One man owes the woman over $40,000 in child support for two young children. Another pays no child support and blows through the monies of parents. Children who never see their dads because their dads make choices not to see them. The injustice!
I don’t know about you but those circumstances set me on edge. They have the potential to make me angry and have from time to time.
Single parents with no one else in their life frequently struggle. I know from personal experience. I look with great pain at various Facebook posts that indicate single parenting is not easy. Whether by choice or circumstance being the “one” in a child’s life is hard. Continue reading Holidays, You And The Single Parent→
I am in a new season of my life. So many things have changed in the last year. Only a little more than a year ago I was in the publishing business. Then mysterious illness overtook me. One day I was up and the next day I was violently ill. It caused me to not be able to go ahead in what I was doing.
The next year was pretty crazy and here I am. Sickness was caused environmentally so moving resolved it, but I had a lot of time to think.
What I am finding and being encouraged in is something new. It has to do with where I fellowship and what I do. Team building and education are two of the big parts. Continue reading In A New Season→
(1 Samuel 8)
Israel asked for a king. Samuel was disappointed but the people were not pleased with his sons. As he prayed the Lord told him that it was Him, God Himself they had not wanted. “Give them what they want.”
People often ask but they frequently do not know what they are asking. More often they are asking for something more comfortable, less intense and not as dangerous.
I have more and more dreams as well as frequent visions of change in our region. I am sure others have their dreams of their regions as well. (Recently I saw New England changing dramatically. I saw pagans and witches being converted to the One.) Continue reading The Asking Of The People→
I have started no less than 7-8 stories, words, etc., and the pages just stare at me. Windows open, emails open, Facebook pinging and a desktop that irritates my wife because my order is not her order. And the kids have come down here to flashing Christmas lights, snow on the ground and music about Christmas.
Innocence- Lack of guilt. No wrongdoing. Not evil.
Last night I had the opportunity to get my Christmas tree. My granddaughter, Mariah and grandson Jacob climbed in the car and went tree shopping. I had waited all week to do this. We went down to a particular tree yard and after looking at a few we selected the tree. While they prepared to cut off the bottom (When Mariah saw the 12 year old boy start that chain saw, I saw stars in her eyes.) and wrap it to tie it on the car, the kids were offered candy canes. When we got in the car Mariah said “that was really nice of them. They were really nice.” (She also told me the boy getting to run the chain saw was “pretty cool.” I think she is looking for pink construction shoes!) Continue reading Preserving The Innocence→
I had a very intense dream last night. So intense that when I actually woke up I got up to walk away from it and the dream “followed” me. It kept on going.
In the dream I was asked to come on board and take over this publishing house. One of its projects was a local newspaper. I agreed and things went well. It was a quaint New England town with lots of white paint, green shutters and black iron fences. As we moved towards fall and foliage events I began to feel the job joy waning. I spent my time visiting people, writing stories, taking pictures and all the things one might do. Continue reading The Incorruptible Dream – A Telling Season→
A young parent. Or perhaps even more difficult, a single mom or dad. Tough enough, but then throw in the Christmas holiday and it can often be a tumultuous time.
While pastoring, I watched many a family go through the holiday meltdown of “I need more presents.” Parents would sit in my office and ask “what am I going to do?” Communities would come together with meals and gifts as well as many church folks would sow into lives. (And I am not even talking about the greed that comes into place when they find out one or more organizations have opportunities!) Continue reading Your Children Need Your Love→
This morning I was sitting here as I often do, meditating on various things, enjoying the quiet when I was struck with the following thought. Despite my best efforts to remain immature in some areas, I have grown up.
Now you can read that and laugh, or view it with disdain but the reality is, I had no real say in it. Do I understand you can make choices? Of course I do! Do I get that you can work on things? Absolutely! But was I “looking” for it? No! Life through its various twists and turns, dead ends and highways “did” something to me. Continue reading Growing Up Changes You→
While in the midst of worship I saw a number of sucker fish surfacing in the waters of a vision. All over the place these fish came to the top, breaking the water as they sought oxygen. Suckers roam the bottom of ponds and slow moving streams living off the bottom.
As I watched this I thought “jubilee.” It was a word that had been in my ears that day. And I was working hard to remember a word that Bob Jones had shared many years ago about jubilee, fish and water. Continue reading Bottom Feeders No More – It Is Jubilee!→
During worship in our fellowship, I received a vision I felt I was to share with the prophetic class I would be working with at night. Holding my granddaughter Naomi, the vision appeared and began to just “consume” me with intensity.
