Where do we draw the line

Obviously nothing will stop the cultural progressives until the very last trace of the word "no" has been transmorgified into "if you want to" (but only if what you want to do agrees with what they want you to do.)

Number 5: Week 7

What's with the title? Number 5? Well, as I told one friend, number five is alive! Or as I mentioned to another, didn't see that one coming. Or to yet another friend, we're pregnant.

That's right. Number 5. And it's looking like early August (plus or minus the standard two weeks). So I thought it would be cool to do a weekly blog post of the babies development and to let people know how Michelle is doing.

Since most people ask how Michelle is doing, I'll start there. She's doing great. Outside of the typical morning sickness, she's actually feeling pretty good. Considering she spent six months of the last pregnancy on bed rest and didn't have morning sickness, I'm quite happy for the nausea. Actually, I was remembering over the different prengnancies and realized that Michelle really only had morning sickness with the first pregnancy and not really on the rest. And the first prgnancy was the easiest of the four, so we are praying for that. With an almost six year old, a four and a half year old, a three year old and a nine month old, we need as much of Mommy as possible.

The baby, on the other hand, is growing like crazy. After only five weeks of life (pregnancy starts counting after week 2), her hands and feet are beginning to form and she is about half an inch long. Her eyelids are already beginning to form, partially covering her eyes which already have a little bit of color. Her nose is forming and blood vessels are carrying blood just beneath her parchment-like skin.

Her liver is producing the red blood cells because she has no bone marrow to actually do that job yet. Her appendix has already formed as well as her pancreas.

She may still be scientifically known as an embryo, but she has always been a baby human.

Do not click this link

http://www.tampabay.com/features/humaninterest/article750838.ece



The girl in this picture is nine. She was officially adopted in October of 2007. When she was rescued from her home in July of 2005 she was found by the police.

First he saw the girl's eyes: dark and wide, unfocused, unblinking. She wasn't looking at him so much as through him.

She lay on a torn, moldy mattress on the floor. She was curled on her side, long legs tucked into her emaciated chest. Her ribs and collarbone jutted out; one skinny arm was slung over her face; her black hair was matted, crawling with lice. Insect bites, rashes and sores pocked her skin. Though she looked old enough to be in school, she was naked — except for a swollen diaper.

She was seven years old.



Now, she can feed herself chicken nuggets and she doesn't bite her own hands when she is angry. She has an older brother now that loves her deeply. She can swim.

In her new room, she has a window she can look out of. When she wants to see outside, all she has to do is raise her arms and her dad is right behind her, waiting to pick her up.

So whatever you do, do not click this link.

The Girl in the Window

The Good Samaritan

Apparently today is the day that I get riled up at our society and the church at how we are exactly like the Scribes and Pharisees that Jesus was accusing in the parable of the Good Samaritan.

As we are all familiar with the parable, but just for a paraphrased recap. A guy got attacked, robbed and left to die by thugs. Three "Christians" walked past, but none stopped to help. Then, a person, despised by the "Christians" stopped to help. He was a Samaritan. He helped the man. Took him to a hospital and paid for everything.

Sound familiar? We "Christians" get so upset at the "liberals" and their help for the poor and downtrodden. And we have a valid reason. We get upset because they are doing our job. Oh, wait. That's not it at all. We get upset because they are using our money to do it. Wait, so we are called to help the poor and downtrodden with everything that we have, yet we get upset that they are using "my money" to help the poor and downtrodden?

So I realize that I am oversimplifying the situation, but aren't we supposed to "lean into Jesus" with everything that we have. Doesn't that mean push the envelope of what is possible, trusting Him to catch us when we fall.

In the defense of Christians, we have every right, and ought to critical of the way in which society abandons the poor as being too much to care for. Of encouraging the disabled and depressed to commit suicide, because they don't "have a life worth living." We should protest our government enabling suicide in Oregon and now Washington, and hopefully not Hawaii.

