BeLOnGings

I have found that our little personal stories often overlay God’s big story. This happened last week in Boston.

A few years after the Pilgrim Fathers founded their colony a few miles south of Boston at Plymouth, the Puritan, John Winthrop, helped found this colony in Massachusetts Bay.

His seminal sermon,”A Model of Christian Charity” also known as “A City on a Hill” inspired by the picture of “the lamp” giving forth light to all in the Sermon on the Mount, described his vision for this Christian community to become a “shining” example in the world.  

This notion of a lamp, a light, a fire, is what took us to New England in the first place. A friend of ours had given Katherine Puleo a copy of “The Flame” anthem I’d written about an outpouring of the Spirit in ‘The Great South land of the Holy Spirit” at the time of the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Katherine, who organized the annual Prayer Breakfast at the Massachusetts State Capitol said, “This song is also for Here, New England and America…and for Now!

We three were back again in Boston last week with a plan involving Robin’s amputation. God had a different and better plan. When we heard the surgery was not going to happen at that time, because Robin was exhausted with all the preparations leading up to the trip, we all agreed to stay on for a week. It ended up a wonderful time of just ‘being’ together.

Then friends Collins and Cheryl who pastor a church in Great Barrington asked if we would share at their church on the Sunday. It proved a great opportunity to give expression to what we had experienced God doing during that week.

Cheryl asked me in advance to share about freedom, community and relationship. Unbeknown to her this perfectly summed up what we three had experienced more than ever before, in that week together.

Robin told the story of how God had set him free. Then he spoke of why we had come to Boston, and sang the song he’d been given, in advance of God’s changing ‘our’ plan. (Now posted on his blog at robinkyle.com)

https://videos.files.wordpress.com/WkxZox1z/img_2889_hd.mp4

I then shared with the church a poem I had written 24 years ago for Robin when he had turned 18.

Both Robin’s song and my poem touch on the delight of simply ‘being’ together.

To illustrate what we had experienced that week I used The Holy Trinity icon of the Father, Son and Spirit communing around a table. The icon, inspired by the story of Abraham feeding his three visitors by killing a calf, made us smile, as we had been joining Robin throughout the week on his ‘Carnivore diet’. The icon background also points to the story of the return of the prodigal son to the Father’s house.

Our week of just ‘hanging out’ together had culminated on Friday, January 31st, walking the historic ‘Freedom Trail’, sampling coffee shops and eating places.

That evening I caught a glimpse of the day’s British news on a TV screen – BREXIT finally happened!… and Boris Johnson was speaking of a NEW day of opportunity for ENGLAND (and the rest of the UK.)

Political views apart, I took note of his name. John means ‘YAHWEH IS GRACIOUS.’ This date was also my mother’s birthday. Her name Anna also means GRACE. It would have been the first day of her 99th year. 99 is the gematria for AMEN. 99 is also 9.11… the gematria for GRACE!

As Robin sang, we are indeed, “on God’s time now”.... His time for the birthing of a New Day….. the Great Sabbath Millenium.

Our housing happened to be in the city of Brighton i.e. BRIGHT ONE. The name Robin means BRIGHT or SHINING FAME. The refrain in Robin’s song written months before is “There’s a LIGHT that shines in me and you.”

“The Great Awakening” that swept Britain and America in 1730’s began in New England. Jonathan Edward’s famous sermon at that time was entitled, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.”

I wonder could the GREATER AWAKENING I have been writing about in our day, be more than another religious revival based on the fear of hell in the next life? Could this GREATER AWAKENING be an awakening to the GRACE of a loving God, drawing us into an intimate relationship with himself so that the light of his presence in our lives then transforms this present dark world into the ‘bright’ kingdom of God on earth, here and now?

A final sign (below) seemed to confirm to me that our personal story on this trip was an affirmation, that God will indeed, as he has promised in scripture, at this time, soul by soul, city by city, and nation by nation, fill the whole earth with the brightness of ‘his glory’, which is ‘his goodness, which leads us to repentance’ (Rm.2:4) ….even as the waters cover the sea.

This afternoon searching for a coffee shop in Boston to find WiFi, the best I could do was to end up sitting in my car in a Dunkin’ Donuts parking lot, sipping a decaf. Two older men approached and I heard them having an animated conversation about the car next to mine. I was just about to pull out when I noticed it was a Subaru Outback. I chuckled and thought, “It doesn’t really matter where you drink coffee….only who you drink it with” for I knew it was Jesus speaking : – )

Let me explain. Just a week earlier Hilary and I had been in Florida. Our friends had lent us their car – also a Subaru Outback. The day after we moved into our KOA cabin, an RV pulled in to the spot directly opposite us. It’s name – Outback.

