Month: August 2019

Categories
Personal Musings

What Do the Blue Angels and Prayer Have in Common?

Four Blue Angel aircraft flying in a tight diamond formation with trailing smoke on a backdrop of perfectly clear skies.
Are you this in sync with God?
Photo by Todd Diemer on Unsplash

I recently watched a documentary on the Blue Angles, the Navy’s flight demonstration squadron. I have a love for this group that goes back to my childhood in Seattle. Every year during Seafair, my mother would make sure we went to Lake Washington to watch the Blue Angels perform. We would find a place where their show takes them closest to the ground. It felt that if my arms were just a little bit longer, I could touch their wings. The rumble of the engines and feeling the rush of air as they passed overhead is forever etched in my memory. The documentary was about how they make that magic happen.

As I was preparing a team for praying at a conference. Most of the people in the room had gone through this training in previous years when it occurred to me that we were like the Blue Angels. As we reviewed the guidelines for prayer with others, I saw a picture in my mind of the lead pilot, slowly reading through the complete flight plan in the hours before they were going to fly. I was struck with how important it is to be ready to go into a prayer session with everyone prepared – to practice, practice, practice – like the Blue Angels who spend long hours together training. They hang-out with each other in their off-hours. The goal is to be able to think and move as a unit, to trust each other with their lives. I love the imagery of this in my faith walk. Spending time with God practicing spiritual disciplines prepares me for the daily journey with Him. However, hanging out with God just for the joy of it, is equally important. My ability to trust Him grows, allowing me to think as He thinks and see the world the way He sees it. We turn into a team that does amazing things.

I want the guidelines to be second nature, so that I can be completely in-tune with what God is doing right in front of me. I want to be keyed into His voice, His commands. I want to be so in sync with His movement that I’m in the right places at the right times, even when it feels death-defying. It’s exhilarating – my happy place.

In that space, I’ve seen bodies healed. I’ve seen people tormented by regrets and anger set free. I’ve seen people transformed to the point that they step into their true destinies. It’s the fulfillment of both Luke 4:17-19 and Matthew 10:7-8:

(Luke 4:17-19 New American Standard Bible)
And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written,
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.
He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives,
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set free those who are oppressed,
To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”

And

(Matthew 10:7-8 New American Standard Bible)
And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give.

I know that this only comes with practice, sometimes failure, and the ability to own up to the times when I’m out of sync, which is also something that the Blue Angles do at the end of each flight. They debrief with each other and look for places where they can improve. I feel that this is an area often left out of prayer teams, but it’s important. None of us gets it right one hundred percent of the time, but when we have others around us helping us to think through the process, we can improve and grow in our ability to be in the middle of what God is doing.

The Blue Angels have a saying when they are debriefing: “Glad to be here.” That is how I feel when I’m praying for others, so glad to be the person God is using to show someone else how much He loves them. It’s a privilege that deserves my full commitment to the process. I encourage you to fly strong and safe with God.

Categories
Personal Musings

GOD WAITED

Mt Index looks like a fist with the pointer finger slightly longer pointing upward.
Mt Index - Reminding Me God Is Right Here
Mt Index looks like a fist with the pointer finger slightly longer pointing upward.
Mt Index – Reminding Me God Is Right Here

While on vacation in Washington this summer I had a major God sighting. It started with a promise to visit Index Community Church, where my nephew-in-law is the pastor. It is the perfect little country church on the edge of town.

I can remember my Dad driving me over to Eastern Washington via Highway 2 when I was a little girl. One of the many tiny towns along that road is Index, WA. The strange part of my memory is how scared I felt driving along that road, which didn’t make sense to me since I loved traveling with my Dad. It was just this stretch of Highway 2 that made me feel like something was going to jump out and hurt me. My dad loved to take me on adventures, like the time we detoured off the road and over a two-lane bridge into the city of Index. He would say when we saw Mt. Index, “Look! There is the mountain that points to Jesus.” It was a phrase that seemed to calm me down.

Back to the present: there I was, standing outside this little white church, thinking about how I had been praying that God’s presence would fill this valley for most of my life. Then walking into the church, I realized that my niece and nephew were part of the answer to those prayers. I finally felt at peace. I sensed God showing me that they have taken up the call to be pointers to Jesus. They hold the index of important words that this community needs to hear. The people of Index Community Church are full of the presence of God and want to share that love with everyone they meet – family, friends, neighbors, and people just passing through.

