Sabbatical #10 Your Patient Needs Patience

Got up at 6am and unloaded the jeep into the wrong house because we were locked out of our house because our property manager failed to leave the keys he had promised. Deb and Lindsey drove with me an hour to Kelowna to try and get the boat trailer fixed.

We thought this might take a couple of hours and then we could get on with the real vacation.
The bad news was the problem was worse than expected...the brake trailers had failed completely and the whole brake system would have to be overhauled. I kept checking back in, only to hear 3 different times..."It's not done yet".

My patience was running short. My frustration was building, while my attitude was deteriorating. But the Lord seemed to begin to speak to me on this subject..."Larry you are broken in places. One of the areas of brokenness is your demand that things go your way on your time table. Your "achiever" and "maximizer" strengths, while good in the right context, can become a destructive force to my peace. You are my patient whom I need to help with patience which is a fruit of my Spirit. You can have that in all situations if you trust my timing and sovereignty"

I tried to say "yes" to His voice. Finally at 5pm the trailer was done and $640 later (OUCH!) I was able to pull away for the hour trip back to the house.

I did have a good afternoon in the park with Deb and Lindsey enjoying a stunningly beautiful day on green grass by the exquisite Lake Okanogan.

Finally got the boat to the Lake...all our stuff moved into our house...and ended the day with a soak in the hot tub...thanking God that HE IS PATIENT with His Patient.

Sabbatical #9 Broken bearings & Burn Out

What a day!! As in challenging, hard, long day. Got up and packed the boat and jeep and finally left Seattle about 11am. That took forever!

Then drove for 7 hours at Costco in Kelowna...that's one hour from our home in Silver Star BC. As I was pulling into Costco I heard a terrible noise...it was my rear axle on boat trailer...the bearings are toast. It's too late to get it fixed but the problem is the boat is filled with stuff...to the brim...so we have to leave Lindsey perched on top of the boat as Deb and I drive madly to our house unload the Jeep and Deb drives back while I carry stuff up to the house.

Deb and Lindsey will be home in 20 minutes and I will have to unpack the Jeep...and be back up at 6am to rescue the boat from Costco parking lot and spend half the day (hopefully not more) getting the trailer fixed...Yikes!! So this little mishap cost us 5 hours of driving, probably $500 or more bucks, and lots of extra work...BUT...BUT...You know what I know???

God is good all the time, and the all the time God is good!! What if I had been stranded in the middle of nowhere....that could have happened. God helped me with my attitude when my circumstances made me what to holler. It's just stuff, it's just another day, God has purpose and blessing in the midst of mud! Jesus is LORD...my circumstances are NOT!

Just like those bearings burnt out from going too hard and too fast for too long...my life and ministry can burn out also. So maybe the Lord was giving me an object lesson...time to take your life to the shop and have new bearings put in so you can get your bearings in life a little more clear.

Sabbatical #8 Lesson on Desire & Disappointment

Nice breakfast with Deb on the patio in the beautiful Seattle sunshine with tall pine trees overhead and beautiful flowers surrounding us.

Then off to fix broken things...brakes, etc on the Grand Cherokee....$500! Ouch! Flat tire on the bicycle! 18$! Ouch! Went to Starbucks with wife, daughter, and Shelley P. and drowned my sorrows in a mesmerizing doze of expensive coffee.

While at Starbucks got an email confirming that a dream has died. Call the mortuary for visions....buy a casket for expectations. A real estate project that was supposed to help fund the kingdom and be a blessing to Deb and me, fell through. 3 years we have been working on this thing. I won't detail it out but it gave me the opportunity to work through the whole "desire and disappointment" part of life.

