BeLOnGings

Thank you for praying for the Freedom! retreat.

The day after, we flew to St Augustine, Florida for a rest. Driving around the city looking for a (free-dom : – ) parking place, we spotted it, pulled in, and looked up.

 

We were parked on St. George’s Street. Remember? That is our Father’s name! (Jn.15:1′ georgios’). We were in front of house number 317. Zephaniah 3:17 was the scripture that inspired the song “On the Day You were Born I Danced Over You”  Then the ‘WELCOME’ sign above the rocking chair. It all seemed like Father’s smiling invitation, “Come, sit with me….let me dandle you on my knee.” (Is.66:12,13)

Walking across the Bridge of Lions we spotted the two ships pictured above. In the foreground is the Black Raven Pirate ship replete with skull and crossbones. In front of it the a more stream lined nippier vessel with the name FREEDOM! It reminded us of what we had just experienced as yet again folk escaped from the one who “seeks to steal kill and destroy” into the freedom of The One who came that we “might have life and have it abundantly!” (Jn.10:10)

I was reminded of a scripture Eugene had sent before the retreat from Ps.124:7 “We have escaped like a bird from the fowler’s snare; the snare has been broken, and we have escaped.”

Little did we know Father had another ad hoc Freedom! retreat lined up for us over the next two weeks in the living room of dear friends, Larry and Jenn, two Riven-dwellers who now have a similar home in St. Augustine. What a joy to once again see captives being set free in the Father’s love from years of wounding and bondage!

Interestingly they like us (photo below) are in the middle of ‘upgrading’ the kitchen ‘heart’ of their home, where they constantly feed people who are healing in body, soul and spirit, together around their table.

Our new stone worktop is called Ocean Foam. Their new stone floor is called Aquamarine.

As I ran along the shore of the Atlantic one morning reflecting on this, the childhood chorus came back to me;

Wide wide as the ocean; high as the heavens above

Deep deep as the deepest sea, is my Savior’s love

I though so unworthy; still I’m child of His care

For his word teaches me,

That His love reaches me.

Eeeeeeeeeverywhere. 

As we walked to the other end of St. George Street, there was our Father showing of again!

 

Did we get our rest? Well of course we did, because walking down His street all our work is now His ‘rest’ work! (Heb.4:9,10)

P.S.Kitchen upgrade will hopefully be revealed – next week : – ))

A few days ago a friend sent me a link to a recent video someone had made featuring 55 year old footage from the ‘village’ where we were raised. It brought back many memories seeing my old childhood friends and the fun events like the Primary School sports day that tended to make their way onto Percy’s screen. Back then Percy was held in awe as the one man who could afford the luxury of such a hobby………..changed times!

The clip above was the only one I found of myself! My friend, Paddy and I are going up to receive our medals. We had just won the three legged race!!!

I grew up in the Protestant/Loyalist community. The name “Paddy” represents the Catholic/Republican community. Little did I know at age 10 how prophetic this photo would prove to be 55 years later, as I reflected on  my life’s calling to participate in the “repair of the breech” between these two factions in Northern Ireland (Is. 58:12).

God selected me to run with others I would not have chosen and who I would have to learn to ‘get along’ with in Christ, running as the “One new (three-legged) man” so that together we could win the race (Eph.2:14-18).

Jesus said “You did not choose me, I chose you …..and chose who you were to stand beside” (Jn: 15:16, 1 Cor:12:18).

We don’t get to choose. We just get to refuse when God calls or resist when we don’t like those we find ourselves placed alongside. We think romantically about dying a martyr’s death,  but most of us are called to “martyrdom on the installment plan” as we die daily by laying down our lives for those He puts us alongside to run with in life. This practical loving in the “here and now” is the heart of the short song I shared last week. It’s worth repeating:

Our life has been so enriched as we have sought to embrace and stick with the motley crew of friends God has given us over the years, all over the world, of every shade and slant and persuasion and perfusion, for it is only together that we will go in…and access our victory in the Victorious One who has been lifted up that ALL men might be drawn unto Him (Jn.12:22).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conspiracy isn’t a theory. It’s in the bible!

Ps.2 says, “Why do the nations CONSPIRE…….against the Lord and his anointed.” and in 1 Jn.5:19 we read “The whole world is in the hands of the evil one.”

The truth is there are men driven by evil who care nothing for people and who will go to any lengths to exploit others as fodder for their own selfish and avaricious ends. The bible describes this corrupt system as ‘the world’ or Mystery Babylon, but prophecies it’s demise when,

“The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no-one buys their cargoes anymore…… (including) the bodies and souls of men.” (Rev.18:11-13)   

The power of Mystery Bablyon resides in it’s mysterious or secretive nature. Increasingly however the controlled monopoly of news brokering is being challenged for example through increasing access by more and more people to the internet. “FLUORIDEGATE An American Tragedy” a film by Dr. David Kennedy – YouTube  is one example. It illustrates how from the moment of birth the most vulnerable are under threat from this evil and how a child on the first day of it’s life in the ‘modern’ world will often be given, through the suppression of honest science, two deadly neurotoxins through vaccination and the tap water used in it’s feed.

