Wouldn't believe the day I had. Nonstop, back to back, crammed with meetings, & people, & unexpected things, each presented need screaming out that it is the most important one. Well all except for one. Had a 10:30 mtg that replenished even while it was seeking solutions & answers in the now. Now that I'm home & have some time to think about the day & inquire of the Lord concerning how He thought it went & what I should do about today tomorrow & the day after... Now that I'm finally back home & not on the road, now I'm eager to take a bath, grab a glass of wine, & ask the Lord what's the right take to have on today's transpiring, conspirings & detainees.
And now comes the season of iron sharpening iron as we shoulder close to know God's heart, bear His likeness, & live out His message. In childlike wonder, engaging in the pleasures of this life, we drink deep from the people, places, & things that make this world provocatively beautiful. We live full. We play hard. We leisure well. We pray hard. We laugh deep - we kingdom eunichs. We, Christ-apprentices, who take on the yoke, take up our cross, & put on the mantle of serving others as we simultaneously engage every "Follow Me" discipline that will help in our swift pursuit of the holiness & wholeheartedness which enables us to see beyond the headlines & into the details of God. We'll live wide & deep in the joys of earth but remain willingly severed from that which would distract us from companioning the King & fulfilling His earthly desires. He alone is now our deepest delight.
Today was a good day. Time with God went well & led into time with Jr., which led back into time with God, which fueled my time mentoring Pastors today, which went well & led into dinner with our family & a family friend, which led to a long long walk & great conversation, which led to a good night's sleep.
Our Charlotte 24-7 Prayer room is filled with young people most every night now. Staff having to stay sometimes past 10pm so as not to interrupt what God is doing in those young hearts sprawled out in personal prayer. There's no sermon, except the one God is preaching uniquely to each heart. There's no worship band, except the best the world has to offer in worship music wafting out of the ipod hooked up to the stereo, which is helping to set the stage for the divine romance filling the spaces with the sound of faces on floor, & paces on the floor, & prayer ascending. Yeah, hosting the encounter between God & man,,, this is why we exist.
There once was a breed of people for whom God himself was their aim & end, & not merely a means to an end. Where God himself was intently sought after to be encountered, known, companioned, & abided with not primarily because of what He could give but because of who He was. There once was a breed of people who did not shun the King's invitation to daily dine with Him because of their much distraction with the King's provision of work & blessing in their life. Yes, there were once & are still those whose alabaster boxes are all broken. Those of whom God Himself is their all in all.
Just back from the VH community org meeting. Gave their leaders the debrief of all the Justice Project has accomplished so far. Seemed like a lot looking it at all listed on one sheet of paper. 157 hours of prayer. 125.7 man hours on the street, & we are only three months in. Whew! What a wild ride so far. +Crazy busy in the prayer room tonight as 24-7 hosted various groups which filled every conceivable sit-space with bodies in community hatching ideas, making plans, sharing life-stories & even sharing struggles. Good use of the rooms tonight, small groups-o-rama. The 24-7 administrator worked it out so that I don't have to staff 24-7 any this week. Will go there for various pastor's meetings & d'ships. But it will still feel like a week off. Need one after that home makeover weekend. Slept better last night, but still plum tuckered out. My boy is out of school for the summer...God save the queen. Best part of the day? Morning devotions, a letter from Primal, & Sheri-Baby hooking up our webpage.
Kill the lusts of my flesh & fulfill my lust for your Life. Make me an insider - Standing amoung all those Who too risked it all, surrendered it all, & gave thier all to come near The King. To work & dwell in close companionship with The Holy, This alone is my One Thing.
Attentive, Affectionate, Engaged;
I fix my gaze upon thee, oh God.
I set my affections on You, my master & friend.
To You I come near, calling, inquiring, beholding.
For You I live & breathe & serve today.
Your pleasure, my greatest delight.
Courting,
and
wooing
the
Holy.
