her or beat her and steal her purse.

Video game violence and content was not a mystery to me before but this new game has left me speechless. The new cool thing for kids after school is to rape, murder, assault, commit arson and be rewarded. It is even more scary that they can do it from a remote location, totally disassociated from the reality of it all. There is no conscious because it is seemingly "not real," but the spiritual and emotional damage is immensely real, and ultimately devastating to the innocence and purity of youth.

The scripture says that we are to not be " unaware " of the enemies schemes, this is a brutal tactic of Satan; to create a generation that can act out the worst evils of society right before dinner time.

No Future Without Forgiveness

2007-04-15T22:43:00.000-04:00

Here is a powerful and humbling thought, in regards to Nelson Mandela coming out of jail after 27 years.

" Humanly speaking, we would be inclined to say that those 27 years were an utter shameful waste; just think of all he could have contributed to the good of South Africa and the world. I don't think so. Those 27 years and all the suffering they entailed were the fires of the furnace that tempered his steel, that removed the dross. Perhaps without that suffering he would have been less able to be as compassionate and as magnanimous as he turned out to be. And that suffering on behalf of others gave him an authority and credibility that can be provided by nothing else in quite the same way. The true leader must at some point or other convince her or his followers that she or he is in this whole business not for self-aggrandizement but for the sake of others. Nothing is able to prove this quite so convincingly as suffering. "

Desmond Tutu - No Future Without Forgiveness - Chapter Three - Page 39

Be Healed in...whose name ?

2007-03-30T10:40:00.000-04:00

I was intrigued at a recent article proclaiming that a French Nun has come forward celebrating a healing of cerebral palsy. She claims that she had been healed by God ,through Pope John Paul II.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2984969

I'm straight so far, except that she does not claim that she "had" been healed, but that she "has" been healed; meaning since his death. Up until this part I was cool with the healing, but the fact that this Nun claims she has been healed by a dead man really does not line up with my dogma, and if you know me that is quite a statement !

Why ?

Well because I know from scripture that there are no instances where a dead man heals someone ... wait though; what about Elisha's bones in 2 Kings 13:21 ...

Then Elisha died and they buried him.
Some time later, raiding bands of Moabites, as they often did, invaded the country. One day, some men were burying a man and spotted the raiders. They threw the man into Elisha's tomb and got away. When the body touched Elisha's bones, the man came alive, stood up, and walked out on his own two feet.

So God has used the dead before to bring glory to his name, why not this time? I guess that it is hard because this healing is evidence that will make somebody a "saint," or beatify them above others. I think that JP2 was awesome, he got to wear Bono's sunglasses, and helped end Communism, also It has recently been made known that there were constant plots to end his life, he was dangerous to oppressors. He may be the greatest champion of justice we have seen in 100 years, but he surely is not anymore a saint than me !

Definition of a saint: one separated from the world and consecrated to God; one holy by covenant; a believer in Christ (Ps. 16:3; Rom. 1:7; 8:27; Phil. 1:1; Heb. 6:10).

Please though, don't start praying to me...

BOTTOM LINE:
If this healing exalts Jesus then I'm in all the way, but if it only promotes a great man than I can't preach it.

May God be glorified.

rd

Striving

2007-03-29T18:40:00.000-04:00

If your Earthly life was over ... now, could you run into Jesus' arms completely satisfied with everything you have done thus far ?

One of my recent longings has been to abide at that level of assurance. I don't mean we should stop building the Kingdom or anything, but that alongside

running the race we would know an abiding presence that quenches striving.

I think this kind of assurance is a gift when we abide.

Have you been to Jesus for that cleansing power?

2007-03-21T15:57:00.000-04:00

Here's a taste of the NSC division Youth Councils from last weekend. It's the benediction from Sunday morning's meeting.

There is joy in the Salvation Army!

Hallelujah, joy, joy, joy in the Army of the Lord...

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2016398392

looking for a mission injection?

2007-03-21T09:55:00.000-04:00

Check it out...

2007 Booth-Tucker Institute
Downtown Eastside Vancouver

hosted by: The War College Vancouver Campus
host: Jonathan Evans, The War College (VC)
leader Chaplain: Ian Gillingham, 614 London
dates: June 8-15, 2007.

taste: BTI is a one-week, leaders' incarnational refresher in Canada's poorest postal code. Last year a dozen leaders from LO to Colonel, from Australia to Sweden, joined for a
rich spiritual experience. cost: $250cdn.
(by the way, that's only $215 US!)

info: http://www.thewarcollege.com/bti_info.html
application:
http://www.thewarcollege.com/bti_admissions.html
For more info: jonathan_evans@armybarmy.com or stephen.court@armybarmy.com

I'd rather bust a move than bust a cap...