The US Cathedral of Babylonian Materialism happens to be in Minneapolis. We made a visit on St. Patrick’s weekend to The Mall of America. It has recently had ‘a facelift’ and is now ‘on steroids’ from what we remember from a few years ago!

I was initially drawn to the (bigger and better) Rotunda performance stage by the sound of Irish fiddle music. Walking toward it, I recalled how just after we arrived in America we had somehow found ourselves on the more humble version of the stage in March of that year. The invite came because the manager of the Irish store in the Mall for some reason liked us, and wanted to stock our ‘O Ireland’ album. So myself, a couple of sons and a few friends formed a rudimentary band, while Abby and Josh (as he was then) added the visuals – a cute couple of kids with big eyeglasses and basic Irish dress doing some elementary Irish dance steps. With my usual patter, the modest crowd that gathered were treated to a little more Irish “family fun” (like I wrote about last week)

As I rounded the corner, and the music built to a climax, my gaze was met by an entire dance company of intense little girls bedecked in bright sparkling sequins and bumphly Shirley Temple wigs, performing the finale of a veritable 4th grade version of Riverdance in all it’s glory!!

Show over, I made my way back to the foodcourt where I was to meet Hilary. She had stopped off to look for (and inevitably find…she always shops with the Holy Spirit) bargins in Nordstrom Rack. So I wandered around the Supersized Foodcourt. Once again, Mystery Babylon was in full view for those with eyes to see. I took the following shot outside a ‘sugar’ outlet.

In the foreground you see a life-size cardboard cut out of the friendly looking founder of the business, casually resting a rolling pin on his shoulder. Behind him is the line of victims, sorry, customers ready to buy. I noted many were obese and then spotted the man in the wheelchair. Little do most folk know that the number one dietary culprit for most of our chronic debilitating diseases in our ‘modern’ world’ is this legal drug that is more addictive than opium! That rolling pin he welds will really do a number on you!!

My soul overstimulated and my spirit groaning I felt I had had enough, and as I escorted Hilary with her loot out of ‘the Rack’, I noted the background music of this Babylonian liturgy:

In contradiction to the whisper in my spirit my soul was being brainwashed to “Shout it out loud…….I want candy!!”

….but now the really GOOD news – we participated in the alternative conspiracy this St Patrick’s weekend! 

It is revealed in Psalm 2 verses 4-6

“He who sits in the heavens laughs……….. I have installed My King”      

Following last week’s blog I got an email from a wonderful young Irishman now in Australia who represents this other conspiracy that is going on, visible only to those who have eyes to see.

Cam had a flare for business from an early age. While still at high school he had developed the ‘Random Acts of Kindness‘ brand – clothing with a message! When we did a FREEDOM! retreat in Belfast a few years ago he came along and knew forgiving his Bablylonian betrayers who had stolen his brand was God’s first order of business.

As he has complied with his Father’s continued training as an Overcomer he has continued to be blessed and to be a blessing to many.

Before MOA we had been in IKEA. The girl at customer service who had helped was particularly pleasant. She commented to me what a beautiful sunny day it was outside.

“Well you bring the sunshine inside with your pleasant disposition.” I said smiling.

“Oh thank you!” she replied. “Where is your accent from?” she inquired.

“Ireland.” I said.

“Oh my family are from Ireland – and I just got engaged.” she said eagerly showing me the Claddagh engagement ring.

“We’re hoping to go to Ireland on our honeymoon.”

I finished my business and then hurried down to the car. A few moments later I slipped in between customers to offer her an “O Ireland” CD.

“A gift to prepare you for your honeymoon trip.” I said.

“O really!?” she said, blushing. “Thank you soooo much.”

As I reflected further on St. Patrick’s weekend it dawned on me how I had unwittingly been a part of God’s alternative conspiracy – ‘labor prompted by love’ (1 Thess.1:3) or ‘(not so) Random – Acts of Kindness’ in the true Celtic Spirit of the young Irish Overcomers – Patrick and Cam.

Let me give Cam the last word with his insightful comment about the last blog;

Loved this post Paul. Something struck me about the part where Gilbert shared his story. I think he saw a perspective most people just don’t see. For most people the climax of the story was when he stuck the ring on his finger – I can imagine everyone sitting in expectation for that part of the story. For Gilbert though, the story wasn’t about the world-changing power-ring dangling in Frodo’s pocket – it was about two friends having a laugh on a table. How beautiful and God-like a perspective. Similar to your post, God isn’t anywhere near as concerned about the climax as we humans are – he’s more interested in family fun night. 