VISION
Large Surf-100′ wave
I saw a large ocean area far from the beach. The blue-green of the water intrigued me. In the far distance I saw the white crest of the waves from the foam as they moved.
And then my eyes saw the lone surfer in the water. Paddling, it was clear to see that he was losing his energy. In the back ground I saw the long, beginning arch of a gigantic wave. But the surfer was not seeing it. It got larger and larger in my view. The intensity of it was real. I could hear the hissing of the foam. I could hear the quiet as it began to consume the smaller waves.
The Lord took me out of that vision. I was looking into the eyes of my granddaughter. The music was playing. A couple was dancing.
I thought “wow, is this for now?” Nothing fit. Nothing made sense.
THINKINGS
I went through worship a little discombobulated. I was thinking. Was he going to miss the wave? Was he going to turn around? The Lord spoke to me about timing. I thought of Issachar. (Funny my friend Mark would share about the woman and the oil who was from Shunem in the tribe of Issachar.)
Last night I shared with our prophetic class the vision and what I thought was being spoken.
That many saw themselves as the surfer. Out there. Paddling. With no around.
(Hebrews 12:12 “For this cause let the hands which are hanging down be lifted up, and let the feeble knees be made strong,”)
That there many who felt as though they had “missed” a previous wave and were destined to just paddling. (Joshua 1:5 “No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you.”)
That it was necessary to evaluate our circumstances, to look around. (Psalm 8:6-8 “You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.”)
To recognize why you are there. (Habakkuk 2:3 “For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.”)
To see the timing of it all.. (1 Chronicles 12:32 “Of the sons of Issachar, men who understood the times, with knowledge of what Israel should do, their chiefs were two hundred; and all their kinsmen were at their command.”)
Recognize that when the wave comes it will be a time to stand. (Ephesians 6:13 “Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.”)
You will “walk” on the waters of life and be in His rest. (Psalm 93:4 “The LORD on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea.”
There is a beginning and an end to most things. This describes where we might be. You are not too old (Caleb –Joshua 14:11-12), too small (Gideon-Judges 6:15)or too uneducated (Acts 4:13). You did not miss it. You may get caught up in the circumstance, but lift your eyes to the hills …wait …you can look inside! That is where your help comes from. You are not subject to atmospheres. You are the atmosphere. You are a thermostat and not a thermometer. (I Timothy 4 Paul asks this of Timothy.) You are not looking for the light, you are the light. You are not looking for the light at the end of the tunnel, for you are the light in the tunnel.(Matthew 5:14)
A wall of water can be pretty destructive. Or you can get on top of it. This is a season of walking on waters, (Matthew 14:22-33) of rising above (Isaiah 40:31) and being the head and not the tail. (Job 9:8)
I encouraged the class to take this word and begin to prophesy to their families, their friends their communities.
“Stand! Stand up! Get up! This is your season. This is your wave. This is it! The great wave that will sweep to families and friends, will wash over communities and nations! Your time is here! Look around. The wave is coming. No longer will you paddle but you will STAND!”
(Reminded me of a song by Sly and The Family Stone)
I think I want his jacket…
STAND (1969)
Stand!
In the end you’ll still be you
One that’s done all the things you set out to do
Stand!
There’s a cross for you to bear
Things to go through if you’re going anywhere
Stand!
For the things you know are right
It’s the truth that the truth makes them so uptight
Stand!
All the things you want are real
You have you to complete and there is no deal
Stand!. stand!, ooh!
Stand!. stand!, ooh!
Stand!
You’ve been sitting much too long
There’s a permanent crease in your right and wrong
Stand
There’s a midget standing tall
And a giant beside him about to fall
Stand!. stand!, ooh!
Stand!. stand!, ooh!
Stand!
They will try to make you crawl
And they know what you’re saying makes sense and all
Stand!
Don’t you know that you are free
Well at least in your mind if you want to be
A few months ago I began to write this and for whatever reason, I stopped. Then we moved. One of the things in our home is our refrigerator and the pictures of family and drawings. Children often come and look at it. When we moved, my wife put the pictures in a box and when we arrived here it was one of the first things done. (One person was quite surprised at the fact that the pictures were already up.) Nothing makes a house a home like pictures. Continue reading Pictures On The Walls→
One man owes the woman over $40,000 in child support for two young children. Another pays no child support and blows through the monies of parents. Children who never see their dads because their dads make choices not to see them. The injustice!