However, we are supposed to be salt and light. We ought to be leading the way. And when we take a long hard look into the mirror, we can see that we are. We abandon the orphans and the widows, when we should taking them into our homes and our lives. We encourage the pre-born and the depressed, vulnerable pregnant mothers to abort by abandoning them to a soceity that tells them they cannot have a life worth living with a child; that their child will be un-loved and un-wanted, rejected by the rest of the world. These mothers are desperate. They look at the world around them and everything they see tells them that the story they are hearing from the abortion worker is correct.

Again, to be fair, there are points of light, we have billboards out there. We have charities and crises pregnancy centers willing and able to help the women that walk through their doors.

But we have so few. We have so few. Because of two reasons, money and help. That's all we need. More money for things like ultrasound machines and adoption help. More help to drive young mothers to parents classes rather than abortion clinics. You know the amazing thing. Those are the only things that the good Samaritan had as well. He gave of his time and of his money.

Crises Pregnancy Centers and Adoption Agencies should be like McDonald's and Burger King. Wherever you see a Planed Parenthood, you know that within a block or two, you will find a CPC/Adoption agency. It's insane that I have to drive 90 minutes to find an agency that is willing to talk to me about adoption and not about how much money I will pay them for the adoption. And the funny thing is, I'm paying more for it. Because I'm not concerned about the money. God has the windows of heaven ready to pour out on me.

Why do we live in big houses and go into debt for new TV's and new cars when we could, even should, be giving to life instead? Not that cars or TV's are bad or sinful, but we use them like a drug. We have to get the latest. We have to have the newest. Wait three years. Don't get the newest, you will save a lot of money and you can store up treasures in heaven with the difference. It's the new "Buy term; invest the difference" cliche. We have a temporary life here. We should invest the difference between what we don't spend on making our temporary life crazy comfortable in the Bank of Heaven.

To end this rather long post, I will paraphrase what our Pastor said a few weeks ago. "Do something. Do anything. I don't care what you do or how little is. It's better than what you are doing now, which is nothing."

Love Takes Time

The child's scream filled the house. Somehow, between her instruction to go upstairs and get in her pajamas and actually doing so, she had been mortally wounded. My wife and I looked at each other, silently negotiating who would go comfort this particular wound.

I volunteered.

I met the mortally wounded child halfway up the stairs. Her face round, red and puffy and her voice shaking to much to be understood. The best I could make out was that she had somehow been stabbed by her brother with the fingernail clippers after he had thrown something at her. In the past, I have asked some questions regarding this type of situation. It has always ended the same. Yes, he did it on purpose. And yes, he was trying to kill me. I didn't try that this time.

I looked at her had, where she had been "stabbed." There was, as expected, nothing discernible. No nick, no scratch, not even a red dot. Nothing. And yet, here was my daughter, completely falling apart.

So I was faced with a choice. Do I send her marching back upstairs with firm instructions to only fall apart when she is "missing a limb" or do I care for her heart, which is what truly had been mortally wounded. God reminded me of this phrase that I have been thinking about the last few days, "love takes time", and instead of sending her upstairs, I sat down on the stairs with her, put her on my lap and we talked.

I don't remember what we talked about. I doubt that she remembers the words of the conversation. What I do remember is that I loved her. And I took the time to show that to her. I asked if her mortal wound needed a kiss. It did. So I kissed that spot that was indicated; the side of her wrist.

Afterwards, she turned to me, put her arms around my neck and said, "Daddy, will you brush my teeff."

Yes, I will. Because Love takes time.

The sad state of our churches

A lot has been made in the "blog-o-sphere" wondering why McCain didn't talk about Jeremiah Wright and the Black Liberation Theology at the church that Obama attended for 20 years.

The simple answer is this: People don't listen to their pastors.

It's really that simple. People don't listen the the things their pastors say, so the idea that Obama would, even could, be influenced by such an insignificant person in his life as a pastor, well that, my friends, is inconceivable.

Why don't people listen to their pastors?