2007-03-20T17:29:00.000-04:00

check out this link - our very own Leo Killian, from The War College, Charlotte's Revolution session bustin' some moves for Jesus down in Belize last summer...looks a lot like last weekend's Youth Councils...

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2010528699

New family

2007-03-19T22:17:00.000-04:00

I pulled this off of Jesse's Green's blog - Answer the Call (check it out on the blogroll to the right). It's a testimony of how God is moving through the 'hood...

Now don't get me wrong I love the family I have already and I'm not trying to replace them but I now have a new extended family in this community. I kinda already did, but it's different now after youth councils.
We got to take 11 of our kids to youth councils (thanks to God) and all of them either rededicated their lives to Jesus or did so for the first time. Many, many, many tears were wept and I'll admit that alot were from me.
Although we only got back yesterday, things feel alot better in the community. We all now have a new respect and a fresh love for one another.

Any way one of the boys that didn't come was trying to work me (pay me out, make fun of me etc.) but this time one of the boys who had come with us stood up for me and was even going to start fighting the other boy (which is how they have learned to show love and defend honour around here) which in a messed up way is really sweet, but I just kept telling him that he was better than that and to remember what he had promised to God over the weekend. He backed off after I said it a couple of times and then just sat with me on the stairs and started to cry.

"That's not right the way he treats you. You guys do so much for us and you don't deserve it. He shouldn't be trying you"

I was so blessed by the fact that he had even had this reaction for me because that never happens around here. I gave him a hug. Then D (the boy that was trying to start me) was looking over at Keith (the boy that was defending me) and Keith was not ashamed at the fact that he was crying for me. He starting saying to D

"You're lucky I have Jesus or you'd be broken now."

D was all like:

"Why are you crying. I didn't even hit you"

"You shouldn't be doing that to Jesse...."

and he said pretty much the same stuff he'd said to me, to D.

I now feel like our community is becoming more of a family. The kids are coming over more with in the past 2 days just to say hey and to talk about their problems and just chill in a safe place.

Things are looking up.

A silent murder

2007-03-13T17:51:00.000-04:00

I was sad today when one of the War College students told me about a homicide in the 'hood. Tracy was pushed off of a freeway bridge and died.
We had limited contact with her, really only a few hello's and goodbye's, she came to our house for water once in a while; but it's not all that that bothers me. What I can not understand is how her death never made it into any of the media, why is it only through word of mouth that we will remember her life. Next door to our home is an abandoned house where Tracy spent time, I saw her there this week, and today all her "friends" are still there smoking crack; but no one seems to miss her, it is as if she never even was.

SANCTUS

2007-03-11T20:09:00.000-04:00

This morning Heather and I preached at a local Anglican church, episcopalian in America. What a blast ! I have never been a part of a high service before so to see Heather at the altar proclaiming the exhortation with the altar boys and all was wonderful. There were bells and chimes, wine and bread, readings, decree's and then me giving a fiery sermon. It was about 5 minutes in that I realized everybody was standing up, at first I thought it was because they were so moved by my preaching but it was simply because I had not directed them to sit. I bet they would have stood for the full half-hour ! Both Heather and I partook of the sacraments, in different ways. When it came time for communion I joined the Rev. and received the body and blood. I wonder when the last soldier in full uniform knelt beside a bishop to receive communion, it was a prophetic act to me that felt like unity. Unity is far too rare within denominations these days and I have no intention of offending a whole denomination over a cracker. I know that there are some serious dogmatic issues but, in that one moment, love for Christ's bride was more important than my "prophetic stance" of non-sacramentalism. The bride, his Church, is a mess, She is torn apart and divided, all because of details and a Game of who's right and who's wrong. Heather does not partake of the sacraments, but I caught her secretly having communion. She slipped off after the service down to the dining room and shared some grits and eggs with a homeless guy named Billy. Jesus was most definitely present in those grits. A salvationist communion.

2007-02-23T21:43:00.000-05:00

check this out...I like their perspective!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k16QXGQHz6o

2007-02-21T21:39:00.000-05:00

2004 Crime Statistics
CMPD District D-3
Homicide-11
Rape-21
Robbery-304
Aggravated Assault-467
Burglary-752
Larceny-1315
Auto Theft-465
Arson-14

We currently have a proposal in the works to invade our area further by opening a barracks/outpost.

It would give us space to hold corporate worship services and open a large sized community center.

You can see the crime stats for a three block radius of the building. It is the worst block in our city and it needs Jesus.