Here's what I sensed the Lord may be saying to me in this significant letdown:
"Larry, when you make me the desire and the delight of your heart then disappointments, while real and painful, are quite small things. Because of who I am, Because Hebrews 13:8 is true and I will never change and thus never disappoint you, WHEN you keep me as the primary desire and delight of your heart, you rebound quickly from disappointments. Don't stop dreaming and creating and going for it...BUT never let anything but me have the center of your heart! I always have NEW and GOOD ahead for you as you trust me! So dream again but never let a earth dream get too big...As I told you in Psalms 34 Delight yourself in me and I will give you the desires of your heart (myself, my love, my beauty)"

Spent rest of day going to Pike Place Market on a gorgeous day...one of my favorite places...the smells, the sights, the people, the flying fish. Then to Fremont and lovely time reading and relaxing and then a gourmet dinner at 35th Avenue Bistro...try the Salmon or the Ravoli and the housemade sorbet!

Sabbatical #7 Seattle Sunday...Good, Sad, & Ugly

Got up and went to worship Jesus with the saints of New Heart Worship Center in Federal Way, Washington. Great time of worship and hearing the word from Pastor Gordon Banks. Preached on Delegated Authority from Genesis 41 how Pharoah raised up Joseph. The Lord spoke to me about the difference of walking in the authority I create for myself and the authority God grants me when I release my clinching fisthold on my own authority to operate in the peace and wisdom of His authority. Also that power and authority go together and I need to believe for more power and more authority in my life and my ministry.

Then went to brunch with family and friends at a special place that Shelley Pauls took us to.

Went to the home we found to relocate Mom from Oregon to Seattle. It was a gorgeous day and the home has a sweeping view of Puget Sound.

Then went to IKEA to shop with Deb for our Canadian rental home..then bike riding with Dwight beside White River..then Thai Bistro for some scrumptious Pad Thai.

Had a very disappointing email that seems to have a shot down a 3 year real estate project Deb and I had been working on...ouch...bummer. We will see.....the song I love goes, "You give and take away...Blessed me your name!" Holy Spirit coach me when I swing and miss! I love you Lord!

Sabbatical #6 - Road Trips, Dreams?, Songs

Up by 6am going hard to finish as much as I can at Mom's. Packed up pick-up and headed out at noon for the six hour drive to Seattle...just me and mom talking about life past, present, future. Unloaded, went to sister Brenda's house where one of the guys from the drug recovery program they run was fixing dinner. He was a real chef, trained at the Culinary Institute of America and he was artistic last night...excellent. Then took brother Justin home and crashed at midnight.

The Lord may have spoken to me in a dream...I showed up to a normal looking apartment just as a young white man was leaving with a deadly looking knife in his hand. Somehow I knew (dreams don't fill in all the details for you, ever notice that?) that he was the mass murderer everyone was hunting for and I knew he had just killed again.

I spoke a greeting to him and said something that engaged him in a friendly conversation, even though I was fearful, I kept talking and looking at the knife...the conversation went deeper and he opened up to me without telling me he was the mass murderer. I encouraged him to get help and suggested my wife and another psychologist...he thanked me sincerely and then went sprinting off.

The next evening I was sitting in my home...not my real home but my dream home...not my "dream" home like a mansion...but the house in my dream...suddenly a note was slipped under my door and it was the young man writing me to say, he was ready to get help, he hated himself and his deeds and thanked me for my friendship and gave me his phone number...I had 2 emotions...gratitude that I could be used by God like that AND fear that he knew where I lived without me even giving him any personal info.

Then I woke up.

Interpretation? Not sure yet but praying about it...The first interpreation to come to mind was that God wants to use Deb and me to interrupt the murderous violence on the streets around our church and that if we care, we can make a difference....and that now is the time to help and if we do our part God will do His...and that it will be scary. Hmmmmmm.....

A MUCH EASIER WORD...About 11:30pm I am driving the pickup to Dwight and Shelley's, our best buds who we are staying with during our Seattle stint....and listening to Country Music for a change. This song comes on..."I know what I was feelin' BUT what was I thinkin?'" It was about a guy who got in trouble because he let his emotion\hormones override his intellect.

What a great song..."Lord, my people and myself we get the two confused to our destruction too often...help me to walk in what I KNOW is best"....Love you Jesus!

Sabbatical #5 Clocks and Rodeos

Worked hard til 3pm...doing a final dump run and cleaning out cobweb filled junk.