Lots of reasons. They don't like what he says. They don't actually attend very often because they don't like what he says. They don't read the bible. At all. And the television sucked their brain out. So the "media" does all their thinking for them.

Urgent Call To Prayer

Urgent Call to Prayer
Lou Engle

Before the elections of 2004, 50 young men and women gathered for 50 days and 50 nights to continuously fast and pray for the ending of abortion and for God’s hand of mercy in establishing governmental leaders. It was prior to this intense time of intercession that a young lady from Las Vegas sent me a dream.

In the dream, there was a basketball court with an evil obstruction resting on it, and all around the court were young people weeping and crying out for the removal of this evil obstruction. In the dream I stepped onto the court wearing a referee’s shirt. (Note that a referee acts as a judge over the court.) As I walked onto the court, a 17-year-old girl fervently began declaring, “Lou Engle, it’s your turn now! Lou Engle, it’s your turn now!” Then, in the climax of this powerful dream, I took the hands of the young people, and together we swept the obstruction off the court.

The dream was very significant to me, as I have played basketball for many years. The dream used the analogy of a basketball court to speak to me concerning my place in raising up a movement of prayer to end abortion in the courts. I felt that the dream implied that a young generation was crying out for the Supreme Court to overrule Roe v. Wade.

Three days before the elections of 2004, we called our group of young people who were standing in prayer in front of the Supreme Court to a three-day Esther fast (no food and no water.) We took this from the biblical account of Esther where Haman had issued a decree for the destruction and annihilation of the Jewish peoples in the empire of Persia. Esther called a three-day fast of no food and no water in order to appeal to the Supreme Court of Heaven to overrule the edicts of the Supreme Court of Haman. I told those kids that we have to have a pro-life president who will appoint judges who will rule for the life of the unborn. We, in essence, were bringing our case before the highest court in the land—God’s court.

At the beginning of this three-day fast, I received a phone call from someone who worked in the Supreme Court asking if I wanted a special tour, an offer to which I readily agreed. Upon meeting her, this employee told me that years before, someone had given her a prophetic word declaring, “that one day she would move to DC and get a job in the Supreme Court building.” It was clear that she was living according to her prophetic destiny.

Out of curiosity, I asked her if there was basketball court in the Supreme Court building. Surprisingly, she answered that there was indeed a basketball court and that it rested precisely on top of where the Supreme Court holds its hearings. I stood there in amazement and promptly asked her to take me to court! Still in amazement at the existence of an actual basketball court, I stood and prayed that God would give us judges who will rule for the life of the unborn. Since that day, two judges have been removed and two new judges have taken their place. Our present court has ruled to uphold the ban on the gruesome procedure of partial birth abortion, and yet we cannot stop here!

This coming election will define the future of millions of unborn children and millions of women who will experience the agonizing pain and regret of post-abortion trauma. One of the current presidential candidates has declared that the first thing that he will do when elected is pass the Freedom of Choice Act. This terrifying act would effectively remove every abortion restriction that has been passed since Roe v. Wade.

Today, I believe we are in an Esther moment in America. In the day of Esther’s three-day fast, God shifted the entire public policy of Persia in a moment. God intervened at the cry of Esther’s voice, Haman was removed, and Mordecai took his place. One woman’s posture of prayer and fasting initiated movement in the heavens, and the result was that an evil death decree was reversed.

I believe that today fasting and prayer can release a divine breakthrough of undeserved mercy. God is the same yesterday, today and forever. We don’t know what’s going to happen in these critical days, but we have scriptural precedent for appeal. Therefore, from November 2 to November 4, we are calling all of those whose hearts are moved to fast for these three days to do so as the Lord would lead them.

We know of many who will be going without food and water, and yet we have no guarantees. Mordecai said to Esther, “Who knows?” I believe that it is this same “Who knows?” which today is pregnant with divine possibilities. Consider that maybe it was for such a time as this that we have come into the kingdom.

