BeLOnGings

Over the past few months we lost 3 close friends, and the world lost 3 good men.

A Good Man was written in honor of Pete Lundin a true American hero. Scott Stroud came to live with Pete and Sandy after coming to faith in prison, and we too are personally indebted to ‘realtor’ Sandy for matchmaking us with The Big Green House!

Pete’s discipleship helped Scott like many others he ‘fathered’ become an amazing asset in the kingdom of God. Scott’s song says it so eloquently.

If Pete was A Good Man, Brian was A True Friend.

When we moved to the USA despite Brian’s high profile public life, for example as a President of Irish Hockey, and of the Independant Insurance Brokers in the UK , he and Liz always made a point of remembering birthdays and seeing us when we were home to offer brilliant advice in areas where I lacked wisdom and know how and to keep us laughing with the best of Belfast humor😀 He was often 1st to open my latest blog….even if it was in the middle of his night!

For us, Brian was a true friend…….. integrity going the distance!

If Brian was A True Friend, John, was A Kindly Neighbor.

John lived 4 doors down and was a rough diamond, but with a heart of corn as the ducks would attest to swooping down to literally enjoy the corn he sprinkled on the snow for them in the midst of a harsh Minnesotan winter.

He would for example arrive at our house with a bike he had found and repaired for one of the grandkids. Then one day when he dislocated his shoulder he arrived……for me to fix it! Doctoring days far behind I did my best with the help of YouTube, but failed to reduce it.

‘We’ll just have to ask God to do it’ I said, laying my hand once more on his shoulder.

A few days later he returned waving his healed arm overhead!

I realized Father had given me a song for John years before his death which contained the line ‘a kindly neighbor’

Below is Ben’s recording of this song, ‘A Rising Sun’

https://benkyle.com/track/4225095/a-rising-sun

A few years ago a knock came to the door. It was again, our ‘kindly neighbor.‘

‘Look’ He said to me, pointing to the rainbow in the sky.

‘Do you know what that means?’

‘It’s God saying, “I will always love you.” ‘

John explained that although he had never learned to read himself, his mother used to read him Bible stories, including the story of Noah and the flood.

So at the funeral service, 2 of the 5 songs I shared were specially personalized by God for his beloved son, John!!

The Father’s Song from the last blog was also for him…..

Everyone’s beautiful in their time

It just takes time to prove

That the pleasure and pain

Like the sun and the rain

Make you part of my rainbow of love.

I received this song reflecting the story Jesus told of the loving Father and his 2 sons.

A friend unaware of this sent me the following link with a cryptic message “55 min”

I understood then that I’d received the song from the Father ……..particularly the last line whose wording I had labored over before settling on what you hear.

I then watched the full interview and realized why I had received it as we were sitting in the midst of a blizzard in Minnesota.🙂

After posting my running shirt number and the Cadillac license plate I got those messages from North Carolina today from our friend Sam Cox who ran the marathon with us,. 🙂

Paul,

I well remember the Twin Cities Marathon 2006, running through a bad injury that would ultimately require reconstructive surgery a year later. And, last month I turned 67! I was on a mission trip in Guatemala on my birthday (Feb 15) and the 7 students and 4 adults who we were with threw me a 67th birthday party.

Shalom,

Sam

P.S. A running buddy saw my picture and used AI to adapt it to finishing a marathon:

I forget to mention the 19 years, represents faith as in “those who through faith and perseverance inherit the promises.’

To listen, click on the arrow, then the x and then the arrow again🙂

View this post on Instagram

In 2006 I ran (and prayed) what has been called “The most beautiful urban marathon in America’ – in the ‘Twin Cities’ of St Paul and Minneapolis with sons Ben and Joel.

The widely publicized events of recent months related to ‘fraud’ and to ICE in the Twin Cities, have made this place look anything but ‘beautiful’

My number then was 6712.

That running number has been taped to the cabinet in my study. Visible out of the corner of my eye for over 19 years.

Just before Christmas I stumbled across the 2025 ‘word of the year’ It wasn’t actually a word but two numbers. The ‘67’ craze that ‘went viral’ amongst young people didn’t seem to mean anything……it was just a cool thing to say. Some warned of its occult origins or connections.