Please up the prayer, I will be doing an on site presentation tomorrow, so pray that God moves in the hearts of those who need to sign the paper.

The building is in rough condition, but with a lot of elbow grease it is going to shine for Jesus.

Your will be done Lord.

Philosophy

2007-02-18T11:17:00.000-05:00

I have been using my personal study times lately to study the philosophical understandings of justice and faith, so I thought I would share some thoughts.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau's
"Man was born free,and he is everywhere in chains. Those who think themselves the masters of others are indeed greater slaves than they."
The Social Contract translated by Maurice Cranston

From Socrates ...
The unexamined life is not worth living and the unlived life is not worth examining

St Anselm ...
God cannot be conceived not to exist. God is that, than which nothing greater can be conceived. That which can be conceived not to exist is not God.

Saint Thomas Aquinas ...
whatever is done voluntarily must be traced back to some higher cause other than human reason and will, since these can change and fail; for all things that are changeable and capable of defect must be traced back to an immovable and self-necessary first principle ... GOD.

I wonder where and who are are post-modern Anselem's and Aquinas' are. Those who will be the great defenders of truth. Going to hear Plato speak would have been the equivalent to going to see a movie or catch the latest podcast.

What are the cultural equivalents to corporate reason that reveal Christ ?

How will we engage them to advance truth and justice ?

To be continued ...

Rob

2007-02-15T15:47:00.000-05:00

Good day!
As long as you're here, you'll want to check out Jesse Green's blog from Feb. 12 (down on the right under The Team) which gives an eyewitness account of recent salvation that has come to pass in our community.
Praise the Lord.
God is here.

hd

A God-Inspired Reality Check

2007-02-12T05:39:00.000-05:00

How far do I intend to go for His Will to be done on earth as it is in heaven?
As Far As It Takes?
How long shall I live as though He were coming back Soon?
Every Day Until I Die?
What am I willing to give up in the temporal to store up in the eternal?
All of it?

I will be responsive to the Holy Spirit's work and obedient to His leading in my life.
I will continue to grow in grace through worship, prayer, service and the reading of the Bible.
I will make the values of the Kingdom of God and not the values of the world the standard for my life.

I made covenant with You Lord 4 years ago. Am I living up to my end of the deal?

If not...

,
Disturb me, Lord,

when I am too well pleased with myself,

When my dreams have come true

Because I have dreamed too little

When I arrived safely

Because I sailed too close to the shore...
attributed - sir francis drake -1577

Joy

2007-02-10T14:55:00.000-05:00

What joy there is in serving our lord.

I spent an hour playing with little kids this morning; and I know there is no greater joy to the Lord's heart than to join in with them.

A couple of years back I attended Caribou Hill Corps in Canada and during a preaching series there were different stations set up in worship. There was hand washing, prayer requests, confession, the usual except for one, the play with Jesus station, at this station there were toys and balls and jump ropes. You were to grab a toy during worship and play, have some fun.

The play station was the most difficult station for people to engage in, not including Elaine G and Steve C who made fools of themselves for Jesus; they just ran around with weeeeeeeee's and yeaaaaaaaaa's. There was something there, a wall, that said "this is too silly for God." "After all he is a God of order. " I didn't get it, and I missed out; God likes to play in worship.

The thing is this. The world is not afraid of what other people think, just go to an NFL game or a bar on Saturday night, people are off the chain. Sure they may have liquor but hey we have Holy Spirit, eternal life, liberty.

Can you see it ... 5 guys in church tomorrow lifting up their shirts in the balcony to reveal their painted bellies displaying ... J . E . S . U . S or someone starting the wave, it could be like super-church.

I do not know ! It is outside the box but if anyone wants to take me up on it I'll be the E.

If this offends you, sorry, but go study Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Isaiah and find some of the crazy things God had them do in church.

Guess what everybody, I'm engaged!

2007-02-09T21:11:00.000-05:00

So here's my (Heather's) reflection on S______a's situation. (Her name is not Santa, by the way, for all you wheel of fortune fans).
I drove her home last night and she spent the entire way telling me about her week. It was very intense, mostly because her life is intense.

There were times, even in the short drive, that I ceased to really pay attention. Couldn't tell ya what she said. Our lives have been incredibly different and I had no mental file for what I was hearing. So I just tuned out.

It'd been a long day. My 'pain place' (you know, the spot where the remnants of any awful things I'd seen, heard and experienced that day) was filled up and maxed out. I didn't have that reserve bottle of ministry gatorade to swig down so that I could be ready for what she was telling me was her life. So I unplugged. And I kept driving.