For America,

Lou Engle

Keeping Our Focus

This is a crazy intense time right now. The elections are approaching and much is at stake. Nationally we face the election of a man whose history and words leave little doubt as to his murderous intent towards the most innocent, most vulnerable among us, the unborn. As California goes, so goes the nation. As such, the soul of the nation hangs in the balance here in California with Proposition 8 deciding if marriage should be redefined or maintained as between a man and a woman.

My family finds itself already targeted twice for having "Yes on 8" signs on our front lawn. The signs being vandalized once and a thwarted theft a second time (I caught them in the act). We are caught up in the midst of the campaign, eyes wide open, completely aware of what is at stake.

We spend our days canvassing neighborhoods and attending rallys, doing what we can to support the righteous definition of marriage. We spend our evenings discussing it and praying about it. More than once we have stayed up long past our bed time discussing the insanity of the national and state-wide situation.

It is critical that we remain focused. There are only 7 days left. Tomorrow is the last Wednesday before the election. We cannot lose focus. We must keep our eyes on the goal. With how I am spending my time (and money) you might be surprised to find out that I am not talking about the election. I am talking about keeping our eyes focused on the throne and Him who sits on it.

The Lamb has been slain. He died for McCain. He died for Obama. He died for every homosexual, married or otherwise. In the throne room, the angels still cry Holy and the elders still bow down and worship. They are unmoved by the "crisis" that we are facing in our nation.

Don't misunderstand me, I am not saying that we should stop working to see righteousness established here on earth. I am saying that we should not lose sight of reality. And the reality is what is happening in the Throne Room of Heaven.

The reality is that if McCain is elected and Prop 8 passes and the Republicans control the legislature we will still need Jesus more than ever. We would still be sinners, lost without Him.

So, as the election appoaches, don't lose focus of reality.

Finally I surrender ....

All I want is You to have Your way
You are the Potter and I am the clay
All I need is You to have Your way
You are Creator and I'm what You made

Finally, I surrender
- Misty Edwards

Father in Heaven, we are lost. We need your help. Righteousness is being declared evil, and evil is being called good. We are godless. Come fill our hearts. We repent of the injustice we have committed against you, placing ourselves on the throne while thinking that you don't care or even denying you.

But you are Good. You are Just. And you will not be mocked. We humble ourselves at your feet and plead the blood of your Son, Jesus, on our sins and the sins of our land.

Lord, we cry out. Have mercy on us sinners. Finally we surrender.

Order and Discipline

Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Life Together writes:

These [order and discipline] must be sought and found in the morning prayer and in work they will be maintained. The prayer of the morning will determine the day. Wasted time, which we are ashamed of, temptations that beset us, weaknesses and listlessness in our work, disorder and indiscipline in our thinking and our relations with other people very frequently have their cause in neglect of the morning prayer. The organization and distribution of our time will be better for having been rooted in prayer. The temptations which the working day brings with it will be overcome by this break-through to God. Decisions which our work demands will be simpler and easier when they are made, not in the fear of men, but solely in the presence of God. "Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, so to the Lord and not unto men" (Col 3:23). Even routine mechanical work will be performed more patiently when it is done with the knowledge of God and His command. Our strength and energy for work increase when we have prayed God to give us the strength we need for our daily work.

I rarely have morning prayer time. It is too easy to think that I don't have enough time. Or to stay up too late the night before exhausting myself physically, emotionally, and spiritually. But the truth is that the times that I have had morning prayer, even the most irregular, my days have gone better, I have been happier, and I have walked closer to God.

Abba, I desire to be with You. To walk with You. To talk with You. Remind me. Wake me from my slumber. Amen.

Would you deny Christ....

One of the most terrifying things that a person can imagine is to be forced to watch as their child is tortured by another human. I have heard many people say they aren't sure if they would be able to withstand the trial.

Yet is there anything that we can do today to keep our children alive? Certainly we can do our best to teach them to not play in the street, not play with poisonous snakes or spiders, etc. In essence, we can teach them about dangers but we cannot protect them from dangers.