 

 

I left off last week, on the Highway of Holiness and with the song, Lord I Have Nothing. Pondering this, inspiration came for this week’s blog and title.

To end the suspense let me first give you the answer…..and then tell you how I came to this conclusion and was amusingly doubly confirmed in it.

Man’s number one addiction to which most of us are oblivious is this – “Doing the work of God.”

By that I mean we are addicted to our activities and achievements around our notion of God in contrast to Jesus words and actions arising naturally from his knowing of God.

Can you imagine what a world without organized religious ‘meetings’ would look and feel like? Jesus didn’t ‘go to meetings’ He met with His Father and then he met with people Father brought to him that day. 

Jesus had only one agenda – it was not to ‘achieve’ but to be ‘available’ to work in tandem with His Father as He revealed the plan moment by moment, encounter by encounter, for another ordinary day to unfold extra-ordinarily.

If we have any other agenda, no matter how noble it may appear it is an idol in our heart. When Jesus was told his mother had arrived to see him, he shockingly said, “Who is my mother?………whoever does the will of my Father in heaven.”

Oswald Chambers puts it this challenging way, “Beware of counterfeiting the love of God by working along the line of natural human sympathy.”

To show I have nothing against mothers, I follow my own mother’s example of beginning each day praying from Psalm 25

“Show me your way O Lord, teach me your paths, guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior and on you do I wait all this day long.” Waiting is not passivity. My mother was a doer until she died at 86, but it was a joyful activity that issued out of the relationship

Last week’s song went,

Lord I have nothing……… Lord I do nothing……….

If that voice in your head says, “…..But I HAVE to DO…..”  It’s probably a heart idol.

Lord I need nothing………….But to be with You

Where You are in heaven,

Where You are on earth……….

We were lead to postpone on earth the FREEDOM! retreat we’d planned for last week end. Father gave us something different to do. “Have a family fun night!” 

Early the next morning he woke me and said, “Last night you were on The Highway of Holiness!”.

“How could that be?” I thought, “Irish folk songs, jokes about bullfrogs, a game of everyone trying to ascend to the Master’s chair, no ‘ministry’ and precious little preaching?”   

Verse 10 of Is. 35. describes that Highway – a company of singing innocents free of religious shackles overtaken with gladness and joy!

One by one Father revealed to me the value of each person in that room, the significance of their contribution and how it all ‘fitted together’ as part of His story being told through our company, from Ajay’s reading from his ‘comic bible’ to his brother Ravi’s “naughty joke” his cousin Roy had told him last summer, to David’s song about coming out of Babylon, to Robin’s song telling us all we had to do was die……

There was only one contribution I was left wondering about…..

Gilbert had chosen to read a section from Lord of the Rings. It was the part where the hobbits have reached the Prancing Pony Inn in Brie, and Frodo gets concerned that an over exuberant Pippin is getting too carried away and is going to ‘blow their cover’ By way of distraction, Frodo then jumps up onto the table and begins to do his party piece with a song. The narrative describes how his hand begins fingering the ring….and then quite abruptly – Gilbert ended his storytelling!

Of course those of us familiar with the story remembered that the next moment the ring slips onto Frodo’s finger – and he disappears, made invisible by the special ring.

“What an odd place to stop the story!” I thought. Later I asked Gilbert “Why did you stop reading just before the story climaxed ?”

“Did I really?!” He exclaimed.”I didn’t mean to!”

.…as if the same force that slipped the ring on Frodo’s finger, had halted Gilbert in his tracks : – )

A few days later we were having breakfast with David, one of the household.

He had been attending a nearby church, a hidden gem, off a side street in a very rough neighborhood. The founding elder had died the previous week and David reported that the tone of the subsequent Sunday service had been more challenging than sentimental! The pastor’s wife had circulated around the congregation asking them directly one by one, “Why are you here?”.…. are you here out of sentiment or because it is something you think you have to do?…… or do you really want to meet with God?”

Before even sipping his coffee David immediately blurted out, ““You’ll not believe it, but I just learned – the pastor, his name is Floyd – Well HE just died too! – on Saturday!!”

…….the inspired thought came to me, ““Well of course he did!…Last Saturday – Frodo was supposed to disappear!”

Then I realized the two names, Frodo and Floyd, both have 5 letters (grace) and they have three letters in common.

F for Father,

o for ordained,

d for disappearance

….SELAH!

At one point during our family fun evening I was moved to pose the question.

“What does it mean to magnify the Lord?”

Do we think it’s about us doing something to make Him bigger? No!…. We can only enter into an awareness of how big He really is! “To magnify God means to allow Him to open our eyes to see how greatly and graciously present he is in everyone and everything that is around us – right here and now!”