Well, yesterday we did it. We took in an unwed pregnant 19year old. She's a student at the nearby college. Her parents threw her out when they got the news of the baby coming. Moved in yesterday. I had buyers remorse most of last night. Feeling much better about the decision this morning. It could be nice having a baby in the house again. Well, thats what I'll tell myself when things get tough here & there. If you do the right thing somewhat reluctantly, does it still count as having done the right thing? Will have to ask "musing's" husband.
Update: She went to the emergency room with pains the other day. Doc admitted her - thought she might be losing the baby. Gave a grim prognosis. As a result of it possibly also being some larger health issue, her parents start speaking to her again & took her home from the hospital with them last night to care for her. Not sure how this story will end, but at least her parents have opened their arms to her once again.
Update: Doc found the problem. Eptopic pregancy. Babe growing in the wrong place. Doc says they will have to operate to remove or the mother will suffer serous health risks. She goes into surgey on Thursday.
makeover a great success! me? exhausted. you know the kind of tired that is so tired that sleep comes difficult instead of easy. long hours. many people. stifling heat. sweating profusely. a great before & after transformation. many thank you's. tired beyond belief. afterwords a few beers & pizza, a shower, & sleep that won't come. go figure. in my room the air conditioner is cranked on high, but it still feels like stifling heat in my room... flashbacks from Nam.
Just back from dropping Jr. off at VBS for the morning. Went onto a church campus that sprawled with buildings, & inside them huge rooms...all empty & largely unused. It got me thinking about the timing of vision casting specifically to reproduce 24-7 sacred spaces throughout the city north, south, east, & west. It literally pained me that so much useful space here & all 'round the city was going to great waste. How anti-postmodern & anti-wise to have so much conversation around better efforting of God's resources to forward God's kingdom while some of the cities choicest real estate is only used one Sunday a week to serve the purposes of encouraging people to consider & gather around this man Jesus. Meanwhile... the coffeehouses are packed daily. You think someone would have long ago put two & two together regarding the need for spaces in the city to chill, read, reflect, talk to God, study, & refuel. Places to work, rest, & pray. How sorrowful that the churches who are in the greatest position to provide such spaces have failed to see this need & there buildings as useful on-ramps to invite those who might not dialog with them, but would dialog with God in one if these spacious environments set up with wildly engaging & creative prayer stations, personal liturgy spots, decent desks & study tables, comfortable couches, quiet niches & community spaces, free Internet, kickin' modern & old school diverse wosrhip music coming out of those expensive sound systems, & great coffee. The church should be the new Starbucks, offering coffee grown by Rwandan farmers, providing the poor on the other side of the globe a living while providing sacred spaces for us saturated with God's presence where people can work, rest, & pray, chill, be still, & get to know God. The churches could be the new fueling stations... more than just on Sunday.
With last night's syrophenecian woman's-style deliverance set behind me... A 10-12, 12:30-1pm, & 1-1:45 meeting ahead of me...
The season is ripe for the fruits of prayer & justice to hang low on the branches.
Mini-extreme home makeover went under way this morning at 8am. Day One. Hour One.
The makeover house in its marginalized n'hood is crawling with men. And I just got word from one of the participating Pastors that their congregation's participation in the Justice Project is doing what God set it in motion to do - transform those serving as much as those being served. The God of Isaiah 58 is on the move. And we justice & mercy novices are honored to be on the move with it.
She says I'm her hero... But she's been mine for some time now, swooping in to encourage or deliver in just the nick of time. She's my hero.
this lifeswelling force called worship
keeps building up & spilling over onto my in box,
making my now worship-soaked work desk
& today's rigorous demands
a well fueled mysterious delight...
despite its rigors.