Though it is estimated that only 205 people live in Index, it is a spiritually rich community with the Index Community Christian Church, the Aquarian Tabernacle Church of Wicca and the Snowy Mountain Buddhist Retreat Center – all firmly established there. There is a sense of convergence, pointing to something significant going on in the spiritual realm. What a blessing it is to see my relatives stepping into ministry in this important piece of land. I’m praying that they have a big impact that is felt around the world.

Then I had another flashback, to a time I was sitting at my Grandpa’s kitchen table and he was praying for the generations to come that they might serve God with their whole hearts, that each of us would have a heart of ministry, willing to share the love of God with anyone that we come in contact with. Again, I am overwhelmed at how God answers prayers. Not only is this niece serving God as a Ministry Assistant at Northwest University and working with her husband here in Index, bu my other two nieces, are also in ministry. My middle niece is starting a ministry for single pregnant women at her church, and her husband also works at Northwest University. The oldest of my nieces is a missionary with her husband in France.

I am overwhelmed by the grace of God that has helped me to stay faithful my whole life, and that I now get to see answers to prayers that were prayed 30 – 50 years ago. Over the years, I’ve sometimes wondered if God was listening to my prayers; but clearly, He has been listening the whole time and just waiting for the perfect timing to answer them. Don’t give up hope — even your simplest childlike prayers have an impact! God hears them all and has answers waiting for the perfect time to be revealed. Stay strong and have faith, maybe someday you will have crazy God stories like this one.

Categories
My City-My Valley

WHERE IS GOD IN THIS?

Iridescent soap bubbles floating above a lawn.
What Happens When the Bubble Bursts?

We picked up a young man at one of the local sober living facilities because he wanted to attend our Sunday Morning Breakfast and Bible Study. Choosing to sit with me while we were eating, he begins to tell me his story. He is intense as he tells me about all the wounding and abuse, he has suffered at the hands of Christians in the name of religious practices. He says, “I hate all things, Christian.”

I have to laugh a little since he asked us to pick him up so he could attend this Bible Study. At the same time, I’m sad because I’ve heard a similar story from many of the people who come to this group. It’s difficult because I know that I’ve been part of the system that has caused the perceived pain.

My heart is broken for him. I wonder how to draw him back to the central truth of Jesus’s love for him. The desperate need for love and understanding pours out of him; his eyes are darting from person to person, jumping up to hug the people he knows from other places, his voice getting louder, drawing attention to himself. He’s passed his thirty-days clean and sober, but still struggles. I’ve watched this process over and over the past few years. Some make it to the other side — others don’t. I’m praying that he will.

He continues with this story. He is adopted from a foreign country. He struggles with ADHD and Attachment Disorder. He is classically angry with his adoptive mom. I have a weird sense of connection with him. I suppose it’s because I’ve lived through the love/hate relationship with my adoptive son created by early childhood trauma. I find myself genuinely enjoying this young man.

All of a sudden, he says, “I like the people here because they are real and care about others.”

That was the promising start to this story. Unfortunately, this young man couldn’t stay clean and sober, which means he was kicked out of his sober living home. Generally, we lose touch with people when this happens, and he is no exception. We did get a few text messages and a couple of voicemails, but we only saw him one more time. This past week, one of the other members of our group called to tell us that this young man had died at a party.

I find myself grieving the loss of this funny but troubled guy. I wish I could have done more for him. I wish I could say that he resolved his issues with Christ and his family, but I honestly don’t know — and that is frustrating. I’m wondering why God brought him into our lives for him to die so young. It’s strange because I don’t normally ask God why, but right now I just can’t help myself.

As a group, we are trying to process what has happened. Several people comment that this could have been them, others are sensing a need to reach out to people that they know so maybe, just maybe, they won’t end up dead. It’s hard.

That’s when I begin to see God in this mess. There is a renewed sense of urgency to touch the lives of others who share much of this young man’s story – angry with Christians, but desperately searching for God’s unconditional love that we have to offer through Jesus. I don’t want another soul to be lost because I appear to be representing Jesus as judgmental and angry. I want to live a sacrificial life that is vulnerable, considerate, and loving – allowing others to see Jesus through me. How about you? What is one thing you could do differently today?