There is nowhere were God is not, there is nothing that he is not in. God is not coming to have us fill pews at his meeting! He is coming to reveal to us how He has already met with us and completely filled our lives, far before the point of birth and far beyond the moment of our ‘disappearance’.

When the final divide between the ‘secular’ and the ‘sacred’, is destroyed then like the older brother we will awake from our religious stupor and realize the truth of our Father’s words,

“…..but all that I have is yours……and do you now believe – that I have it ALL?” 

Finally to the confirmations.

These thoughts crystalized as I was shoveling the ice off our driveway. Our new neighbor happened to return from walking her dogs. Not having spoken to her before I laughingly said, “I’m trying to get our driveway as clean as yours.”

She responded bluntly, “You should just leave it until the weekend and let the Sun do the work”

I was a bit taken aback and then managed the reply, “But the exercise makes me feel good”

“There you have it.” Father laughed, “The addiction in a nutshell.”

We could wait until the workweek ends, and let the Son do it…….but it feels so good doing the work (of God) –  ourselves!

A second confirmation came this morning as I read an article in a ‘ministry’ magazine about a very ‘successful’ front cover minister who now leads a mega church. In the interview at one point he laughingly confessed,

“I became addicted to seeing people come to Christ”

If we define success in the church the way the world does then we will emulate those who have ‘made it big’.

When John the baptizer, the greatest of the prophets, was asked if he was Elijah he said, “No” Then they pressed him further asking if he was the Prophet. “No.”

“Then who are you?”

John replied….I am nobody…..I have disappeared… so all that is left is – “a voice”

I believe heaven has a very different criteria for those making the front page of The Heavenly Post. He uses any and every ordinary little hobbit. His glory is revealed (to those who have eyes to see) – through the ones Father has ordained for disappearance….like the holy little man who made it onto our front cover this week : – )

 

 

 

 

Our two part series on Arising from TTT to TCC is providentially punctuated this week to reflect on the death of Billy Graham who crossed the finishing line last week, marking the end of an era.

Graham was a Moses type figure. My friend David discovered he actually died on the date in the Hebrew calendar when Moses was both born and died!  His passing signals the end of an old order……but also the beginning of a new.

It just so happened that evening our son Gilbert whose first name is Joshua got together with his friend Caleb. I believe these two characters in the biblical narrative represent those believers who overcome (their fears and doubts) to lead the way into the promised land of our immortal inheritance.

I read one tribute to Graham from a minister who wrote about the 15 minutes he was able to spend alone with the great evangelist. I reflected on this and was reminded that for each of our lives

“It is for God to determine success; it is for us to determine faithfulness.”     

I noticed that my own father was 45 days older than Graham and would have also turned 100 this September. Every time I remember him I see him smiling. My Father was called to be the smiling face of God to me, as Graham was called to be the gracious voice of God to millions.

I  was then reminded of the two marathons I have run;  New York in 1998 and Twin Cities in 2008.

My goal in both marathons was not a placing or a time. In New York it was to cross the finishing line with my friend Brian from Belfast and in Minneapolis to cross the finishing line with my son Joel. In both cases my goal was that I be in step with each one as we crossed that line together.

This I believe is meant to be our goal in life, no matter how high or low profile our calling may be, to at the end have so adjusted our step that we and God are one.

The voice of God as detailed in 1 Kings 19:12 is still and small and remains so….but to those who long to hear ‘the bridegroom’s voice’ (Jn.3:29) in the midst of the cacophony of other voices, that voice will become stronger and stronger .…..until it is the only voice we hear. Then we will not miss a step, walking in divine, down to earth love. 

At the end we will then hear that voice speak the words,

“Well done, good and faithful servant…..enter into the joy of your Lord.” 

Wondering about a picture for this blog I looked up from the computer and noticed my number 6712 from the Twin Cities marathon and chuckled…“That’s it!” I thought.

Father reminded me of a time in New Zealand when at the birth place of the church on the North Island of that land at ‘the uttermost end of the earth’ (from Jerusalem) we were lead to each day ponder Psalm 67 verses 1 and 2. (6712)

As we then flew to Christchurch on the South Island the man sitting next to us noticed we were reading the bible. He said, “Do you mind if I show you the verse God used to speak to me about leaving my engineering business in the north island to fly south to prepare for the new era we are now entering?” We said, “Please do.”

He turned to Ps. 67:1,2

“May God be gracious to us and bless us. May his face smile with favor on us. May your ways be known throughout the earth, your salvation among all nations.”

In Good Morning’ Dad we sing,  “I see your smiling face…..I hear your word of grace.”

Let us seek to be faithful as part of that company of faceless and voiceless overcomers who become the face and the voice of God to whomever he sends us, whether to one or to one million.