I've been noticing that most of us try to get prayers to do for us what Jesus promised only relationship with Him was meant to do for us. We regularly ask Jesus for things that equate to "the good life". We think simply praying to Jesus for peace, joy, abundant life, contentment, etc, etc, will save us the expense & inconvenience of laying down our lives to walk with Christ as our peace, joy, abundant life, contentment, etc, etc. As if asking Jesus to simply 'fix' our reoccurring problem will save us the trouble of having to surrender our idols, humble ourselves, take up our crosses, tether ourselves to Jesus & follow Him through it. “Lord, Lord, give me peace?" "O.K. Shall I send a small diluted amount to you FedEx as usual or should I be packing my bags & making plans to come live with you? Is there enough room in your house for Me to live?"
Sincerely, Jesus - aka: Peace.
watching history in the making. Stayed up late into the night
Wish my Mom were alive
to see this day.
Keeping sight of the extrordinary things God wants to do in this world, I get up, bow dow, surrender all, & hit the ground running.
24-7 staff members have been talking to me about how cool it's been for them to be given regular opportunity to pray with people who wander in to 24-sacred spaces, settle in for a bit & then end up asking for prayer, as God, whose presence permeates the space, pushes some topic up the surface that they have long been suppressing. Even the tours given to 1st timers to help them navigate the stations, even these are bite sized vignettes instigating hunger for a God who wants to be known & interacted with. I like how the staff has begun to really dive into the spaces people grant them when invited to listen to their stories, hear of their trials, & pray for God to invade their offered up spaces. The concept of having to staff the prayer room used to be daunting to me. Now that I see the joy staff gets out of it, & the consistency with which christian & non-christian visitors ask for prayer; now I see it as a good thing. Not as off point with the one-on-one God-time the space is primarily for, but running along the outside edges & working in concert with it.
Spent the morning marinading in justice text. It's hard. It breaks me every time I dive in that direction. I never come away unscathed or in some way unshifted. Came away this morning in awe & wonder at what we are called into & also wondering how in the world was I gonna lead this 350 member crew down this justice road in a meaningful way. Knew I had to keep stepping up to the plate & swinging toward that goal nonetheless.
Later that day I came home, layed on the couch with my kid, & watched Breakfast at Tiffany's until he insisted on us turning to Sponge Bob Square-pants instead. Came home to be with him after a long morning & afternoon managing the justice teams that hit the streets every weekend, & negotiating with the Villa Hieghts resident regarding her mini-extreme home makeover. (Big shout out to NLC) The house we are redoing is clutter from floor to ceiling - with thin slices of walkthru from the door to the rooms. Stuff layers deep on every surface, & the novice teams trying to maneuver all the changes & "won't budge" moments. Tried to give life-storyline that would infuse their service with meaning. But would it hold in the context of little breathing room & a mountain of stuff? It held despite their moments of true exasperation. When the justice teams are finished for the day, I'll head on over & talk to E about what matters in life & what is healthy to let go of so life can take place in her home. Though I love those kinds of conversations, they are nevertheless, tough ones to have. The team doing landscaping blocks away at S's place were all smiles & laughter despite the heat. I only needed to check on them once. They were doing just fine. The team that left E's was simply spent. Next weekend the real work begins as 3 days of 12 hour days mark the hard launch & hard finish of this mini- makeover project in this inner-city neighborhood the Justice Project is doing its tour of duty in.
Another busy night at the prayer room. When I walked in around 8ish tonight there were people praying, chilling on couches reading, filling almost every station, headphones on checking out the videos, pacing the paper prayer path, a worship band sitting in the back space interceding, their instruments all scattered at around their feet. Tomorrow is Friday & my in-box is spilling over with To-Do stuff. Saturday got people coming in from out of town to spend time at 24-7. Will try to make some time to connect with them while still managing the Justice Project teams that hit the streets every weekend. Busy next few days that will give way to a slower next week more focused on vision casting & support raising. Hope to get a letter out to Primal soon. I miss our talks..