So I asked Jesus what was the meaning of this triple witness in these two places.

He said, “I’ve been Out ……but I’m coming back : – )

I realized that for us personally there were two other levels of meaning;

We will be coming back to Boston, having made this first trip Out from Minneapolis. We failed to intersect on this occasion with our doctor from ‘man’s best’, Harvard University, but instead have had an experience in God’s Higher School of Learning. To get the full background to this story, you can read and listen to Robin’s latest blog @ robinkyle.com

A few days before we came to Boston for the amputation, my friend Mike from New Zealand sent me ‘a word’, “Something out of left field is going to happen.” As it turns out, it did,…..so  Robin still has his left leg!

The other level of meaning relates to the assignment Father gave us when He invited us to move to America 25 years ago. We have always sought to only do what we see our Father do by only responding to His invitations. These invitations usually come through His servants. He reminded me that after moving to the US He arranged for us to be invited to the two ‘cradle sites’ of the church in this nation, St.Augustine, Florida, where the first Catholic mass was celebrated on that shore, and New England, where the Protestant Puritans and Pilgrims landed.

Both invitations had come through beautiful believing women, both called Katherine. The name Katherine means “pure.” I think both of these ladies represented the bride of Christ.

Over the next years we made many visits to these two ‘birthing’ places, repenting and interceding, teaching and preaching, worshiping and of course singing……..Lord Jesus we enthrone you, we proclaim YOU  are King…….Come Lord Jesus and take your place…….. in this place. We knew that the foundation of the American church had ‘mixture’, and that the building upon that foundation has often been flawed.

We knew we have been called to prepare “the bride” for the Bridegroom who went Out from the earth 2000 years ago, but is coming back for his bride in our day.

Over the last few years our two dear Katherine’s both died. Subsequently our invitations ceased, and we were Out of these two significant places. However over the past few weeks we have found ourselves suddenly back in both!!

Although Jesus went Out after his first (dying) work and will come back for his second (living) work as prefigured by the offering prescribed in Lev.14, he  has of course continued to be present by his Spirit in his disciples who have continued his work of, “ …….. doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil.(Acts 10:38). However I believe there is now a greater anointing of the Holy Spirit coming for those who in past generations or in this one have been chosen and prepared through training to join Him in that second great work.

A few years ago my friend Bill introduced me to the kettleball method of training. Before this trip I had pretty much plateaued with the 35lb weight and realized I was ready for the next level of challenge and growth with the 44lb weight. When we arrived here at our divinely provided accommodations in Boston we were delighted to find it came equipped with a gym! I went in to look, and there it was……the 44lb kettleball!

The number 44 represents “chosen”. It also points to Ezekiel chapter 44 which describes the difference between the Old Covenant Levitical  priesthood and the New Covenant Melchizedek priesthood under our high priest Jesus. These New Covenant priests will be able to exchange their woolen (earthly) garments for linen (heavenly) garments representing the ability to move between the earthly and heavenly realms as Jesus demonstrated after his resurrection.

Robin’s chosen form of training on the other hand is the X3 resistance band workout. We have been watching him use this and are being taught by him the mechanism of how muscles only grow when they are challenged to the point where they exclaim, “This is going to cripple me!…..I need to become stronger!!!”

As he said this I knew he was prophecying  about his own life, for this latest test of being deprived at the very last minute of the relief of lifelong pain and disability has elicited from him the response, “This is all in God’s plan because it’s only as we are challenged that we can grow stronger,”  

We have witnessed that growth in his level of faith as he repeatedly gives it all over to God, trusts , gives thanks and finds peace.

There are three levels of faith in the believers life represented in the three feasts. The first level is Passover faith – saving faith. The second level is Pentecost faith – sanctifying faith, and the third level of faith is Tabernacles faith – the faith of coming into perfect agreement with our Father. 

We are all being trained up in God’s X3 through our trials to becoming truly and fully like Jesus – Sons of God.

We three in training : – )

This drawing and poem by our friend Hilary Curragh was one of the many expressions of love that accompanied the birth of our son Robin, our first child and the first ‘newborn’ in the Gilnahirk Fellowship, later to become Community of the King.