I remembered my number, and how at the time Father had used it to point me to Ps.67 verses 1 and 2.

Subsequently I had fun teaching the visiting grandkids how to complete the cool ‘67’ with a cool ‘12’ ……and then together we would recite,

“May God be gracious to us and bless us

And make his face to shine upon us

That your ways may be known on earth.

Your salvation among all nations.”

I took my race number to a meeting of Twin Cities church leaders a few days later in case God would make a way for me to share.

There was a spirit of humility as we cried out to God on behalf of the Cities. One brother spoke of the the deposit of God’s ‘gold’ that was meant to be mined from here to enrich the world.

I was invited to share and so spoke of how, I had in 2006 run and prayed for the Cities. My number had hung there in front of me unnoticed for 19 years, until a few weeks earlier it had been brought to my attention because of 2025s ‘word of the year.

He impressed on me to say

‘Just as 67 was the word of the year for 2025

Ps.67 verses 1 and 2 will be the word of the year for 2026.“

On my way home I noticed the ‘gold’ crest of a Cadillac in front of me, then the number plate

Tay or Tav is the Hebrew character that represents ‘a sign’

In Revelation 22, the last chapter of the bible, Jesus final words are,

“ I am the aleph and tav.”

The song above is a prophetic prayer Ben offered up at our ‘double bill’ evening at Way of the Lord on 2/7.

It speaks of the ‘beautiful’ Twin Cities our Father has in mind – at the end.

‘O Minneapolis

I saw you and St.Paul kiss

Neath the moonlight in the Mississippi mist.

Never saw a thing as beautiful as this.

O Minneapolis.”

It snowed 2 inches again here last night, but the sun came out and very quickly things changed.

I snapped this on the sidewalk…

The penultimate verse in the Bible..…

“The one who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!”
‭‭

In the meantime let us be his hands, his feet, his heart in our Cities.

Hebrews 2;16 describes the real ‘enemy’ currently at work in Minnesota.

“Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.”

This is the central theme of The Big Green House documentary.

It captures a real life drama about what happens when ‘the kingdom of God’ and a ‘worldly’ bureaucracy collide.

Spoiler alert……God wins, as his “perfect love” casts out fear.

This double bill evening was scheduled before the current unrest arose in our city. I believe it is ‘for such a time as this.’

P.S. The documentary has, since the above poster was made, also been selected as a semi finalist in the Philadelphia International Film Festival and has won the “Best Short Documentary” award at the Cork Independant Film Frstival in Ireland.

Please come on the 7th ……and pass the word around.

Once again Minnesota has been brought to the attention of the whole world by 2 concurrent stories.

The FIRST story concerns the massive amount of fraud that has been uncovered.with dozens of people, mainly of Somali origin, being convicted in the ‘Feeding Our Future’ scam,

Apparently Somali culture is not founded on biblical morality. Fraud and ‘piracy’ are’normal’ practices in that country, and so it is no surprise therefore that when transplanted into a different culture that has traditionally been Judeo-Christian this problem should arise

Compounding the problem is what is known locally as “Minnesota NICE.” where things can remain superficial, to avoid the conflict that comes with honest accountability.

More fraud surfaces by the day. This morning the Epoch Times reported

‘Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said that a building in Minnesota, which used to be a linen factory, is housing 400 Medicaid-billing fraudulent businesses which collectively billed an estimated $380 million to Medicaid, ‘

The SECOND story, is the current administration’s resolve to deal with boarder security and the consequent heightened activity here of the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE

This morning Barry wrote to us from England “Does it feel like you are back in Belfast in the ‘Troibles’?”

Our move to the US in 1994 from Belfast co-incided with the ‘Good Friday Peace Agreement’

I would say tongue in cheek to people here who made the connection,

‘Yes. Peace broke out there, either because they got rid of the troublemakers, or because our assignment was completed.’🙂

The year we moved to Minneapolis it seemed like we had jumped from the frying pan into the fire because murders in the city had soared earning it the nickname “Murderapolis”

We were lead to join in prayer with a group meeting in the heart of the troubled area. We could hear gunshots in the street outside. We prayed,

‘Lord, let Murderapolis become Mercyapolis.’