Just back from 24-7, where Alexis, (soon headed out as a missionary to Haiti) is staffing & working on some 24-7 admin today. On my way out M was waiting for me. Said he wanted to take me up on an offer I'd made him a while ago about being free from his bondage. I asked him why, & he recounted to me his tales of being in prison (again), & of coming out & running with a crowd of Satanist into S & M. Said he hung with em for the thrill & cause it was just so different. M. spoke of meeting a serial killer who told stories of his conquests, & of being hunted by individuals in this satanist group who he now believed wanted to take his life. He was worried I wouldn't believe his tales cause they were so"out there" even for him. I told him that I've heard worse. He was scared. I'd seen him cocky, brazen, drunk, & drugged, beat up, but never scared. Said he wanted to be free; free from demons & free to protect himself from them. I told him what, as a follower of Christ & as an exorcist, I'd tell anyone in his situation. The whole time he spoke, the sulfuric stench of a man hunted by evil surrounded him. Evil had been M.'s friend, & now he wanted it to be his enemy & he did not know how to make the break. I've been on this road with M. for about two years now. This is the first time he's asked for help. The kind I can offer through Christ. With clear evidence of being hunted, now he thinks his only job is to stay alive. "Meet me & the team here at such & such a time. We'll be ready if you are." With one who calls himself Evil trying to take M's life, he walked away understanding he'd have to now willingly surrender his life to One who calls himself Savior. He understood, agreed to think it through & return at the appointed time but a short distance away.
Had a really good time at the 24-7 prayer national gathering last weekend. God gave us great favor & one on one time with the National leadership of the prayer movement, and we now move forward in what God has called us to do, with their blessing. Also met some wonderful people there. Some of whom will likely be coming to intern at Charlotte24-7. Btw, big shout out to the weekend interns on loan to us from ZHOP. And big shout out to all those who participated in the impromptu prayer meeting in our cabin at the 24-7National gathering. 3 hours long, but every minute full. While at the 24-7 gathering, God spoke with great clarity about our next steps as a prayer room, as a growing lead team with a footprint in several nations, & on becoming a millennial monastery taking on national & international interns in the context of a community practicing the rhythms of prayer, mission & justice. I & others on the lead team are looking forward to helping equip urban missionaries/punk monks to adore God, walk in His life, & fulfill their callings. At the prayer room God is still accosting people & bringing them into His presence. That has been consistent & sure. The discipleships I have with city Pastors are all going well. And the only thing that's low here presently is our bank account. We'll get through it ok though. Somehow always do. Had a conversation with an acquaintance yesterday with connections in Haiti. Talked about birthing a 24-7prayer room in Haiti. One with an emphasis on prayer, justice, & equipping/maturing its young Pastors. It could be run by the local 20somethings, but eqquipping-resourced by some of the best teachers from across the nations. Crazy! We'll see what God does among friends scheming & dreaming crazy dreams.
"He will keep in perfect peace, those whose mind is stayed on Thee"
Take that verse out for a spin on the open road
& see how she corners at high speed.
It's ok to need. To need deeply. To need sure & wide for the wild of you. And to tie yourself to that need & swing over the cliff with it. The whole time shouting "I'm yours Lord, save me. God, save me". It's ok to need. And to see the need & all the wrecthed refuse dangling on the end of it as your way & line to swing fast & wide outward, letting go & falling on the rock below whom we call the Saviour. We all need much more deeply than we think we do. The guy swinging off the cliff is at that moment more fully aware of it than most of us. Would that we would all be like him, understanding more fully the depth of our need, whether smelly stuff is dangling at the end of our rope or not. It's more than ok to need. It's crucial.
After a week of international visitors & an info intense prayer gathering/conference, i find comfort in the sound of the plane touching down in my hometown, in sleeping in late in my own bed, in heading to the prayer room to do some content upgrades, in hanging with my kid mid afternoon, in watching t.v for a while, & after he's in bed, in working on reply emails & 24-7 stuff till late into the night.