Robin’s arrival had been quite traumatic. It happened to be on the day I commenced my Obstetrics and Gynecology training. His was the first birth I witnessed in preparation for delivering my quota as a medical student. Hilary had been virtually ‘knocked out’ with too much sedation. From there everything seemed to go downhill! It seemed that everything that could have gone wrong did, but I remained for the duration because as a medical student the doctor in charge assumed I could handle it!

The final complication was the discovery that Robin had a rare congenital malformation affecting extensively the blood supply in his left leg. I headed straight for the medical library to read up on possible complications. My stomach sank, and reeling, I drove blindly out into the countryside to find some place where I could process all I had absorbed over the last 24 hours “with sighings and groaning too deep for words.” Never were the gifts of tongues and tears so valued!

“Why me?” I asked.

“Why not you?” Father gently answered.

……and over the next months we experienced God’s grace more than ever in our weakness.

I didn’t tell Hilary what I had read, but a few weeks later she commented, “I think his affected leg is growing larger than the other one.” She was right. We began to measure, and then pray, and measure again, and pray…. and lo and behold the growth of the two evened up. Thank you Father!!

However at the age of 11 Robin sustained a wound on his affected ankle. Now 31 years later, the painful ulcer has still not healed! So this Tuesday, (28th January) Robin is scheduled to have the now cancerous wound and deformed leg amputated.

On the face of it – it seems a depressing story. Yet as Robin shared his story at the last FREEDOM! retreat of being “Awakened”, he was filled with peace and Hilary and I were both filled with joy!

I had just given the talk on “Repentance”, explaining it in terms of our being ‘Awakened’ to truth!.…the truth about God, the truth about ourselves and the truth about this life. We finished with the song, “God works all things absolutely all things, God works all things together for good.”

Then Robin stood up to share. He told the story of how he had journeyed “to a far country” searching for answers. There he had become ‘bound’ by an unbreakable addiction to smoking. Like the son in the story he ‘came to himself’ and finally after many years arrived ‘home’. He asked Hilary and I to help him walk through the 5 steps/keys we teach at FREEDOM! As we talked and listened together to the Holy Spirit he realized that the root of this addiction had been an act of “rebellion” in reaction to the hypocrisy he was seeing in the church. In response to the Spirit’s insights he chose to take responsibility and repented, released, renounced, and rebuked, and then received afresh our Father’s love.

That afternoon driving back to his house he said he had to pull over he felt so ‘intoxicated’! Then a tumor in his mouth that had been growing for sometime suddenly just, ‘popped out’! He smoked a few more times and then one morning realized he no longer had the desire! That morning he decided to quit, and has had no interest in cigarettes since!

This is just a glimpse into Robin’s journey back to his heavenly Father’s house of love. (It is of course actually Dad’s story about Robin rather than Robin’s story.) If you would like to hear Robin tell his fuller story in his own words and follow his progress through this amazing medical odyssey, as the three of us set off today for the operation in Boston, you can follow his blog.

If you would like to contribute to the considerable expenses surrounding the operation you can do so through this link. https://www.mightycause.com/story/Robinamp

From this ‘mighty cause” link you can in turn link to Robin’s blog.

Please do forward this to others who might know our family and be interested in following the unfolding story.

We always begin the FREEDOM! retreat at The Big Green House with Psalm 23:

“The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want: He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness, for his name’s sake.”

May each of us ‘Awaken‘ more and more to this wonderful“kingdom of God” which consists of ‘right choices’ peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. (Rm.14: 17)

Many thanks for your love and support over the years.

In our Father’s perfect plan.

Paul and Hilary

The text on Robin’s truck license plate is of course perfectly appropriate; “If you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask Him!” (Mat.7:11)

On Sunday afternoon immediately after the Freedom! retreat, Hilary and I hightailed it out of Minnesota just before the snow started. We were headed to see friends in the Sunshine State for a few days respite  before  accompanying our son Robin to Boston for the amputation of his left leg at the end of this month.

Despite the pressure to buy, we had as usual just trusted the Lord to give us our ‘seat assignments’ The man at the window looked quite ‘put out’  when we told him we had the two seats beside him. But he soon engaged and began talking to me about his worldwide retirement vacation experiences and before long had become quite relaxed and began asking me questions about ourselves.

A few hours later Bob sheepishly confessed that when he had bought his window seat, there had been an empty seat next to  him and only a person on the aisle. He indicated he had hoped for more privacy, but admitted  he had really enjoyed our conversation and hearing about our very full family life.

He said he always liked to book row 22. We smiled and told him we did not believe in ‘co-incidences’, only ‘God- incidences’. I then asked him if he knew that in the Bible the number 22 represented a “Son of light”? The conversation shifted beautifully.