Is there really anything that you can do when your child has incurable leukemia? How many parents have wished the pain of their child upon themselves? What parent wouldn't gladly and happily change places in the car with their little baby girl as a drunk driver careens into the side of the car causing permanent brain damage?

There certainly have been exceptions, but by in large most practicing Christ-followers understand that trials and struggles come in this fallen world. Not many are willing to deny Christ and their faith as they watch their child struggle with the pain and even die from disease or catastrophic injury. Quite the opposite actually. Most claim that they would not have made it through the trial if it hadn't been for the Christ. If it hadn't been for the faith they have in the age to come, they would not have been able to endure the pain.

Hebrews 12:2 says ...who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross... (NKJV)

Many have walked out that reality. Because of the knowledge that they would see their loved one again, whole, without pain, in complete joy and happiness, worshiping at the feet of the One who made them that way, these saints endured their own personal crucifixion.

So then, if we know that we are able to endure (through the countless stories of those who have gone on ahead) torture of our children at the hands of sickness, disease, and catastrophic accidents then why do we question our ability to endure torture of our children at the hands of evil men?

What is the difference between cancer and terrorists?

Sure, the terrorist is standing there, with a machete, threatening to cut your child's limbs off if you don't renounce your faith. You are presented with an option that you don't feel like you have with the cancer. But, would you make a deal with the devil for the cancer? Would you keep your child here on earth for another 70 years at the cost of the eternal joy set before you? Would you make a deal with the terrorist for the same thing?

We know that the devil is the father of all lies. We also know that the word of a person threatening life and limb of any individual is highly questionable.

So, at the cost of your own eternal soul, would you deny Christ to save the physical life of your child?

You wouldn't for cancer, so why would you deny Him for terrorists?

Vote

This video doesn't pull any punches

Donate!

Hey ... we're adoption (in case you didn't know). We don't know who, and we don't know when yet (though we are hoping that it will complete around March 2009). What we do know is that we will need about $20,000. So, if you want to donate, you now can. Safe and secure through Paypal. Click on the right.

And thanks. :)

Birth of a child

It's been six months, but I can still remember the overwhelming emotion when our fourth child was born. One would think that with the fourth the process of labor and birth would be old hat. But with the first three my wife had an epidural and all the babies were born in a few hours (our first was born in 36 hours!). Our fourth was born in 28 minutes.

I was recently watching "The Nativity Story." I really enjoy the movie and like it despite some of the obvious cliches. At the end of the movie, when Baby Jesus is born, Joseph is delivering the baby. The baby is born Joseph holds him up and is laughing and crying simultaneously. Every time I watch that scene I am instantly taken back to that moment in the hospital; that moment immediately after the birth. The relief that the birthing process was over, that the baby was born, that my wife had survived. That the baby had survived. I was laughing and crying simultaneously. The flood of emotions was just so intense. I can honestly say that I had never experienced that level of emotion before.

And unless we have another child, I doubt that I will experience again. I am grateful that I was granted that experience.

In Pain

My soul is in anguish. My spirit cries out.

The world is in pain. And yet it dances the night away.

And babies die.

Does anyone care? Does anyone notice.

There are mommies who cry tonight. And yet the world says dance.
And so they do.

Why?

Why dance?

There is other music playing. Another song is being sung.
Just listen harder and you can hear it.

It says "You are loved."
It says "You can be sad."
It says "I still love you. I loved you first."

And when you listen your spirit soars.

Listen to the song of ages. Listen to the song of songs. It is a quiet song. It is not a loud song. But it is the oldest song.

You don't like it because it isn't new. You want the latest. The latest will fade. The newest will age.

But this song will remain. This song is the oldest. But this song will always be the latest. As the world looks for the next best thing. After you have been used up and discarded, the song still sings.

It says "You are loved."
It says "You can be sad."
It says "I still love you. I loved you first."