Went to Sisters, Oregon....quaint little tourist spot high in the mountains to take an ancient clock there to be repaired by a master clockmaker...the clock's been in the family for almost a 100 years...and to repair it was $250...much more than the original price of clock. But things that last are worth the effort and expense put into them....I (and you) are eternal and therefore, God is willing to put the effort and expense into our lives...we don't just last for 20 years like most of the junk I hauled but we are a legacy...an heirloom...a masterpiece. Lord, please clean me up, lubricate me, adjust me, so I can run for you for another 50 years.

Went to the COUNTY FAIR and RODEO...favorite shirt I saw: "I messed with Txas."

Got a good dose of "yeehaw"...ate bbq beef, kettle corn, and tortatoes...homemade on the spot potato chips...good and greasy and gross and I am glad the fair is only once a year.

Sabbatical #4 Chainsaw Sculptures

Deb and Linz drove in at 3am...yea God! Got up @ sunrise and did a double power walk...some good prayer time. Was at the dump by 8:20am and back to keep cleaning and moving mom.

On the way to the dump on the second trip today...listening to country music and thinking about keeping it really real and authentic in life (after all County Music does that better than most Christians I know and especially most pastors)...anyway on the way there I saw a place with a big sign that said "CHAINSAW SCULPTURES"...I immediately thought, "that's my life"!

God is the great sculpture of my life and I keep thinking there is a "David" by "Michaelangelo" inside me...and there's truth there...but I am so stubborn sometimes that God has to use a CHAINSAW to get the useless stuff out of my life. You can't do much fine sculpting with a chainsaw! God keep up your work on my life...use a CHAINSAW when necessary...but also get me to that finer tuning that comes when you can pull out your small wood chipper and your whittling knive and do some detailed work on my heart.

A 72 year old Panda Bear causes a melt down...We were cleaning more stuff in a separate barn and suddenly mom found a Panda Bear she had when she was 4 years old and burst out in tears. I held her for a while and got the story...our humanity is so intriguing...70 year old things can trigger emotions that take us back to childhood.

I also thought of the verse in John 21 when Jesus prophesies about John and says when you are old, people will come and take you places you do not want to go....Mom wants to stay here but knows she can't so she must go where her circumstances dictate.

Sabbatical #3 Rat Poop and Reality Thinking

Got up for an early morning prayer\power walk...maybe I should call them a double power stroll...gorgeous as I watched the sun start shining on the Cascade mountains. Then went to work in dad's shop...gross...rat poop, squirrel poop, mice poop mixed with remnants from 77 years of Dad's life...I probably tossed 5000 worth of outdated veterinary medicine.

After about 4 hours of this I was beginning to think...what am I doing? I have a doctorate this kind of work is below me...Just then I sensed the Lord say..."who do you think you are?, Are you so high and mighty that you can't get on your hands and knees to serve your deceased father and your cancer stricken mom....get real, Larry!" I repented in the rat poop. "Lord I know you honor humility...please let me live in the beauty of humility.

I sensed what I believe was the Lord's inner voice one other time today...As I was cleaning my dad's stuff up, I began to think about dad. He was a man who always had a new idea, a new vision, a new dream...rather than cleaning up the mess from his latest idea he just moved on to the next idea. I thought to myself...he needed to slow down a little on the vision thing and not move forward without cleaning up his mess"...so do I...I need to see the mess that my next dream is going to create and count the clean up cost into the risk analysis before charging forward.

Deb and Lindsey will get here about 2am....yippee!

Sabbatical #2 Chemo & Cockroaches

A 3 mile walk at sunrise, working until breakfast, taking mom to her cancer chemo treatment and then a trip to the dump - at least that's what they called it the last time I went...now it's not a dump at all but a "transfer station"...but still smelled like a dump to me.

Then a quick trip to Home Depot and then to the country grocery store and we had friend chicken...which is just like fried chicken only with an "n"...(don't let Deb know I ate fried chicken and even had jojo's which are a disgusting form of potato that I am told is well known by truckers and 7-Eleven junkies.