At Orlando airport baggage claim, with a “Rivendell  Live” CD in one hand and a warm handshake with the other, Bob bade farewell to his new friends. The Spirit of ‘Come on on on in’ had followed Hilary and I out of Rivendell and onto the Sun Country flight :  – )

Steppng out of our cabin on the St.Augustine KOA the next morning, there right in front of me was our friends Larry and Jenn’s R.V.

It confirmed that my first order of business here was to write a report on the retreat as I had time for Reflection on what we had just experienced of God’s Grand Design

There is so much that could be said about the personal breakthroughs and visible transformations we witnessed over the 27 hours the 30 of us spent together at The Big Green House, but Father highlighted to me our final ‘Talking Circle” where we pass around the cross (pictured above on our communion table) as each person gets an opportunity to share their ‘take away’. This followed a joyous dance circle around the circular communion table where we had celebrated the Great Thanksgiving for our Father’s Great Love.

The tears began to flow with Raine. She and her daughter Mni had lived with us for 3 years. She said how blessed she was to be “home” again and to be surrounded by all these loving “Dad’s”. Everyone knew what she meant because she had shared her story of how God had been healing her wounding from her natural father and men in general.

The cross arrived with Andrew another Native American. He turned spontaneously to Raine. “Please will you forgive me as a man for all the evil we men have done to you?”

The quiet crescendo of tears and love in the room continued as two other women who had accompanied Raine from ‘the Rez’ spoke.

It took the first some time to tell her story, but everyone in the circle patiently entered into her journey from traditional spirituality through brokenness to a recent encounter with Jesus as he had come to her through dreams and now on the weekend through the people and through the creation signs we had been pointing out. She said, “This  weekend has been a perfect answer to my prayers to Jesus that he give me what I need to continue on this new way with him.”

Autumn was next. She spoke of how this was the first time ever she had travelled more than 20 minutes away from her husband and son to whom she was deeply attached. But she had yielded to the leading to come. “As soon as I stepped through the door” she said. “ I knew I was with family.”

We received this email from her the day after she got home…..

“I  have to share what I’ve experienced all day today. I really love Him. I keep having waves of just feeling Him close. Despite being so exhausted today, it just came in waves. That indescribable peace and craving to just lay in His arms. It’s so real. His love is so real. His adoration for us is so real. I really feel the freedom from all that was broken from me. It’s like I reached a place of feeling ’normal’. I don’t know how to describe it!”

More tears as Autumn passed the cross to Chrissy our “earthy” neighbor mentioned in previous blogs.

Chrissy held up the cross in a vaguely familiar fashion and began,

”I would like to thank the Academy…..”

Instantly everyone’s tears were replaced with uproarious laughter.

Chrissy then went on to talk about how she had “stopped going to church” many years ago. “If I was late or not dressed up like everyone else I was criticized and made a spectacle of. But in this house you are accepted just the way you are, and if you have to leave to do something they say, ‘Well come on back whenever you can.’”

Yes, we have seen some amazing healings and deliverances over the years, but the miracle I am describing here is the greatest one of all……how such a motley crew of men and women, marrieds and singles, young and old, rich and poor, Americans and Irish, Protestants and Catholics, religious and irreligious who were strangers to one another, but each known and drawn here by their one heavenly Father, can within a single day, of walking in the light in an environment of authentic love be forged into

…….. a real family.

I thought again of my new friend Bob on the plane and of a verse from the song we began and ended the retreat with:

Well I hear you’ve been traveling to the ends of the earth

You’ve been to the back of beyond.

You’ve been learning some lessons ‘bout what is of worth

So you’ve come to renew family bonds.

P.S. I jumped the gun a bit last week by saying this blog would be “Robin’s Story”. At the end of the circle, hours after the retreat was ‘meant’ to finish, Rita asked, “Could we please pray for you Robin?” He held up a tin of tuna, Saachi hadhanded him and laughingly said, “It’s  really time I gave my kids some dinner.”

So we will get to “Robin’s Story”.….. right on time : – )

Last September and again two weeks ago I wrote about Kanye West under the heading “A Greater Awakening”.

Thank you Holly and Mandy from Gilnahirk for alerting me to this inspiring video. The last question and answer are especially encouraging!!

So have you got me figured out yet ? : – ) 

On the last two blogs I posted more ‘links’ than usual.