The closer I got to her place, the more tense and distressed she became. I started repeating over and over in my head, "Jesus, I don't want to leave her there. I just can't leave her there." and the apathy, masquerading as tiredness in me lost its fight and compassion rose up.

I made an active choice to engage my friend and to hear her. Respond to her. Pray for her. Reassure her. Remind her that we're only a phone call away. (Which, incidentally, she took me seriously on, because she called this morning at half past six...but seriously, I'm not complaining)

We arrived. Just before she shut the door she paused, and just looked in at me. I had 15 seconds to inject her with a shot of hope and light before she went into that awful house.
What words did I have?

"Please,"

I said,

"Before you decided to runaway (one of the options she is considering) please call me, and I'll come and get you. Just don't disappear. For real. Okay?"

She half-smiled and said "Okay." and then, "Heather, I love you." and then she was gone.

I watched as she entered that awful, infested, run-down house. Then, I lost it. A broken woman. I wept for her and her situation and the hardships that have been hers.

"It's not fair,"

I say to the Lord.

"Ahh...."

the Lord says to me,

"Heather, it would have been worse for her had you remained tuned out and closed off...she needs feel safe to talk and get all of this stuff out of the dark and into Light. And she needs to be heard. How can she rebuild a ruined life, or family, or even a people group, if firstly she can't even talk about it and secondly no one will listen?

See, I've got this theory, that sharing in the sufferings of Christ (like we read about in Philippians 1:29) isn't just about the physical hurts that come with persecution (i.e shootings, stabbings, being drawn and quartered, crucified) but that it is our privelege as His followers, to suffer by having our hearts broken for humanity like His does, and to bear the burdens of our brothers and sisters and cry out in prayer on their behalf like He does...

I believe that the more we choose to open up that secret place where we hold our tenderest selves and our most affected emotions and truly engage the 'others' whom The Lord of Hosts has intentionally ushered into our lives, than the more we will see the revolution we're craving - the Kingdom transformation from brokenness to healing. Raw devastation to sacred restoration. Utter abandonment into divine adoption. The Rebuilding. Restoring. Renewing.

When I'm engaged, it can hurt like a sonnofoagun but it's the gift of coming to know and share in His sufferings, and in doing so, begin to more closely resemble the Lord Jesus Christ.

And isn't that the point?

Thursday Morning

2007-02-08T08:39:00.000-05:00

We got an early morning call today, I must admit that I faked sleep so that Heather would get it. I knew who it was just by the conversation, it was our friend S-------a. She is 16 and one of the brightest kids I have ever met. I love her and one of my dreams is to be at her High School and College Graduation.

S------a's falls into the most common category of homelessness; that is youth who have no permanent home. She floats from couch to floor to friends to hotel ... etc. Her most current bedroom is a sofa at an Aunts that she gets from 11pm until 5am, she has to be off by 5 because a man who pays some rent gets it then.

Her Mother is addicted to crack, alcohol and trafficking. The social dimensions of her life would be unthinkable if you were not born into oppression, but for her not eating for two days and being told that you are going to grow up to be a prostitute are constant.

This morning that guy who uses the couch after her was drunk and angry and struck her. She called this morning before 7am to tell us that she is never going back there (a.k.a home) again. I am so broken over this, mainly because she is only one out of thousands just in my city alone, but I am so blessed to share my life with her. She knows Jesus and loves his people, she longs to serve them in his name, and by her life poured out in worship right the wrongs in this world that she knows all too well. She belongs to Jesus and that is my only source of strength when I look her in the eyes tonight and say " you are going to be o.k."

'll leave out the details of my legal obligations, but this I know ...

2 Corinthians 4:7-11

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. Amen.

Now I have to go explain this to a kid, and help her find a home on earth.

Rob

Treat of the Week

2007-02-03T14:57:00.000-05:00

Today was a great day. I mean, usually Saturdays are eventful (12.20.06 and 11.26.06 for example) but today was just plain enjoyable.
My Saturday cell group has looked a bit different since we came back from the holidays, mostly because I got home from vacation and realized that a whole bunch of families had moved away in a 2 week period.
Okay, maybe not a whole bunch - just 2 - but it feels like a whole bunch, because that's 2 families = 7 kids.
So instead of 8 or 9 shining faces around my table, I was down to 5 last week and then this week there was just 1.
So instead of trying to make a big lunch at my house, plan an activity and have group prayer time, like we normally would, we broke tradition andchopped in the van and had cell group at McDonalds...and it worked out great! (Shocker - who knew McD's was popular with kids haha)

She was free to chat my ear off about whatever she liked because she didn't have to compete with any other little voices and she had my whole attention and a happy meal.