Just listen.

A Just Judge

We serve a Just Judge.

What is the ultimate justice for sickness? Healing.
What is the ultimate justice for un-rightousness? Revival.
What is the ultimate justice for sin? An increase of His presence.

He judges in kindness. His kindness leads us to repentance.

Lord come and judge us. Judge sickness in the earth. Judge this unrighteous earth in your kindness. Judge our sin. Because we desire more of your presence.

True Justice

I have been thinking quite a bit about the death penalty. I find it interesting that protestants tend to be pro-life at conception and pro-death when it comes to criminals. The defense of this tends to fall along the lines of "an eye for an eye" or "meeting out justice."

I was reading the Sermon on the Mount today. In it I read "You have heard it said, 'An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.'" and I realized that the law Jesus was quoting there was the Mosaic law. I also realized that Jesus when quoting this was not saying "this is the way to live" but was actually saying, this is the law, but I am going to give you a deeper law. And He does. He says "turn the other cheek."

I was trying to put myself in the place of a person robbed of a loved one. I can't imagine the pain and anguish that would cause. I completely understand the desire for justice. We were born with it and we cannot escape it. We cannot repent of it. It is an imprint on our hearts from Heaven.

However, when we pursue human justice and correctly meet out the judgment rendered on the person condemned to die we have acquired that justice that our heart cries out for. But that pain and anguish are still there. Somehow the human justice can't meet the true justice that our heart desires.

So how do we get True Justice?

We turn the other cheek. True Justice can only come from above. True Justice can only come about because the unjust person has truly changed and reconciliation has happened. Can it happen? Yes. Does it happen? Not enough.

Imagine the True Justice of putting your arm around the neck of the person that robbed you of a loved one, laughing and being friends, and all the while thumbing your nose at the Destroyer.

If it can happen once, it can happen more than once.

Billy Graham at TED

Margaret Sanger on sin

From this transcript, an interview by Mike Wallace in 1957:

WALLACE: Do you believe in sin -- When I say believe I don't mean believe in committing sin do you believe there is such a thing as a sin?

SANGER: I think the greatest sin in the world is bringing children into the world--that have disease from their parents, that have no chance in the world to be a human being practically. Delinquents, prisoners, all sorts of things just marked when they're born. That to me is the greatest sin -- that people can -- can commit..

WALLACE: But sin in the ordinary sense that we regard it -- do you believe or do you not believe.

SANGER: What-what would they be?

WALLACE: Do you believe infidelity is a sin?

SANGER: Well, I'm not going to specify what I think is a sin. I stated what I think is the worst sin.

WALLACE: Yes, but then you asked me to say what--and I said what and ah--you refuse to answer me?

SANGER: I don't know about infidelity, that has many personalities to it--and what a person's own belief is--you can't, I couldn't generalize on any of those things as being sins.

WALLACE: Murder is a sin...

SANGER: Well, I naturally think murder, whether it's a sin or not, is a terrible act.

This woman declares that bringing a child into the world in less than ideal circumstances is the worst sin possible, but when it comes to murder, she's not convinced it's sin.

I encourage you to read the entire transcript. It's a little long, but well worth the read to get a little insight into why society has gone downhill so fast in the last 50 years.

The Meekness of Jesus

Jesus is the meekest human to have ever lived. Here was the God of the Universe, the Creator, walking around in human flesh, yet he did not call attention to himself.

The God of Isaiah 6:1 "It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of His robe filled the Temple. Attending Him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. They were calling out to each other, "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of Heaven's Armies! The whole earth is filled with His glory!" Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke. "

This Lord sitting on the throne, was the same one, who when He looked down on creation, seeking the sinfulness, did not despise us, but instead became one of us.

John 1:10 He came into the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him.