I realize that because I have quite a diverse readership, these may create some different reactions. The fact that you are reading this means you haven’t ‘Unsubscribed’ (not yet anyway!) because you’ve taken exception to these ‘associations’ and concluded….. He must be a this or a that  : – )

Our natural response to new information is to try and categorize it and it’s source. Labeling and pigeon holing others can help us feel ‘safe’ because then we know if they are in our ‘camp’ or not!  

But when John the Baptist was asked,

“Are you Elijah? Are you the Prophet?”

He refused to give a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ answer. Instead he said,

“I am a voice….”

This begs the question,

“Whose voice?”

John knew he had been called by God ‘to prepare the way of the Lord’ and so he was God’s voice. In other words instead of focusing on a name or title, a role or position, he pointed to

….. a relationship.   

Jesus too was repeatedly asked by the scribes and Pharasees,

“Are you the Christ?”

Like John he did not give them a direct answer. Instead he too focused on the relationship he had with his Father. Instead of claiming to be anything in and of himself he left it up to each person to decide if he were ‘the Christ.’

Can we be as secure in our identity as sons of God to defy categorization with any particular ‘tribe’ or ideology because we are aligning ourselves with only one thing – that is THE TRUTH?

Roy Millar in his commentary on John writes

“The Greek mindset that pervades western culture tends to emphasis truth as accurate information. John with his Hebrew worldview, would have embraced a wider range of meaning. Truth as we encounter it in the Hebrew scriptures also emphasizes faithfulness within a covenant relationship.”  (Come and See. Page 45)

“What is truth?” Pilate asked Jesus.

“Who is truth?” would have been the more appropriate question.

Earlier we read,

‘”You are a king, then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” (Jn. 18:27)

Here Jesus seems to divide humanity not on the basis of which ‘camp’ they belong to or label they carry but into those who like himself are, “on the side of truth” and those who for whatever reason, “refuse to love the truth’ (2 These 2:10) 

When Jesus said to Herod, “You say that I am a king. In fact the reason I came into the world was to testify to the truth.” He connects the two because the primary ‘truth’ we need to awaken to is what I wrote about last week, that not only is Jesus ‘a king’ 

……he is “KING OF KINGS.”

God’s Sovereignty is where “A Greater Awakening” begins.

Yesterday at our fellowship I spoke about physically “awaking” from sleep the previous night to hear God’s voice. Jokingly someone cracked, “And what time was it?’ They know for me the clock has moved beyond being just a ‘time piece’ to being a ‘talk piece’ : – )

I continued to tell how I went to our Upper Room and was inspired to ponder and pray in front of a “tree of life” banner made by our friend Carolyn depicting the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, righteousness, temperance, faith, truth and holiness that are “the leaves of the tree for the healing of THE NATIONS” as recorded in Revelation 22:2  

Thirty minutes or so later as I climbed back into bed I noticed….. it was 2.22. 

I thought about how for me, Father speaking through the time on the clock is now more the rule than the exception. He then reminded me of the ‘truth’ from Psalm 139. “I know the time….. when you rise up, and the time…… when you lie down.” 

He told me that his possessing such knowledge was not an end in itself but was for the purpose of intimate communication in our covenant relationship.

………as we are childlike enough to simply accept and believe

…….Jesus is King and…… Our Father is Sovereign

…….over EVERYTHING.

……from the grandest design of HEALING FOR THE NATIONS

……to the tiniest detail of OUR PERSONAL LIVES.

P.S. Next Week: Part 4. “Robin’s Story.”

Riddle 1. How many Kings came seeking the baby Jesus?

Answer. We don’t know.

You may well have answered, “Three”. After all haven’t we just been singing, “We three kings of Orient are”, and didn’t they bring gold, frankincense and myrrh?

They did, but if you check the biblical record you will see there is no number given and the ‘Three” we all had assumed…. is merely ‘myth’

How much of what we have been lead to believe as ‘true’, comes into this category?

Last week’s documentary called into question the assumption that corporations like the BBC are run by wise, truthful and benevolent people who really want the best for us all. People’s trust in ‘this world’s’ leadership whether it be corporate broadcasters, businesses, banks, or governments is at an all time low….. and rightly so.

Psalm 2 describes the ‘fact’, not theory of ‘conspiracy’ amongst ‘this world’s’ rulers.

“Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the LORD and against his anointed.” (Ps.2:1,2)

Thankfully it also enlightens us as to another ‘fact’ about who is really in control, that more people are ‘Awakening‘ to, for God says,

” I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.”

Riddle 2. So, what does a Black rapper, a Jewish rabbi, and a Belfast bard have in common?

