Raising Kane

The following post is something I wrote down on September 11, 2001:

"Just thinking about you and all the questions you may have and the questions others may have of you. Today I was stuck in Asheville away from my family. After the horrible news, I spent the afternoon in an old sanctuary reading the Psalms and praying for the families and emergency workers. I was seeking a word from God. First to comfort my soul, but next to find out what would God want from me at a time like this. I heard him say (through the Psalms)

"The Lord is King for ever and ever" Ps 10:16
"In the Lord put I my trust" "The Lord is in his holy temple, the Lords throne is in heaven" Ps 11:1&4
"The Lord is my rock and my fortress ...my strength in whom I will trust...I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised" Ps 18:1-3
"I will fear no evil, for thou art with me" Ps 23:4
"The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?" Ps 27:1

And on and on. What is the message? It is clear. We should not be surprised. We live in a world that is fallen and there are people who God loves dearly (the terrorists) who have turned away from God. We should not put our trust in our country, or our government, or our army. We should put our trust in the Lord, and the Lord only.

I hope you can move from dismay, and anger, and fear to a place where you seek the word of God for yourself. Ask the Father and he will speak words of peace, love and forgiveness.

But tonight I am feeling that I need to know He is in charge. So, I go to the words of Martin Luther who wrote the following song. Read it slowly to yourself and let the words sink in. For all the evil we will come to see in our life, if we can stand and face it with "one little word" on our lips, that word being "Jesus", then we can not be moved. When those around you are swayed, people will look to you for your opinion. You can give them the only credible answer. Jesus.

A mighty fortress is our God,
a bulwark never failing;
Our helper he, amid the flood
of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe
doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great,
and, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our strength confide,
our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side,
the Man of God's own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabbaoth, His Name,
from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled,
should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed
his truth to triumph through us:
the Prince of Darkness grim,
we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure,
for lo, his doom is sure,
one little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly powers,
no thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours
through Him Who with us sideth:
Let good and kindred go,
this mortal life also;
the body they may kill:
God's truth abideth still,
his kingdom is forever.

Martin Luther, 1529

Its Joel’s birthday today, so we went out to breakfast before I had to go to work this morning. As I was saying the prayer over our meal, it struck me that on this day some 18 years ago, God was present and determined that this was the day that Joel should be born.

God also was present in the life of Joel some months earlier, for we all know the verse from the Bible where it says that God knit us together in our mother’s womb:

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.” Psalm 139:13

I got to thinking about my daughter, Allison, and how when she was born, Cindy and I thought about lots of names and somewhere along the way settled on calling her “Allison”. I did not “know” her well yet and had no idea that some 18 years later I would lovingly refer to her simply as “Al”.

In the book of Chronicles, the prophet Ezra, speaking with the authority and in the voice of God says that we are a people who are named after God:

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face…” 2 Chronicles 7:14

We also know that we are the son’s of God:

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. Rev 21:6

God does have an interest in our name as is shown by him changing the names of Abram and Sarai to Abraham and Sarah; and when He spoke to the young Samuel, He called him by name.

And we know that He knows our name:

“Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine.” Isaiah 43:1

“The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.” John 10:3

"The Lord knows those who are his.” 2 Timothy 2:19

“Before I was born the Lord called me; from my birth he has made mention of my name. Isaiah 49:1

It even says that (our names?) are engraved on His hands:

“See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.” Isaiah 49:16

So, what should we make of the following passage?

"To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written, which no one knows except him who receives it" Revelation 2:17

Well, from what I have discerned by reading the commentary of Richard Chenevix Trench, Archbishop of Dublin, a biblical scholar from the eighteen-hundreds, is not that God will give us a new name (which, I admit would be pretty cool), but that He will share with us a new “revelation” of himself, one in which we are brought into an even closer relationship with Him.

Trench commented:

The "new name" here is something even better than this. It is the new name of God or of Christ, "my new name" (Rev. 3:12), some revelation of the glory of God, only in that higher state capable of being communicated by Him to his people, and which they only can understand who have actually received; for it is a knowing which is identical with a being.


My question then for you today is: "Have you heard him whisper your name?"