Let my heart be filled feasting on you in the finding. Let the day be sense & scent-filled with the fragrance of my affection-baptized abiding in you. For this I draw near - For this I court & woo - For this I move near stripping off sins & weights & rages & rags as I run coming. You & me interlocked in piercing sweet communion. All else, though good & godly, is second place & second best. You...simply You. This fills my seconds, & fuels all my second command labors, thus giving them first rate treatment
I'm at the prayer room. The garage door is open & it's Saturday. Saturday's are pretty busy here. People 
coming to check out 24-7 sacred space for the 1st time. Praying thru the stations. People coming in & out with 24-7 Justice Project teams serving in a nearby inner-city hood. Teens, adults, kids, it's all here on Saturdays. There's prayer & last minute info gathering. There's telling them the story of the person or family a team is about to go serve. There's getting ready for the afternoon teams, once the morning teams have hit the streets. Oh...and there's good coffee. A team from Winston-Salem is riding up today to check out the prayer room & see how they can reproduce it where they live. There's hustle & bustle followed by periods of quiet & stillness at 24-7 on Saturdays. Yeah, I love Saturdays at the site best.
Love does not accept another based on their strengths
Nor does it reject another based on their weaknesses.
It is unswayed by another's greatness, power, or prowess.
And it is unoffended by their great weaknesses & wounds.
Love is out for another's good & is in their corner
even when that other person is acting like a fool.
Especially then.
The greater the darkness, the brighter love shines.
Love covers instead of broadcasting.
It intercedes instead of accusing.
Not easily irritated, Love encourages even when rebuking.
Love stands firm. Love never fails.
"Love one another" -Jesus
Before there was sin to confess. Before there was spiritual warfare to engage. Before ther
e was the need for intercession. Before there were demons to cast out. Before there were things to believe God for... Before there was all that kind of content which now fills & defines our prayer time. Before all this, prayer was primarily about communion with God. And there was intercourse in the discourse, & communion in the communication. The parties involved exchanged ideas, talk of the day's experiences, the highs & lows, shared thier secrets, & bore their hearts there in the prayer context of "I want to be with you...I want to be near you... I want to know you. ". There, prayer was the conduit for knowing & understanding & companioning each the other. These sturdy foundations of prayer have all but been removed & replaced by, well... ya know. Would that we began to seek out communion with God again as our chief pursuit in prayer. Not to the exclusion of requests & warfare & intercession, but to the betterment of them. Powerful God... Lonely God. You can do something about the latter. We are God's delight. Yep. But is He ours. God is our friend. Yep. But are we His? Many reach out to touch God's wallet, few reach out to touch His heart. Ub1
I want more than salvation, I want the Savior. More than I want the answers I want the Teacher. I come, Hands empty. Nothing but my longing heart To recommend me. A longing so deep... That it is an ache.
The savage bows down to idols of wood and stone,
the civilized man to idols of flesh and blood,
the religous man to idols of ministry & mission,
the godly man to none but God alone.
-George Bernard Shaw & L. Koons-
Today, You. Tomorrow, You. The day after that, You. Not You in some vague general wa
y. You in the specifics & down below churning at the core. You, in the deeds -the why & way of the acts that litter the landscape of the day. You, in the thoughts & reasonings from the landfills in my soul. You, in the meditations of my heart. You, in the conversations of my mouth. You, in the brutal slaying of your rivals to these my affections. You, in the quiet corners at red lights & lines in the grocery store. You, in the loud noise of my schedule & son & all trafficking plans in my head. You, in my best laid plans. Today, You. You, acknowledged. You, sought. You, admired. You, known. You, communed with, You, home.
"And they gave themselves to prayer..."