Answer. They all proclaim “Jesus is King.”

While in Ireland a few months ago, I blogged……

“I find it interesting that TODAY, 27th September………

The songwriter K(ay n the) West was due to release JESUS IS KING

The songwriter K(yle)in the EAST who proclaimed JESUS IS KING

……..has a birthday!

As I enter my 67th year I turn to Psalm 67…….

‘May God be gracious to us and make his face shine on us – so THAT YOUR WAYS MAY BE KNOWN on earth, your salvation among ALL NATIONS.”“

Kayne’s latest album, “Jesus is King”‘ and his spiritual ‘Awakening’ in the West, continues to create a stir. Here are the responses of two very different commentators you might want to dip into: (Kayne at 9 min 11sec on the first.)

By ‘‘K(yle)in the East‘ I was referring to my hometown of Gilnahirk on the east coast of Ireland. Gilnahirk means,”the hill of the horn blower.’ This is where I was given the song, “Lord Jesus We Enthrone You” proclaiming “Jesus is King”.

Since then, over the last 40 years we have been lead to all five continents, where we have gone to the top of a thousand hills, from Alice Springs, Australia to Table Mountain, South Africa, from Beijing, China to Nice, France, from the Pyramid of the Moon, Mexico to Montreal, Canada, from Faugher Head, Ireland to Seoul, South Korea, from Kona Kinabalu, Malaysia to the Rock of Gibraltar, from the Transylvanian Alps to Russell, Aotearoa. There alone, or with a handful of others, we have repeatedly proclaimed this unchanging truth, “Jesus…..you are King.”

Last week Pauline was inspired to send me this recent talk given by Rabbi Jonathan Kahn who also believes “Jesus is Messiah (King)”

I was intrigued that he began by telling of how he too had been lead to the top of other ‘mountains’ in the world, for example in Cuba and Nigeria, to blow the shofar (horn), there also to proclaim, “Jesus is King”.

So maybe, I chuckled, there is something to these ‘three’ kings?

…...Kanye, Kahn and Kyle

………all proclaiming “Jesus is King” : – )

I smiled when I pulled up my Spotify 2019 wrap.

Compared to Kanye’s millions, these figures are minuscule (generating less than one hundred dollars royalties a year : – ), however it is the number’s significance rather than size that struck me. In particular the fact that I was listened to in 70 countries. This is the number that represents the “ALL NATIONS” of Psalm 67, (Gen.10). The number 70 also represents RESTORATION.

P.S.

I came across a new book while last in Ireland, called “The Spies At Gilnahirk”. Drawing on material that up until a few years ago was kept secret, the author George (who was a friend in my patrol in the 30th Gilnahirk Boy Scout company!) described how there had been an ‘undercover operation’ on “the hill of the horn blower” intercepting German messages during WW2 . It was estimated that the hidden work of this group and others like them shortened the war by 2 years and saved several million lives!!!

In the same way there are many unsung heroes who, conscious that we have all been “Born Into A Battle”, have sought to play their ‘undercover’ part. (That song incidentally got the most Spotify streams last year!)

These ‘Spies’ will, like Joshua and Caleb, receive their ‘crowns of reward.’ and will in turn, as another song says, “cast them down at the feet of our Lord”,

…….even as their ‘life and lip sync’ has proclaimed.

“Jesus is King!”

Thank you for visiting the BeLOnGings blog again. It’s been an intriguing journey over the past three plus years, as I have held it lightly from week to week, but time and again have received the next ‘message’ arising out of a reflective conversation with God.

I have been reflecting further on Paul’s exhortation for our ‘senses’ (Jubilee Bible 2000) or ‘souls’ to not be lead astray from ‘a sincere and pure devotion to Christ’ (2 Cor. 12:3) and would like to share a little from our own life experience. This week’s illustration is another “earthen vessel”……..

“Folk history says that sincere comes from the Latin words sine cera. Sine means “without” and Cera means “wax.” The story goes that deceitful workers would take a cracked pot and fill the cracks with wax. Honest merchants would hang a sign that shows Sine Cera or “Without Wax” on it so that customers knew they were getting an authentic piece.”

I mentioned a few weeks ago the four ways in which the Way of Jesus has ‘morphed’ over the centuries as it travelled west from initially being a spiritual family relationship to being a philosophy (Greece), then an institution (Rome), then a culture (Europe), and then an enterprise (America), and how these emphases present temptations for our ‘souls’ ‘to be lead astray’ from our primary purpose, which is to know and love Christ.