Here was God, in the flesh, those that He was walking around He had created, and He went completely undiscerned. And yet we get upset when we aren't given the recognition for some little thing that we have done. We get tweaked when we produce something at work and don't get credit, or even worse, don't get as much credit as we think is due to us. When we write a song and people play the song and don't give us credit. When we craft a sentence and someone plagarizes it. Yet He said "Let their be light", crafting the most profound sentence ever, and when walking the streets of Nazareth, no one saw anything other than a 12 year old Jewish boy.

Lord, change our perspectives. Change my perception of my true significance.

Brilliance and Glory

Who is this Man? We are captivated by His brilliance and glory, as revealed in the book of Revelation. Yet this is the same man who walked the earth, and talked with us. We followed him for a few years. Then he died and was raised on the third day. Yet he still, even with his glorified body, did not display his brilliance and glory.

We are captivated by his brilliance and glory.

May we also be captivated by his humanity.

May we learn that it is both.

Poverty of Spirit

Matthew 5:3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven."

Poor in spirit means to recognize that in myself I have nothing, and that I need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. It means to rid myself of me and to fill myself with HIM. And to be filled with HIM is to truly be rich in spirit.

Spiritual Promotion

How often have I thought that promotion meant getting ahead of someone else. I realized today I was I listening to the RHOP podcast, that spiritual promotion was being promoted in God. It has nothing to do with being "ranked" to other people. It has everything to do with how far we have gone in God.

As He presents us with tests and challenges, and as we respond well to those things that He allows in our lives, he promotes us in Him, so that we will be able to experience more of Him. 

As usual it is all about our relationship with Him.

Sermon on the Mount

I'm here at RHOP again. The team is doing a marvelous job their first week into the glory realm and Revelation 4. It is a great place to be and a transcendant scripture to study.

I reach into my bag and pull out a commentary on the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) and begin reading. It is such a familiar place, that it is like being home again. The practical and the spiritual all combined into one. I love it.

Las Vegas

I was in Las Vegas yesterday. I landed after a brief flight on Sunday night. I don't like Las Vegas. To me, it is a loud, brash city that sees any sort of suggestion of restraint as the equivalent of the complete revocation of all human rights and freedoms.

As I was departing the airport with many other people, I overheard two Las Vegas natives commenting to each other about some exuberant passengers nearby. One man said to another "It's interesting that everyone comes to Vegas laughing, but no one leaves laughing." That comment really struck me as quite insightful.

After a productive meeting, I was back in the airport, waiting for my plane to take a short flight back home. I could feel my spirit losing ground to the oppression around me. The feeling had been growing all day, but now that I was "alone with myself", I was suddenly aware of the feeling and what it actually was.

I began to pray, asking God for insight into the people around me. Looking around, I saw so many people in pain; and my inner pain also continue to grow. The pinnacle was when I saw a couple get off of the plane I was about to board. They were matter of fact, the husband walking a step of two ahead of the wife. The wife was holding the hand of their daughter. Their daughter was why I had even noticed the couple in the first place. She was about ten years old, wearing a blue cotton dress with brown hair and a moderate case of Down's Syndrome. I was amazed and impressed by the couple that they had actually allowed their child to live. I continued watching this small family as they walked away, down the terminal when I realized that they had another child, a son about 18-months old, who didn't have Down's. I was even more impressed, as most people stop having children after they receive a child with a handicap.

As I watched this family, my heart began to weep. I was overcome with emotions that I still can't identify. The pain of all of the people around me, the heroic parents who had defied culture, stood their ground and were raising a child who, in all likelihood, would always remain a child, living with them, the oppression of the city that I had been experiencing for the last 24 hours. All of these things welled up inside my heart and it began to weep. I was simultaneously thanking and praising Him for the life of this child who had been spared and crying for those who felt so alone.

Later, on the airplane, just as it began to accelerate for take-off, I thought to myself. "I'm glad to be leaving. I hate this city." The Holy Spirit instantly replied, "I don't hate this city. I love this city. She is to me a daughter. And just as a good father cries for a wayward daughter, so do I weep for Las Vegas." It brought to mind when Jesus wept over Jerusalem and I quoted the verse to myself, but different. "O Las Vegas, Las Vegas, how I long to gather you to me..."