Then I went to work on a disgusting hay shed filled with junk and hay and beekeeping stuff and multitudes of cockroaches and spiders. Deb would have run for the house. But I like cockroaches... especially fried.

Catch this I was on the phone with Deb when a 5.7 earthquake hit So.Cal.

All this sweat, and hay hauling, and dirt and dump yards...such a far distance from my usual day to day life...I sense you Lord...I loved our quiet conversation throughout the day...unfettered by a to do list dangling from my neck like a noose. I am exhausted, yet at peace...just mom and me and you in a 900 sq. foot mobile home on Crooked River Ranch with the cool breeze blowing through the door. Blow, Spirit...refreshing my soul.

Sabbatical Day 1

Departing from my blog style to date, I will be posting spontaneously rather than deliberately...which is to say...brief notes that serve as an on-line journal of this 3 month sabbatical adventure that I am on. More for me and Jesus than anyone else.

up at 4am to keep a promise to a woman worthy of being honored...promised to do the floors and take care of the boat before I flew out from LAX...

flew to see mom and care for her during chemo treatments which have recently been rougher.

landed in Redmond, ate at the Country Nook...yes sireee, yee haw...it was actually better than some prefabricated piece of cuisine conjured up in some fast food accountant's recipe book.

mowed the yard...that feel good to get really dirty...marveled at the deer in the front yard...then cleaned out the camper with mom...it was filled with dad's stuff and so it awakened memories and reminded me that since the middle of May I haven't had a minute to do the important work of grieving...Lord let it begin, cleanse my burden with the tears of gratitude and farewells.

Read paper, talked with Deb and Lindsey...they are driving up on Wednesday...oh and congrats to TJ on the new supervisor staff position at my alma mater, APU!

Little or True Pleasures?

Toilet paper, toilets, garbage collection, street sweepers, sidewalks, asphalt, hamburgers, vegetables, napkins, clean water, deodorant, hot water, running water, stoplights, etc.

Oh the little pleasures of life in a first world country.

I need a yearly dose of a third world country to remind me of how rich I really am and what rich is and is not. Having just returned from a trip to a remote part of Ethiopia, I am enjoying all the small things in a big way. I am so thankful for the fact that I live in SoCal America. Yet I always end up asking the question, Why me instead of Tesfye, Ashenafi, Getachew, Teshoma? They are great people who live on so little.

At the same time I am taught once again, what has real value. Is my real value in my Costco card, my 24 Hour fitness card, my Disneyland pass, my Starbucks card? My friends in Ethiopia are rich without having even toilet paper. The love of friends, the vibrant relationship with Christ, the tightness of their family, the joy they get from each new day, the purpose they find in simply helping someone who is in trouble or in sharing the simple story of salvation…these are their true pleasures that so many Americans are missing while we enjoy our little pleasures.

God help me fully live who I am and where I am, without missing the true pleasures because of the little pleasures that become much bigger in my mind than they really are.

Father’s Day Came

Ever since I was 10 years old I have loved Father’s Day.

My daddy died when I was two and when I was almost 10 I got a new dad when my mom remarried. I called him “Royce” at first, but it slowly morphed into “Dad”. Father’s Day no longer meant longingly watching other kids doing nice things for their “pop”.

When I got married a few days before “Father’s Day” it was my dad who was standing beside me as my best man. As I got older Father’s Day always meant a long call to dad who was always waiting near the phone.

Of course “Father’s Day” became infinitely more treasured when I became one myself. To hear the words “Papa” on the lips of my little blondie was one of life’s sweetest thrills. Her first cards to me were masterpieces meant for parental art museums.

So it may come as surprise that this Father’s Day will be met with sorrow mingled with smiles. You see, Father’s Day Came on May 13 this year. It was the day God came to get my Father. After I had sat prayerfully at his side for a couple of days and nights, the damage from an aneurysm of the aorta, finished his physical life. It was Father’s Day to step over, to go home, to transition into his Father’s presence.

We think of death as some dark thief strangling the air out of us as we fight to keep breathing. In some ways that’s true of death. But death is also a joyful messenger, announcing that our appointment with our King has come and the feast prepared in our honor is about to begin. Death is our day…our glorious day…our day to slip away from the chains of our physical existence and be free to be the immortal, perfected self we were created to be.