Reflecting on our journey we have found ourselves following him ‘outside the camp’ of these four expressions of the ‘establishment’ where our ‘souls’ can snag us and our journey toward intimacy with God become stalled.

We are not ‘joiners’ but when Father ‘joints’ us to a group of people we are not ‘leavers’ We have always sought to “preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph.4:3) and never initiate separation. However……

Our first experience of being ‘put out’ of communion was in our local Presbyterian church where we lead the ‘youth group.’ Hungry for more of God, the young people were not disappointed as He poured out his Spirit igniting hearts and miraculously uniting in love Protestant and Catholic youth…..even as the newspapers world wide were reporting the murderous hostility that was tearing the little community of Northern Ireland apart.

The leaders of the church felt threatened by the fervor and commitment of this group of young people who were eager to experience the book of “Acts” again in their day! We repeatedly sought to honor the authorities, however eventually their demands went beyond where we had ‘faith’ to submit, and we were – ‘put out’.

Our way of behaving (the culture) was not deemed to be Presbyterian. I remember one elder saying “…But there is nothing about praying for the sick in our Presbyterian Code Book!”

For us the Way of Jesus commanding us to ‘heal the sick‘ had to take precedence over the Presbyterian Code Book!

(A few years later the Presbyterian church in Ireland had a ‘Special Assembly’ purposefully to examine the ‘spiritual’ state of the church. They produced a list of markers of spiritual life they wanted to see developing in their churches. Interestingly this list corresponded to the list they had previously found fault with, in our fellowship! Such is the cost of being called as a ‘pioneer’)

The second occasion was when an overemphasis on rules and regulations lead us to question the direction of that group. I had given a talk on the importance of structure, but said how structure needs to serve the life (of the Spirit) and not the other way round. This time it was a way of structuring (the institution) that we believed was quenching the Spirit which lead to our again being  – ‘put out.’

We believed we were being true to the Way of Jesus who was angry with the Pharisees for allowing their traditions to make void the (living) word of God. In St. Paul’s words, ‘…….the letter kills, but the spirit gives life.”

In a third setting, our way of thinking (the philosophy) was at odds with the leadership. Again we did not precipitate a separation and sought to submit to the degree that our conscience permitted, but could not deny the deeper revelatory understanding of the Way of Jesus in scripture that we had received. Once again it was the leadership who drew the line in the sand and we were once more – ‘put out’.

Our latest ‘run in’ has not been with a church or a para-church body but with the local City Council! The issue on this occasion has been a way of doing business (the enterprise)

Because our motivation in welcoming into our family those who the Lord has sent to offer shelter and healing has not been commercial (the love of money) but rather devotional (the love God and neighbor) the local authorities have been flummoxed. I believe they haven’t known what to do with what their Code calls ‘a single family unit’ where their definition of family differs from ours.  Because of their primary concern about ‘the bottom line’ we are again, in effect being ‘put out’ by this authority as they have made it too uncomfortable for us to stay!  (Having said this we are at peace, seeing God’s sovereign hand at work moving us on in this new season!)

Again, we could not deny the Way of Jesus who said, “Inasmuch as you did it unto one of the least of these little ones, you did it unto me.”(Matt.25:40)

None of these four experiences have been easy as we had become ‘jointed’ to other people involved. But it was as if Jesus was asking each time, “Do you love me more than these?”  

So we have sought to follow Him, forgiving and blessing as we go, trusting that as scripture teaches, in Christ, sooner or later, all will one day be reconciled and restored. 

In the book of Hebrews we read,

^“Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate. So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come.“ (Heb.13:12-14)

As we have gone ‘The Road Less Traveled’ journeying “outside the camp” of these various forms of the ‘establishment’, we are ‘bearing His reproach” as we simply follow Him, who is the Way the Truth and the Life, and who said,”Whoever would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”  There is a price to pay for “a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.”

Although the ‘experts’ would dismiss the etymology of ‘sincere’ as given above, I find it a useful illustration. The version I heard also described the  potential purchaser or redeemer holding the vessel up to the light to check wither it was ‘without wax’ or not! I think this pictures God checking that all falsehood has been removed from us ….for he ‘gave himself for us TO REDEEM US from wickedness and TO PURIFY for himself a people eager to do what is good.” (Titus 2:14)

My personality tends toward being a “Peace-maker” I marvel at how God matched me with someone who is more of a “Perfect-ionist” or “Reformer.” Had I not been partnered with Hilary I know without her repeated loving challenges I would have compromised and settled many times for a false ‘peace.’ God knew that only together with her would I fulfill my calling and that she only together with me would fulfill her’s, for we are indeed united in the one calling with which we have been called……to follow Him to that ‘lasting city…..with foundations, whose architect and builder is God…..the city which is to come.’ (Heb.11,13.)