That's all. Nothing 'profound' to report...just a deeping of relationship - my personal 'treat of the week' (!)

posted by:
HD

Phillipians 1:27 the Message

2007-02-01T17:18:00.000-05:00

there's far more to this life than trusting Christ, there's also suffering for Him, and the suffering is as much of a gift as the trusting.

What is suffering for Christ? I've always assumed that it is a physical suffering, as in, being nailed, stoned, exiled, pulled apart by horses and son on, but I wonder, could it be something more?

Sharing in the sufferings of Christ. What were His sufferings? Sure, He suffered on the cross - no argument there, but what if we're meant to share in the sufferings of His heart?

He suffered every time His people (Israel) didn't understand Him or His teachings. He suffered every time they overlooked their God, their Maker, for some flashy idol or hot new pagan sacrificial act.
He suffered every time their faith fell short, even in those who had seen Him do miracles first hand.
He suffered when there was a lack of love for mankind, even among His disciples - those who were partaking of 24-7 mentoring from the Big Guy, Himself.

What if it's additionally about a suffering of the heart? Bearing His burden of intercession for the people?

So when others are hurting, we'd hurt just like He hurts.
When others are dying, forgotten, abandoned, we'd hurt just like He hurts.
When others are accused or accusing, injust and oppressed, we'd hurt just like He hurts.

Maybe that's the whole point of all of this. This love. This Christlike love. Sacrificial love. Put your needs before mine love. Bear your burden even when it's really heavy and it brings me down love.

"38But Jesus said to them, You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism [of affliction] with which I am baptized?
39And they replied to Him, We are able. And Jesus told them, The cup that I drink you will drink, and you will be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized..." Mark 10:38-39 Amplified Bible

2007-01-25T14:05:00.000-05:00

I was listening to a preach today while I took down and stowed away the remnants of Christmas at our house (yeah...I know...long overdue) and the came upon a provocative statement:

"Now listen to me, I believe that you are really far down the road to spiritual maturity when you can really know yourself, know your strengths, know your weaknesses, be able to admit them to yourself and to the people you're in relationship with, and even let them help you keep yourself in line without being offended when they do that. " Joyce Meyer

That was probably a run-on sentence, but if you can get past that, wowee eh? What a zinger.

Now, your first time reading it through, you might think "meh...makes sense, but really Heather, it's nothing to get all excited, over is it?"
Well, I think so.
It's one of those 'easier read than done' statements. Let me unpack that a bit.
Yesterday I met with my new accountability partner. It really was a top drawer meeting. We went all out - at least I know I did. I was able to share a lot of stuff that has been steeping on my inside for quite some time. She is really easy to talk to. Until I arrived at my last item. It was a toughie...
I've gotten to the place with myself where I can admit where I am weak, yet acknowledge my potential if I just hunker down and do the discipline. I was able to share what the issue was, but balked at the "please help me" part. The answerability. Letting her in so that she can help me to keep myself in line. That's touchy!
I've gone down this accountability road before, where I have chosen to become offended by people doing just the very thing that I asked them to do, by choosing to get caught up on 'how' they do it, or their tone of voice, or their level of smirkiness (as I sensitively perceive it).

It's not easy to give up the right to become offended...it's like surrendering an instant defense mechanism, a faithful old friend, a tried and true way of ensuring that I get to stay the same, stale me and everybody else has to back off...

And yet, all sulkiness and storminess aside, it feels like it may be a new season. How refreshing and lovely!

"My beloved speaks and says to me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.
For, behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone.The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing has come..." Solomon's Song 2:10-12

posted by:
HD

So...how's your church life?

2007-01-25T00:45:00.000-05:00

I was browsing the online community tonight and I came across this testimony from a brother who has started attending a cell group/small group after years in 'the church'. He lists the impact it is having on him and I think it is useful to post it for you to read.
How's your church life?

For the first time with a group (of Christian people), there are 2 things I don't feel.

# 1 ~ I don't feel like a project that the group is determed to "Fix". I don't feel that any pressure to fit into a mold that is the group's idea of what a Christian should be.

# 2 ~ I don't feel like an outsider. The group doesn't treat me like I'm an inconvenience or someone to be tolerated.

Now for what I do feel....

# 1 ~ Loved. My churchmates love me. I know this. They smile when they see me. They include me in vertually everything. We share our joys, sorrows. Basically we share everything.

# 2 ~ Valued. i feel like my opinions matter and what I have to say has merit. Not only that but I am valued as a person, a friend and a brother.