Reference: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/trench/7churches.iii.iv.html

Ok, my new find is a web site called SuperLetter. Its nothing really amazing, but it does what I need it to do. In this age of everything I need the internet to do for me, I was looking for an internet service where I could type a letter and then have someone mail it for me (oh, yeah, and it has to keep an address book for me so I dont have to look up peoples addresses).

Awhile back, I found AmazingMail where I can send people postcard with my photos on the front and a simple message on the back. I can send 1 or 500. They cost about a buck each. I sometimes like to take a great picture of on of the kids that I do ministry with (or one of my own kids) and send it to them in a post card format. Who doesnt like to get mail? Also a great way for me to thank doners to our ministry programs.

So, SuperLetter. Well its a long story, but it was just what I was looking for. I can get online, write a quick letter (even choose my font, font size, etc) and send a letter without ever having to find a stamp or drive to the post office. The first 5 are free to try, then it costs 50 cents (for a one page letter) thereafter. Oh, and did I mention that you can put photos into the letter? It arrives looking something like one of those fancy checks that you get from the government (you have to tear off the top and sides to open it). I also downloaded there desktop program that allows you to write your letter offline, add photos, and adjust the look, prior to sending it.

So, what are you waiting for? Check out www.SuperLetter.com

I really dont deserve a spot on the "blogroll" of my friends anymore. I have pretty much abandoned the post. But when I get tired of the simple non-sense of facebook posts and want to see a little deeper into the lives of my friends, I always come back to the blog.

Some of you are quite faithful to post week in and week out. I guess I missed the train. There are a thousand excuses.

So, just for the record, to all my friends that kept a spot on their blogroll for me..thanks. I promise to get back in the game.

So, its my birthday today. And I have celebrated this evening by surfing for photos of vintage motorcycles and dreaming about owning one someday. In the mean time, I have been listening to my most favorite musician of all time, John Hartford. Specifically, "Steam Powered Aereo-Takes". Some of the most amazing and bizzare lyrics ever penned. Anyway, I have thoroughly enjoyed my evening. It's been a good birthday. I am very thankful to have made it this far. Can't imagine really wanting anything else (maybe a cigar).

So, I was at the YoungLife camp, Frontier Ranch, in Buena Vista, Colorado on a week long trip with 23 of my closest high school friends, when I decided to take an afternoon break to read my Bible and get some quite time alone. There I sat on the side of hill, perched on a downed tree trunk looking out over the beautiful valley below, when the thought hit me: How cool would it be if God just showed up right now in a burning bush? Complacent reality swung back and hit me in the head; God doesn’t operate like that any more. Signs and wonders went out centuries ago. But still, I thought, it would be pretty cool.

The following morning, I decided to get up early, grab some coffee and sit on the porch in a rocking chair just outside the door to the Leader’s Lounge, which is located adjacent to the hillside where I prayed the previous afternoon. I was reading from a devotional and journaling my thoughts in a little paperback book. The wind blew faintly, then again a little stronger. I wrote down my thoughts (I have to admit, I was going for the poetic):

The wind is strong
But it does not
Move the rocks

And as fast as it came
It is suddenly still

The birds never cease to sing

The grass is bent
But not a stem is broken

The rays of the sun
Are not moved by the wind

I thought for a moment, and then waxed philosophical:

The Spirit of God
Like the wind
Is present for only a moment
And then gone

But I only need a moment
To be filled
But I wish the moment
Would last

Yet the sun still warms
My face
And the wind still cools
My face
Even after the Spirit
Has gone

The rocks are not moved

It was a wonderful moment. I felt very peaceful and very confident that God was present. I half convinced myself that the very Spirit of God was in the gust of wind and that God wanted to let me know that he was near. I wrote this prayer:

Spirit of God
You are a mystery
Why can we not summon you at will?
Why do you not stay with us longer?
And I am reminded …
That your power and fury are tremendous!
We can not stand more
Than a small taste of you.
We are terrified
By your power.
But in your absence
There is profound peace.
You can blow through our
Lives and change us in
A moment –
for the Glory of God.
All things stand,
Or fall
For His Glory.

On the following page, I added these lines:

In your time
Even the rocks are worn down
By your Mighty Wind

But the mountains remain
They are not moved
Because by Your hand
They were formed
And their foundations
Can not be moved by
The wind.