Was thinking this morning about what a huge space prayer took up among early church leaders. It was no mere afterthought nor was it comprised largely of what was said before & at the close of meetings. No. Prayer together & individually was given big spaces on each of their schedule books & calenders. So much so that one of their defining characteristic as well as that of their disciples was that they were people of prayer. Cooperate prayer & personal prayer. How upside down things have become for our present day leaders & their disciples. Prayer which once held the chief places in the lives of leaders & followers has now been relegated to pre & post meetings & perhaps a few quickly uttered times in the week. Hollowed out prayers uttered on the go, unattached from a vital & strong God-relational prayer life. Prayer has been all but neutered in this present age. No wonder God has been raising up movements devoted to prayer, to do it, to model it, & to resurrect its doing among the ranks of followers of Christ & even among not yet followers of Christ. How strange it is that most church leaders pray an average of 15 minutes a week with the bulk of other time taken up with running the business of church, & a brief prayer time filled with the listed needs of the church, like some weekly business meeting or banking transaction; all while unknowingly personally estranged from the One to whom the church belongs. Ceasing on ministry as an escape from having to come, stand, & wait before the Lord. It has always been easier to serve Him than to stand before Him. Like a spouse so focused on the house that she has forgotten the husband for whom the house is kept. Running on the strength from their gifting, loving ministry & people more than God, & bereft of the fruit & intimacy that comes with absoulte surrender & time before the Lord. Here is where Bride's destinies are cut short & would be God-companions become mere somewhat happy worker bees. God once said to me "My people profess great love for Me, but they can't stand to be near Me. Call them to come near..." Hey you, come near- learn to live near. Abide. You who have mastered a business realtionship with God, start a Tryst with the lonely living God. Court & woo Him, shedding the best of your affection on Him; Pouring your love out on Him like that gal with that alabaster box filled with precious perfumes. Be audacious, wholehearted & white-hot in that which many lived & died to make a way for you to have...relationship with the living God. Give yourself to God-communication that's filled with God-communion. Once upon a time, men & woman in absolute surrender & reckless abandon, made God their One thing, their first thing, & it made all seconds radiate.
One Upon A Time They Gave Themselves To Prayer
St. Patrick entered Ireland (the land of his previous slavery) with a small band of brothers and sisters to bring Christ into their midst. In less than 30 years, he was responsible for starting over 3,000 churches across the isle.
His strategy was relatively simple. In the leading and power of God's Spirit, his group entered a community, extended love, lived the rhythms of kingdom life in their midst, and invited them into it. Locals would see Patrick and his community and notice something special and good in it. They interacted with it, came to belong, and - in the process - discovered that they believed in Patrick's Christ - this God who affected people so wonderfully. Believers would be baptized, give public proclamation of their belief, and continue in their discipleship journey of growth. It was a communal affair in which belonging led to belief. -From: Hungry & Thirsty
St. Patrick entered Ireland (the land of his previous slavery) with a small band of brothers and sisters to bring Christ into their midst. In less than 30 years, he was responsible for starting over 3,000 churches across the isle.
Seeker Sensitive Church Movement Repents Click Here
got up - made my way to the cliffs to jump headlong into God's presence. there, having fallen on 
the Rock below, i made a schedule for the day that reflected who i am & what I know to be true. i am forgetful. if i don't recast the strong vision of the extraordinary love, peace, grace, & God-intimacy i'm called to experience, the world, my lust paridigm, & life-pace would quickly give me another less noble vision to follow. if i don't make myself stop at the start to stand toe to toe with the bondages that surely court me, look them square in the eye, & defiantly declare that i am free - if i don't make the morning journey that leads to collecting the Manna which strengthens me, casting every care that weighs on me, surrendering any hurt, & laying down every petty offense, refocusing on the pursuit of walking with God & loving others like today was my last chance to do so, - if i don't remind myself at the start... then i forget... and my emptiness, failures, & fears will remind me later on of what i forgot earlier on.
if i don't stop at the start & surrender myself to Jesus like a patient to a surgeon, like a student to a teacher, like like a bride to a groom.... if i fail to make a clear & certain choice at the start, i then begin to perish, shrinking down into an ok life but drifting further away from the extrodinary one.
Walking in humility
is not synonymous with being a doormat
but sometimes a willingness to be a doormat
is what it takes in order to become a door. (click here)
Manifesto
- Living & dying daily to know God intimately - And in radical obedience & kamikazi servanthood, to carry out His life's work. ________ Having all these words be more than just words as I soul-press, excuses-crucify, life-surrender & present my body to embody the message of my friend Jesus.
August 2008
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