# 3 ~ appreciated. I don't feel pressure to do or say anything. But when I do contribute (I cook occassionally) the group appreciates it and tend to eat like hungry truckers. This brings joy to my heart.

As I pondered the experience later, I could only think that that is what the early church was like. True fellowship, true love, true faith in action. Bonds were strengthened and community was fortified. Praise the Lord.

excerpted from www.brotherdavyd.blogspot.com

posted by:
HD

Quotable & Noteable

2007-01-22T20:29:00.000-05:00

" I'm in love ... That's why I'm unstoppable."

Heidi Baker

www.irismin.org

2007-01-03T08:18:00.000-05:00

I've just finished reading the book "The Heavenly Man - the remarkable story of Chinese Christian Brother Yun" I was deeply provoked by it, in a godly way.One portion that I found especially encouraging is found on page 290. Brother Yun outlines their training style. There are vast differences between what we do, and what they do. The best part - in my opinion - is that they aren't even trying to be sensational, or extreme (just for the sake of it), but practical:

Every Back to Jerusalem missionary receives training in several main subjects.
These include:
1.) How to suffer and die for the Lord. We examine what the Bible says about suffering, and look at how the Lord's people have laid down their lives for the advance of the Gospel throughout history.

2.) How to witness for the Lord. We teach how to witness for the Lord under any circumstance, on trains or buses, or even in the back of a police van on our way to the execution ground.

3.) How to escape for the Lord. We know that sometimes it is the Lord who sends us to prison to witness for Him, but we also believe the devil sometimes wants us to go to prison to stop the ministry God has called us to do. We teach the missionaries
special skills such as how to free themselves from handcuffs, and how to jump
from second-storey windows without injuring themselves.

This is not a 'normal' seminary or Bible College!If you ever visit one of the places where we are training our Back to Jerusalem missionaries, you will see how serious we are to fulfill our destiny in God. You may see people with their hands handcuffed behind their back, leaping from second-storey windows!

Nothing less is required if we are to break down the walls that separate Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists from knowing the sweet presence of Jesus."

Wow. How practical are we at training our soldiers and missionaries?

HD

Haha...

2006-12-22T11:20:00.000-05:00

Still looking for the perfect last minute gift?

2006-12-21T11:18:00.000-05:00

It's just a small white envelope stuck among the branches of our Christmas tree. No name, no identification, no inscription. It has peeked through the branches of our tree for the past 10 years or so.

It all began because my husband Mike hated Christmas -- oh, not the true meaning of Christmas, but the commercial aspects of it -- the overspending, the frantic running around at the last minute to get a tie for Uncle Harry and the dusting powder for Grandma -- the gifts given in desperation because you couldn't think of anything else.

Knowing he felt this way, I decided one year to bypass the usual shirts, sweaters, ties, and so forth. I reached for something special just for Mike. The inspiration came in an unusual way. Our son Kevin, who was 12 that year, was wrestling at the junior level at the school he attended.

Shortly before Christmas, there was a non-league match against a team
sponsored by an inner-city church. These youngsters, dressed in sneakers so ragged that shoestrings seemed to be the only thing holding them together, presented a sharp contrast to our boys in their spiffy blue and gold uniforms and sparkling new wrestling shoes. As the match began, I was alarmed to see that the other team was wrestling without headgear, a kind of light helmet designed to protect a wrestler's ears. It was a luxury the ragtag team obviously could not afford.

Well, we ended up walloping them. We took every weight class. And, as each of their boys got up from the mat, he swaggered around in his tatters with false bravado, a kind of street pride that couldn't acknowledge defeat. Mike, seated beside me, shook his head sadly, "I wish just one of them could have won," he said. "They have a lot of potential, but losing like this could take the heart right out of them." Mike loved kids -- all kids -- and he knew them, having coached little league football, baseball, and lacrosse.

That's when the idea for his present came.

That afternoon, I went to a local sporting goods store and bought an assortment of wrestling headgear and shoes and sent them anonymously to the inner-city church.
On Christmas Eve, I placed the envelope on the tree, the note inside telling Mike what I had done and that this was his gift from me. His smile was the brightest thing about Christmas that year and in succeeding years.

For each Christmas, I followed the tradition -- one year sending a group of mentally handicapped youngsters to a hockey game, another year a check to a pair of elderly brothers whose home had burned to the ground the week before Christmas, and on and on. The envelope became the highlight of our Christmas. It was always the last thing opened on Christmas morning, and our children, ignoring their new toys, would stand with wide-eyed anticipation as their dad lifted the envelope from the tree to reveal its contents.

As the children grew, the toys gave way to more practical presents, but the envelope never lost its allure.

The story doesn't end there.