So this Father’s Day, I will thank my God, that my Father’s Day has finally, although much to soon to my liking, come!

ICU, Do You?

Dad is fighting for his life…and if he lives he may lose his leg and his other foot. I sit here fighting sleep, exhaustion, and confusion.

ICU is not for the faint of heart. I have often visited but I have never spent the night sleeplessly listening for every chirp of the machines that monitor my father’s battle.

Often I arise from my seat to pray, touch a shoulder, call a nurse, or simply shake off weariness.

30 hours ago Dad had a aneurysm of the aorta and almost died. Two major surgeries later, he is hanging on. Plague keeps breaking loose and blocking veins. Any errant piece could lodge in the wrong place and take him home to Jesus.

Me…I spent a mostly sleepless night Saturday as I waited to hear results of the surgery, then I preached two Mother’s day services and dedicated 9 babies. As I gave the altar call at 12:22pm I raced to LAX to catch my 1:30pm departing plane. Amazingly I made it.

After an evening with family here at St. Joseph’s hospital in Tacoma, WA., everyone went home and I started my long watch through the night.

So here I sit…calling out to you Lord. It just hit me…ICU…Intensive Care Unit but it can also mean…ICU…I SEE YOU. Lord, I believe you do…it feels lonely but I believe your eyes upon me…Your loving gaze is upon me…I am the apple of your eye…your thoughts are toward…I am engraved on your palm…my hairs are being counted hourly…you know my thoughts…you know when I stand up and when I sit down and when I nod off.

Lord you are my hope, my strength, my God…even when I am simply clinging to you in weary prayers of wordless ramblings…you know my heart and you embrace me. “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, mount up on wings like eagles, run and not be weary, walk and not faint…So shall it be.

ICU too, Lord!

Halfway People

I don't want to live half-way! I can't stand the thought of mediocrity when greatness beckons. Comfortable is always the enemy of courage. Risk is the road to results that rock! Here is a well-worn but not told often enough story:

There is a magnificent one day hike in the Alps. If you start early in the morning you can reach the summit and get back to the car before dark.

About half way up the mountain is this incredibly beautiful rest house where everyone eats a great lunch. The owner of the rest house has noticed an interesting pattern over the years. When everyone reaches the rest house they are all excited about reaching their goal of the summit.
They warm themselves by the fire and about half way through lunch somebody inevitably speaks out what many people are thinking. "I think I will just stay here while you finish the climb and you can pick me up on the way back down."

At that moment everyone must the make decision to stay or go.

For all those who stay the first few hours are incredible. They sit by the fire and tell mountain climbing stories about other great mountain climbers from the past. They may even reminisce about some of their great climbing experiences in the past.

By early afternoon the mood dramatically changes in the room and everyone becomes silent. One by one they make their way over to this huge window in the back of the lodge and they stand there and stare at the summit.

For you see it is at this painful moment that they realize they have settled for second best in their lives.

Someone has well said, “The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it.”

Snow and Sand

As I sit here in British Columbia looking out our window as the snow falls on ski slopes that are calling my name...I am reminded that in a few hours I will be boarding a plane to return to Long Beach, CA...where I will look out our window and watch as the waves fall upon the sand in 75 degree weather. The best of both worlds.

I have to ask the question...Am I spoiled or blessed? I know God alone has put me in such a wonderful situation in life. A series of miracles have allowed me to enjoy such privileges that I never imagined. My own ingenuity or power have not created such earthly enjoyment.

Yes I have made financial decisions that have been wise instead of stupid...but I have made enough dumb ones that I could have sabotaged the good ones. So God gave us these blessings, and God has safeguarded these blessings. I believe the PRIMARY reason I am blessed, is to be a blessing....

So I believe that the question of is SPOILED or BLESSED depends on how I leverage these blessings for the blessing of OTHERS and the BUILDING of the KINGDOM OF GOD.