God answered our prayers The murder rate dropped.

Then there was the George Floyd storm, and now once again, even though in the last year murders are down 20% nationwide, Minneapolis has been made a focal point of violent division and discontent

This morning Matthew wrote to us from Scotland,

Good Morning Paul

I woke up this morning in pain as I read the news in Minnesota and how there seems to be so much conflict around the world between people.

I decided to worship Jesus and was drawn to your Song – Simply Jesus.

I am not sure what God is saying to me but I was moved to tears.

I believe he is saying that, simply Jesus is the ONLY answer.

Psalms‬ ‭147‬:‭17 says

‘Sleet and hail fall from the sky, causing waters to freeze before winter’s icy blast.”

God knows exactly what is happening, demonstrating his power, and communicating to us through the elements. We are currently experiencing the coldest and iciest winter since moving here.

On Friday evening Ben and Kim, Hilary and I worshipped with Luke in his Anchor Fish and Chip restaurant, in the heart of the troubled area.

Once again at 32 13th Ave, we sang our appeal to our Father from Habakuk 3:2

‘Lord we have heard of your fame and we stand in awe of your deeds. Lord hear our prayer come renew them again in our day in our time make them known.

……..in judgement remember mercy’

Then Ben sang, “Let There Be Mercy”

Immediately Hilary’s face became ‘inflamed ‘

I believe it was the Lord pointing us to the next verse.

‘Then he speaks his word and it all melts away; as the warm spring winds blow, the streams begin to flow.”

Believing that “The best is yet to come”

.

https://rumble.com/v72rd0y-johnny-enlow-unfiltered-episode-177.html?e9s=src_v1_mfp

This Johnny Enlow Unfiltered is too good not to draw your attention to – especially after the last post which may have been a ‘rude awakening’ for some🙂

The message starts at the 15 minute mark.

This is a rack of beautiful children’s clothes that sits in our front room which is Hilary’s creative space.

She writes,

I make ‘one off’ garments for ‘wee’ ones from pre-loved natural fibers such as wool or linen.

I felt the wool and create it anew in one of my unique designs.

The vision for this art is to bring back natural life giving fibers each having a frequency of 5,000Hz to impart life giving energy to little ones.

The garments are cosy (yet breathe), are soft and comfortable and felting does not allow damp to penetrate keeping a child warm in rain and snow

You can view and purchase these gems online at

https://www.etsy.com/shop/WEEONESWEARSHOP

Or touch and feel to experience their true worth for yourself this Saturday here……

Please spread the good news to those you know, who would be interested.

Thank you😀

RUSSEL goes ‘scorched earth’ on the ‘evil auntie’ as God’s ‘snatched from the fire.’ BRAND ?

““From the smallest to the greatest, they are greedy for corrupt (or was that Corporate) profits; prophet and priest alike, they all practice deceit. They treat the wounds of my people as though they were scratches. They say, ‘Peace, everything is well,’ when there is no peace, and nothing is well.”
‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭6‬:‭13‬-‭14‬ ‭TPT‬‬

Like Donald Trump, Russell strikes me as another flawed human being, being used as God’s instrument……….but let me know what you think🙂

“Then Yahweh reached out with his hand and touched my mouth and said to me: “Now I have put my words in your mouth. See! Today I have imparted to you great authority over nations and governments, to uproot and demolish, to destroy and dismantle. And you will plant and build something new.””
‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭1‬:‭5,9-10‬ ‭TPT‬‬

“…and snatch others out of the fire to save them. Be merciful over and over to them, but always couple your mercy with the fear of God. Be extremely careful to keep yourselves free from the pollutions of the flesh.”
‭‭Jude (Judah)‬ ‭1‬:‭23‬ ‭TPT‬‬

“This, in essence, is the message we heard from Christ and are passing on to you: God is light, pure light; there’s not a trace of darkness in him. If we claim that we experience a shared life with him and continue to stumble around in the dark, we’re obviously lying through our teeth—we’re not living what we claim. But if we walk in the light, God himself being the light, we also experience a shared life with one another, as the sacrificed blood of Jesus, God’s Son, purges all our sin.”
‭‭1 John‬ ‭1‬:‭5‬-‭7‬ ‭MSG‬‬