You see, we lost Mike last year due to cancer. When Christmas rolled around, I was still so wrapped in grief that I barely got the tree up. But Christmas Eve found me placing an envelope on the tree, and in the morning it was joined by three more. Each of our children, unbeknownst to the others, had placed an envelope on the tree for their dad. The tradition has grown and someday will expand even further with our
grandchildren standing around the tree with wide-eyed anticipation watching as their fathers take down the envelope.

You know, I don't care if this whole thing is just a hoax and there never was any "Mike", it's a powerful idea, that is so anti-mall-materialism-creditcard-Christmas that it deserved some space on this blog.

So, still looking for a meaningful last minute gift for someone you love? I know some kids who could use pillows to lay their heads on...contact me at: heather@thewarcollege.com to follow up on this, or more gift-giving ideas...

Church

2006-12-20T15:30:00.000-05:00

We had Church on Saturday, or at least our version of it. I think Jesus likes our version of Church; anyway it was really amazing to sit back and look at 1 years work. It looked like 73 people, kids and parents, playing, eating and worshiping together.

We have been here in Charlotte for one whole year, our #1 objective was to learn everybody's name in our neighborhood and to let Jesus do whatever else he wanted. He wanted to connect a community together using his hands, feet and heart.

61 kids have confessed his name as saviour this year and several of their parents are renewing their commitments through them.

I do not know what God has in store for us next year, but I know that if I keep learning everybodies names he will invite them to write them in his book of life.

Thank-you God for letting me join you in your plan to win the world; one person at a time.

Rob

2006-12-14T23:28:00.000-05:00

I've been reading a book by John Maxwell about growing in leadership, setting priorities and creating and fulfilling goals. What I read today hit me like a ton of bricks:

"Time is the most valuable coin in your life. You and you alone will determine how that coin will be spent. Be careful that you do not let others spend it for you."
Carl Sandberg
How are you spending your last days before Christmas Eve?

wrestlemania like you've NEVER seen...

2006-12-12T11:29:00.000-05:00

2006-12-11T11:02:00.000-05:00

Good morning friends - if you're a Salvo in the South, then the name Phil Laeger is familiar to you - or if his name doesn't ring a bell, his music surely will. If you haven't heard of the man, then you're in for a treat.

Phil's back with a new cd - and it's free. For real free. Rob and I have already downloaded it, and I'm listening to it right now.

Downloading it won't mess up your computer, and it's not complicated, it's just all the sweetness both musically and lyrically that we're used to from Phil.

He had chosen to give it for free for anyone who chooses to receive - sound like a familiar concept?!

Check out his reason for the price below, and then click to download.

It’s not an original idea, © 2006 Phil Laeger. com giving away your music for nothing - and I’m not just talking Keith Green, or even Derek Webb for that matter. As much as those two guys are heroes of mine, the concept of giving music away is nothing new.

That said, most of the things we get for “free” nowadays aren’t really free at all.

“Buy one, get one free!” - What? Wait a second.. “Free with your purchase of...” Ok, hold on...

Taking it one step further, most things in this life we think we’re getting free end up costing us more than we thought.

I think that’s why we have a hard time when we’re confronted with the words, “the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Ok, wait, what’s the catch?

Someone will say that the catch is that you have to give up things like lying, sex before marriage, drugs... But those things are all actually outcomes of truly receiving the free gift, rather than pre-requisites. There is a difference, and it’s more than just semantic.

And so, this album is free, not because I just couldn’t possibly use the money, or because I’m a anti-capitalist, or because I don’t think the songs are that great (actually I’m very pleased with the overall feel of the album and the songs are some of my favorites I’ve done)...

it’s free because I hope that, in some small way, you’ll be reminded that God is not a bait-and-switch salesman that promises good things for you but has ulterior motives in mind.

He is a good God.

If you really feel like giving, then take the money you would have spent on the album and donate it to a trustworthy charitable organization or send some money to help out in Darfur. You don’t even have to buy a red iPod nano. :)

If you’ve already given to a relief organization and you feel specifically called to support my ministry, use the contact info below to find out what the current needs are.
If you’d like to donate securely online, click on one of the links below.

Grace to you. Enjoy the album. It is called Pride and Glory, Truth and Beauty.

----Phil Laeger

www.phillaeger.com
www.saytunes.com/bands/phillaeger
www.myspace.com/laeger
www.purevolume.com/phillaeger

THE WORLD TODAY ...

2006-12-09T22:24:00.000-05:00

You hear it all the time:

"Why do people want to have kids
in a world like
this?"

"Who would want to bring a child into a world so
messed up?"