If I consume these blessings primarily for my own benefit...these blessings will in the end be curses...but if I invest these blessings for the Kingdom...these blessings will bless me now and forever. I will ONLY keep what I GIVE and SHARE with others.

So I will enjoy without guilt what God gives but I will stay keenly aware of the priority to GIVE away what I have been given. So LET IT SNOW!

How Much of a Man Am I?

I like quiche.

I am emotional.

I like romantic comedies.

I can’t build anything.

I can’t even change my own oil.

I get lost easily and my wife gives directions.

I like candles, dark chocolates, and like roses on my desk.

I listen to love songs on the KOST sometimes.

I love to make Rice Krispy treats.

I cry easily.

I love giving and getting hugs.

I like making babies laugh.

I get scared when I hear strange noises in the night.

I have never tasted beer.

I don’t like being home alone.

I don’t like facial hair.

I like writing poetry.

I don’t like confrontation.

I have never punched anyone.

I drive a 8 year old Sebring Convertible.

I rent but don’t own my house.

I gave my wife a power drill for Christmas, she gave me a Kenny G CD.

I call my mommy every week.

How much of a man am I?

WAIT....!!!

I had a college football scholarship.

I have ridden in rodeos.

I have run marathons.

I have motorcrossed.

I have climbed Mt. Rainer with crampons and ice axes.

I have skydived.

I have been places where no white person has ever gone.

I made out with 3 different girls on one New Years Eve, my Sr. year.

I snow ski and can do double black diamonds.

I water ski and have my own ski boat.

I have traveled with armed guards on dangerous mission trips.

I have stood in front of hundreds of hecklers to confront them.

I own a home on a ski slope in a foreign country.

I lift weights every week.

I have slept on the dirt in the middle of jungles.

I also drive a Grand Cherokee Jeep.

I married the Homecoming Queen of my college.

I have a doctorate,

I have written a book.

I like Action Movies…Mission Impossible and Die Hard

I have swam with the largest sharks in the world.

How much of a man am I?

The truth is I have not really told you one thing about my true masculinity.

What I have done is spew off a bunch of cultural stereotypes about what a real man is or is not.

Real Masculinity is determined by being a man of godly character courageously living the mission God created me for! I HOPE I am living like a REAL MAN!

Lifting Heavy

When I was a teen, I prided myself in being big, strong, and athletic. Lifting heavy objects was actually exhilarating for me. I would bend over, get a good grip, and then muscle the load to my shoulder and walk off. My dad, however, would always bark at me… “Bend at the knees, use your legs, bend at the knees.” In my youthful pride, I poo-pooed such advice as being the paranoid warnings of an old man who couldn’t cut the muster.

40 years later, I bark at my daughter, “Bend at the knees, Lindsey, be smart and bend at the knees.” When I have to lift a heavy object, it’s with reluctance and with carefully positioning of my body mechanics by bending at the knees. Bending at the knees and lifting with your legs instead of the back is the “power position”…you lift more and you keep yourself from injury.

Likewise, in life and in ministry, I have learned that when I am faced with task of lifting heavy burdens the only solution is to “bend at the knees”. If I try and muscle the challenge up on my own power, I am certainly going to hurt myself. However, if I “bend at the knees” posturing myself in prayer, I am in the “power position”, to receive what God is longing to give to me.

Friday, I am going to give up a whole night’s sleep to pray at the church. It’s called a Watch Night Prayer Time. I need it. There are some heavy objects in front of me and the church…and the most powerful means to face them in is “bending at the knees”.

Missional or Miserable!

Missional is the buzzword of the frontline church folks these days. I love the word because I love the world. The church is not an in-doors activity, you do it outdoors…outside of the weekly in-doors gatherings. Outside the doors is where the world is and consequently where the church must live.

Sure it’s a great thing to come inside for lemonade and cookies and especially for a hearty dinner, but as in my childhood, after a meal, it’s right back outside to experience life. On rainy days you played inside because you needed a safe place to stay dry. On sick days you played quietly in-doors because you needed a safe place to heal. But life happened outdoors where the imaginations of childhood were vividly recreated in forms of Robin Hood, GI Joe, Lone Ranger, and Superman.