The wind blew harder and I thought about the physical act of bowing down in prayer.
I wrote these words:

The wind can not move you when you are bowed in prayer

Ok, so here is where it got a little weird for me. I was sitting in this rocking chair, with my journal and my coffee, and another leader was sitting a few chairs down from me reading her Bible and praying quietly. The wind started to gust again and I had to put down my journal. Of course, at this point, you know that I had just prayed for God to send his Spirit like a wind to remind us of His presence. And just the day before, I laughed at the thought of Him actually showing up. What followed was a little bit funny, a little bit frightening, and a little confusing.

I braced myself against the wind. And it blew harder. I finished my coffee and set my cup down next to my rocker. It was blown off the deck and up the hill (I promptly retrieved it and put it in my pocket). The wind blew harder. I faced the wind. Then it dawned on me that this might actually be the presence of God. And I laughed at myself for thinking such a silly thought. And the wind blew even harder. Then I thought that I should probably get down on my knees in prayer and bow before this display of power. And I decided that it would probably look kind of funny to the other leaders who were assembled in the Leader Lounge quietly having their own prayer time. And the wind blew harder. The rocking chair to my right was blown completely over and hit the deck with a crash. And I decided that this was pretty silly and that a safe man would recognize that a tree limb could at any moment come crashing onto the deck and I might get hurt. I retreated inside.

Funny thing happened next. As I was collecting my thoughts and dusting off the anxiety over the high winds, I observed something that would later bring feelings of regret. My silent prayer partner, who had remained on the deck the entire time, had moved off her rocker and had bowed herself completely down before the wind. I was instantly embarrassed that I had abandoned my post. There she remained as I sat quietly and safely inside the building.

After our leader meeting that morning (maybe an hour after the incident described above), I waited around to talk to my praying friend. Her name was Christy and we excitedly began talking about the events of the morning. I told her the story about sitting outside the day before and dreaming about a burning bush experience. I told her I had written in my journal about wanting just a little more of the presence of the Spirit in the wind. I told her I thought about bowing down on the deck, but chickened out. And then she shared the secret to the question that was in my mind. She said that when she first felt the wind, she began to pray for more. When the wind picked up a little, she began to praise God for his power. When it blew harder, she said that she “prayed for signs and wonders” – that’s when I knew, that I knew, that I knew, that God was present among us.

I was doing a little reading this morning and stumbled upon a passage in Daniel (Chapter 10:1-21). In this passage, Daniel has been seeking the Lord in prayer for "the full three weeks". A little later in the passage, the angel Gabriel appears and announces "from the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words have been heard."

As I considered these words, I was reminded of three separate events in my life that are unfolding in the span of three weeks. First is that my friend Tanya (www.beautifuladventure.blogspot.com) is heading off into the bush of Africa after having spent 3 months preparing to go. Second, my wife and children are leaving to go on choir tour with our church youth group. And third, I am leaving with a group of kids from Cherokee and Pickens County to go to the YoungLife camp at Frontier Ranch in Colorado (http://sites.younglife.org/camps/FrontierRanch/default.aspx )

So, its only three weeks away and I have committed to redouble my efforts in prayer. Please pray for me that I will have the discipline to stick to this commitment.

I am reading a book on prayer by Watchman Nee entitled “Let Us Pray”. In this neat little book, Watchman has encouraged me to try to pray, not so much in an effort to have God do the things that I want for him to do (keep me safe, keep my family safe, give us strength and health to complete these missions), but to seek after the will of God.

We talk a lot about the “will” of God, but according to Watchman, God’s will is simply his desire to make things right in the world. And (it would appear) that God simply will not move until his people pray. Our purpose and goal is then to find our way to his will and in doing so we will know what to pray for.

It all sounds so terribly complex. But it is probably very simple.

So, my prayer (should be) to put away my concerns for myself and to allow the Spirit of God to enter into my prayer so that my mind will know the will of God. Once I know the will of God (not by any act of my own), my own spirit will be moved to lift these concerns back to God in prayer. In doing so, God will move with great strength and power to complete the work that He has set out to do.

I love it that I have three weeks to practice. I don’t know if I can manage every day for three weeks like Daniel. I will try (and I will fail). But today I feel like I have succeeded.

Please be in prayer with me also, that we will all know the will of God and that we will begin to pray so that his strong arm will be moved to establish his kingdom here on earth.

“Thy Kingdom Come
Thy Will be Done on Earth
As it is in Heaven”

Amen