Umm, I do !!

Seriously, the more messed up the world gets, the more kids I want to have.

I think it's the ultimate counter-measure to a fallen world; to raise up zealous, loving, Jesus-filled freedom fighters.

Psalm 127
Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him.
Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth.
Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their enemies in the gate.

Go be fruitful then...

r.d.

2006-12-04T16:49:00.000-05:00

This morning I awoke to the ringing of the phone:

"hi miss heather, my kids missed the school bus, and you know our power's been shut off so they can't stay at home, it's just too cold in the house, so could you please drive them to school?"

When I got home from taking the kids, and hearing that it was one of the boy's 10th birthday, and he had to spend the night with no electricity, there will be no cake, no presents, and no general 'fuss' over him from his mom, I poured myself glumly onto the couch and just sat there. I think that just stinks.

Rob came out and seeing me, said:
"are you okay? what are you doing?"

To which I responded:
"I'm not very happy about all this, so I'm telling the Lord how I feel."

As I was doing so, The Lord brought to mind a snippet from one of the Salvation Army Songbooks, so I went in search of it. This is what it said:

"I bring to Thee my heart to fill;I feel how weak I am, but still, to Thee for help I call."

"I've little strength to call my own, And what I've done, before Thy throne I here confess, is small. But on Thy strength, O God, I lean, And through the Blood that makes me clean, Thou art my all in all."

And where I cannot see, I'll trust, For then I
know Thou surely must be still my all in all."

Where I cannot see I'll trust - isn't that the 'deal' with this entire spiritual journey?

In this case, I have to trust that God loves this family a billion times more than I do and He wants the best for them, and is already moving and working on their behalf.

So even if I can't see Him working in the heart of my little birthday boy in the van on the way to school, if any of what we're doing here means anything, I simply must trust that He is.

Moments like these - which are frequent - remind me of my human-ness and inability. I must lean on Strong Arms if I want to love like He does.

I must pause for "fill-'er-up" heart moments throughout the day, and continually be mindful, that He doesn't need me or else it will all fall apart.
Oh no, it's not like that at all.
The King of Kings has invited me in to this great mystery of love, both vertically and horizontally - up to God and out to Man.

Bottom line for me - is that even though my heart is broken. Broken. Loving 'round here, and it's painful and confusing for me to see the reality of the lives of my wee friends and their families, my truth is that I'd rather have my eyes open to it all and be a part of it, not matter the inconvenience and personal discomfort, than to have never set firsthand eyes on any of this suffering, and be less of a woman - and less of a Christian - for it.

2006-12-02T09:31:00.000-05:00

Good Morning friends.

It's a beautiful day in the neighbourhood, a beautiful day for a neighbour...

Yesterday, it was like 76 degrees down here (25 ish Celsius) and it was lovely. As a matter of fact, there was more about yesterday that was lovely than just the weather. I had so many God-moments, I woulda thought that Christmas came early.

Speaking of Christmas, I'm sitting in the quiet of my empty house this morning, preparing for cell group in a couple of hours, and the kids that will soon be runnin' around all energetic. I thought about taking them to the mall to see all the lights and the decorations and Santa Claus, but apparently down here, it costs a lot of money to do the whole 'see Santa' thing at the mall.

Too bad. I remember being overwhelmed by lights and trees and people and gift wrap and snowbanks and Christmas music at the mall as a child - and peering over the second floor bannister down to the Santa scene below, listening to him ho ho ho and all that.

I was drawn in by it, entranced, because it was something I was a part of that was way bigger than me - At age 7 or 8 or 9 my imagination wasn't deep enough to have fathomed how everything could be made so perfect, so extra-large sized but intricately detailed and then suspended impossibly from the ceiling, or how snow could be so sparkly and white and magical looking...(cuz if you've seen snow in Ontario by December, usually it's looking more than a little dirty). It was a feast for the senses, and gave me something to lay in bed at night and visualize, and get excited about.

Something in it all sparks the imagination of a child towards creativity and belief - a belief in something greater than myself and my little world of day to day life and understanding. I want the kids I know to have the same opportunities to be invited into something greater than themselves, that fills them with wonder and surprise and delight and is stunning compared to the drab reality of their day to day life.

To allow them to be kids instead of expecting them to think like adults, and grow up before they should.

I don't want to just introduce them to the half real/half man-made Christmas experience of middle/upper class America - although that's part of it - but I want to introduce them to a homeless, penniless, beaten-down-got- up-again, full of wonder and miracles, change-your-situation-through-faith-and-prayer, 100% real Christ

He's around longer than Santa...and you don't have to pay no $30 to get to Him...