The world is not waiting inside the church, the world is waiting outside our doors. So we gather in order to be filled up so we can be poured out. We gather to dream and imagine, so we can depart reenergized to build what could be. We were created for mission…it beats in our heart, and resounds in our imaginations.

My most miserable days were when I had a babysitter who wouldn’t let me outdoors. It was sunny and I was feeling fine and there were “Maid Marians” to be rescued, but thanks to an insecure babysitter I had to stay in-doors and she had to entertain me.

That’s like many pastors I know…they are insecure about letting the church outdoors to set captives free… “what if they end up getting involved with worldly people and aren’t as available to do church stuff?” With the church in-doors pastors must become entertainers instead of equippers. Every week…a better program, a softer chair, a new fad, or “egads”, the church might not stay in-doors as much.

My mom was an equipper…she would put my boots on me, my play chaps, my sheriff’s badge, my Mattel six shooter, and say no go outside and have fun. Boy would have I fun because I was living out my identity, my destiny, my dreams, and my mission.

The church is kind of miserable because it is not very missional. As for me? “Open the door, let me out! I am miserable unless I am missional!"

The Prayer\Miracle Deal

Miracles. Two bona fide, here’s the pictures, doctor-head shaking, read-em and rejoice, MIRACLES!

My sister’s oncologist just announced that she was cancer-free. After having been diagnosed just five months ago with an aggressive cancer that had already spread past the breast to lymph nodes and elsewhere, NOW she is cancer free. 107 of our women had set themselves to pray 107 days for Brenda’s healing and before they got half way through she was healed. She received the news Friday, two days before her birthday. What a gift!

Two and a half years ago, my wife, Deb was diagnosed with a cancer so clear, so rare, and so lethal that the doctors sent her biopsy tissue to the National Cancer Research center. People around the world began to pray. 12 days after diagnosis she was pronounced cancer free! The doctors shook their heads.

This privilege, this partnership, this power called prayer is mysterious but miraculous.
It’s not a wand that we wave that works the way we want it to each time.
It’s a relational conversation that works best when we pray together as friends.
Far from the showmanship hype of money hungry miracle workers, there is a quiet authority that the people of God can band together to exercise against the dark powers of the enemy.

Regardless of the manifest results, there is always a very real response from God that releases His presence into the problem being prayed for.
Of course we rejoice most when it’s a miracle that happens the way we are hoping for.
Nevertheless, prayer releases the provision of God, therefore, let’s take our position and pray!

My New Year Start

The sun rose above the Cascade mountains filling the attic room with glorious light.
It was the final sunrise of 2007. My sister’s 3 story, 100 year old farm house is positioned in a way to catch those rays as if grasping them to hold them forever.

After a brisk mountain hike with Deb and Lindsey, we journeyed to one of our favorite places – Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle. After a stroll through the market we watched from the park overlooking Puget Sound as the sun sat over the Olympic mountains and on 2007.

A dinner at Cutter’s, which features great fish and an awesome view of Rainier, the Sound, and downtown Seattle, was followed by a movie. We decided to go for the gusto and see the New Year in at Gasworks Park on Lake Union overlooking downtown Seattle and especially the Space Needle. A fantastic firework display from the Space Needle brought in the New Year. Lindsey met up with some friends at Gasworks and Deb and I kissed our way into 2008.

The first day of 2008 I went to Mass at the tiny country church next to Mark and Brenda’s house. I walked down to an 8:30am Mass and listened, prayed, sang, and worshiped my way into the first morning of 2008. The message reminded me to seek God as my Savior, to ponder my resolutions as Mary treasured the secret things in her heart, and to move towards Christ as the shepherds ran towards him on that first Christmas. It was a stirring start to a new year.

After a visit with parents, Brenda and Mark, and then to Dwight and Shelley’s. We had a great brunch prepared by Shelley. Justin came by before we had to depart for the airport. Lindsey and I jumped on a plane to fly back home.

Romance, Worship, Friendship, Family, Prayer, Goal Setting...a great way to start a great new year!