The ‘Perfect’ Holy City governed by the Prince of ‘Peace’.

We know we have likely ‘missed the turn’ on many occasions, but thankfully God’s Positioning System can graciously recalibrate – and bring us, as a spiritual family relationship – back home at last!

After finishing this blog, our Father illuminated to me in a new light, this song by Ben about the Twin Cities, our current earthly home………

P.S. When I reread last week’s blog I realized I had ‘by mistake’ left out a very significant paragraph. I talked about an answer, but omitted the question! I have since inserted it……..See if you too can find what was lost and is now found :- ) 

After the services at Cromwell and Moose Lake, Hilary and I enjoyed some time with our friends Roger and Marnie who pastor these two little churches. It was great seeing them settled in their new Duluth home and the conversation around the dinner table that night was lively and wide ranging.

A few weeks before when they had been in the Cities and visited us. Roger had picked up on a comment our son Robin had made, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” He’d posted it on his Facebook page inviting responses. One of these included the above photo illustrating the Japanese art of Kintsukuroi (“golden repair”) It is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold. As a philosophy it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise.

Gold represents the divine nature.

On our way back down I.35 I pondered St Paul’s words, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the glory may belong to God so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves.” (2Cor.4:7)

The type of this in the Old Testament is the story of Gideon’s army, who were instructed to have the (golden) torch (of the Spirit) hidden inside the earthen vessel (our perishable bodies). Then when Gideon gave the signal, everyone blew their trumpet, smashed the jar to reveal the flame, and gave a shout.

The fulfillment of this type is given in 1 These. 4.13-18 and 1 Cor. 15:50 -57, where Paul describes the order of events at the coming of the Lord. There will again be a trumpet blast, a shout and the earthen vessels of our perishable bodies be destroyed in order to reveal the full glory of God as we are “clothed with the imperishable.”

We arrived back home, and then added up the financial gifts we were given by the two churches:

There was a check for $300 and when we added up all the cash everything from a $100 bill to several $1 bills (actually 5 : – ).

It also came to exactly $300.

It was our friend Ron who also taught us, “The numbers never lie.”

This was a double witness to the story of Gideon I had been reflecting on whose trimmed down army numbered a mere 300.

300 is the number for Divine Deliverance.

Last week Father planted in my mind the question, “Why was the painting entitled “Offer them Christ” rather than “Offer them Jesus”?

He showed me there was a hidden message he wanted me to hear to do with timing!

In this season of Advent as we anticipate Christ’s coming, I have decided to not watch or listen to (mainstream) ‘news’. (I’ve already experienced a lightening of spirit : – )

Instead I am upping my bible reading, joining two of our grandson’s endeavor to read the entire bible in the coming year. Last week we started in Matthew. In the very first chapter I found the answer to my question.

In the genealogical lists we are told there were 14 generations from Abraham to David and 14 from David to the Babylonian captivity, and 14 between the Babylonian captivity and the coming of the Christ. However if you actually count the generations to Jesus you will find there are only 13.

My understanding of this is that the 13th generation gave birth to Jesus the head of the body of Christ, but the full manifestation of Christ is reserved for a future generation when at the coming of the Lord the resurrected head will be united with the resurrected body as the two NT passages above describe.

Might we then be living at the time of the 14th generation……..or in total, the 42nd generation?

If you count the number of encampments of the children of Israel in the wilderness (Numbers 33), you will find that the 42nd encampment took place when they had crossed over to claim their inheritance, again pointing to the moment in time when we will receive again our inheritance of immortality that was lost in the first Adam but redeemed in Christ.

I was pondering last night how a third witness often confirms timing, when someone unexpectedly handed me another check. I looked. $300.… for a third time!!!

NOW is the Day of Divine Deliverance.

P.S. This morning I went to shop for groceries at Costco. I checked my receipt. As if I needed further confirmation!!!…………

In a few weeks time it will be 40 years since Father invited us to leave steady employment in Egypt……..in it’s National Health Service : – ). We are so thankful for our Father’s faithfulness in providing for us (through unsolicited gifts from our brothers and sisters) throughout our wilderness sojourn – receiving each day, as in this day, the perfect amount, to pay each and every bill!

Hallelujah! What a Dad!