As the plane ascended into the air bringing me home, I was, for the first time, struck by the beauty of the city. Actually, for the first time of any city, I saw, why people can describe a city as beautiful. I can't explain it, but I saw it. The landscape, yes, even in the desert with the glittering, sparkling city, rising like an oasis out of the desert floor, was to me beautiful.

I began to ponder why the city refused (so far) to turn from its ways. I saw it as a beloved daughter of God, run away from home, like the Prodigal Son, living out in the desert, so worn out and depressed from chasing other things. But instead of returning home like the Prodigal, she decides that it would be better for her to die "free", rather than return home to have to live with her Fathers "restrictions".

I turned on my iPod, turning to the next podcast on the list. It just happened to be "The Beauty of Holiness." The speaker said something at the beginning that struck me, that holiness is beautiful. Having just had my eyes opened to the beauty of Las Vegas, I reflected on that thought for a moment. That Las Vegas is called to be a holy city. A city set apart from the world as a city that can and does reflect the beauty of the holiness of God.

It is clearly not walking in that calling yet, but one day it will. Today, it sits atop the the cities of the United States as the epitome of the "Longing for Beauty" and the inhabitants and the visitors exist as a constant reminder that everything the world has to offer is empty compared to the riches and beauty available to everyone who desires after eternal things.

The Fellowship of His Sufferings

I am here at RHOP, wondering why I am here. After talking at length with Greg he encouraged me to just use this time to sit and inquire of the Lord as to my purpose and my calling. Then Mike Grant gave an encouragement at the beginning of the EGS as to knowing who you are and knowing your calling.

So I was positioning my heart to seek and the Lord interrupted me and reminded me of the prophecy from the Prophecy class. The word was that I was an olive in an olive press, and that the olive press will squeeze me, and that only a little oil of the anointing will flow from my life. But that after that one olive is crushed in the olive press, there is a basket of olives to be crushed, with an even greater anointing. And then, after those were crushed and the anointing had flowed from those, there was an olive tree heavy with ripe olives, waiting to drop, so heavy they would dent cars. ("So much it would even dent my car" she said).

The last few days I have been listening to a sermon from IHOP-ATL about Entering into the Fellowship of His Sufferings. The crushing of the olive reminded me of the verse that says "It pleased the father to crush His son." If I am truly a son of the Father, then I too have to belly up to the bar of suffering. This drink that the barkeeper has prepared for me will not pass. Neither will it be skipped. If I don't drink it, it will continue to wait for me. If I leave, it will be here when I get back. Where else can I go, only He has the words of eternal life.

Drinking of the cup of suffering is like giving little kids an immunization. They hate it at the time, but it really is for their good.

Why do I fight the suffering so much? It hurts. I don't like pain. And I'm not supposed to like pain. The point isn't to enjoy the pain, but to respond well, by turning my gaze towards heaven, feel his gaze shine on my and then, in that place, I have embraced my cross and have continued pressing into fellowship with Him, experiencing suffering with Him.

Who else has suffered more that our Lord. And I don't just mean on the cross, though that would have been enough. Who has suffered more than the Creator being hated by his creation, being rejected by us, even unto death. We hated Him so much, and He loved us so much that just to prove how much he loved us, he died for us. But he didn't stay dead, for love is stronger than the grave and His love is the truest love we can ever experience.

So Lord, here I am, in your presence. I submit my will, my flesh, my soul, and my spirit to you. I am yours. If you crush me like an olive in a press, still I will say you are good. I set my heart to know you and I direct my gaze towards you. I desire to know you in the fellowship of your sufferings. But Lord, you know, my spirit is willing and my flesh is weak, and that is what you are doing, you are stripping my flesh of it's weaknesses, so that I can run, as a salt racer after you. I worship you oh Holy one. I adore you loving Father, come and inoculate me.