Moving Mountains

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

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

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 ...

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"

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

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.

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

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...

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 ...

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

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

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 !

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

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

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?

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

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

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 ?

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

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?

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?

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...

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

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

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

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.

check this out...I like their perspective!

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

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

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

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

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

hd

Joy

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!

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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

Heidi Baker

www.irismin.org

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...

Still looking for the perfect last minute gift?

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

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

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...

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 ...

You hear it all the time:

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

or

"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.

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.

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...

Selah this on a Friday Morning...

"If you are finding Christianity to be boring, then you are probably doing it wrong."

Aaron White, Corps Sargeant Major
@ 614 Vancouver Salvation Army
http://www.armybarmy.com/article15-46.html

What is Selah? ( Hebrew: סלה)
Meaning "stop and listen", within the context of a prayer or psalms.
It is similar in purpose to Amen in that it stresses the importance of the preceding passage.
In this way, Selah is thought to imply that one should pause and reflect on what has been said.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selah