Tag: Palm Springs Christian

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Sacrificial Act of Worship

On Tahquitz Canyon Trail

After twenty-four years of researching and thinking about Tahquitz Canyon, I finally hiked up to the falls. Sure, it’s only about a two-mile loop trail with about a three-hundred-and-fifty-foot rise. Still, the hundred-plus steps that were twelve to twenty inches high made the trek a real accomplishment.

Looking up at Tahquitz Falls

Back when we first moved out to the desert in 1998, I started spiritual mapping the area. I researched the history of Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley to understand how the past is affecting our present and future. It was clear that Tahquitz Canyon played a significant role from the very beginning. The Cahuilla people have a deep spiritual connection to the canyon. It’s one of a couple of places where freshwater flows all year in the desert, so it sustains life.

In my historical quest, I found the story of Lonnie Frisbee, a drug addict hippie – by his own admission – who started the Jesus People Movement of the 1960s. The story I’ve read is that he went up to the Falls, dropped LSD, then had an encounter with God that so affected him that he started baptizing people that were with him. Then he went down to Orange County and connected with John Wimber and Chuck Smith, which catapulted the movement forward.

Writing about the Falls

As I sat on a rock near the water, it felt like I had entered a sanctuary. The high rock walls, echoing the water splashing into the small basin, and the creek’s burble flowing down into the desert surrounded me with a sense of awe and peace. The shade of the trees, with a slight breeze, allowed me to feel the joy of the trees clapping their hands, in Isaiah 55:12. I’m not sure I can adequately explain the deep spiritual connection I had to God at that moment, but I know something shifted in me. It was as if I had a destiny moment – being in the right place at the right time so that God could use me to do something He’d been planning to do.

Internally I shouted, “Hineni” – Hebrew for “Lord, I’m ready, I’ll go, I’m listening, tell me what You would have me know.” The idea that God can use me or anyone, no matter how messed-up, to start a world-changing movement, resonated in my being. Even though I was sore and tired by the end of the hike, I now know God  calling me to raise up people who are willing to go on prayer adventures with God – sacrificial acts of worship, where our presence is used to change atmospheres, spread love, and the joy of the Lord. The world needs us to listen to what we need to know, so that we can go and do what God wants at the right time. I’m confident this hike was to show me, and you, that anything is possible when we desire to be in the center of God’s will.

I long for your prayers as God continues to reveal my part to play in this new season. I’m praying that you will join me in the journey.

Andrea Sanger
@creativeprayercoach (Facebook and Instagram)

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My City-My Valley Personal Musings

Rainbow Prayers

Rainbow Flag Flying Over Palm Springs
The rainbow flag that revealed a new aspect of God’s love to me.

Living in a community where I regularly see rainbow flags flying, I shouldn’t have been surprised when God grabbed my attention with one on a Sunday morning during our Breakfast and Bible Study group as I looked out the window and saw a giant one flying over the city.

At that moment, I saw the rainbow flag through a different set of eyes. It was as if I got a God’s eye view of our efforts to be noticed and protected by Him. From my vantage point, the flag looked small in comparison to the vastness of the landscape around it, even though to the people under it, the flag would have seemed huge. A lot of the time, I think I’m doing something big for God, but is it?

The flag hung there limply for several minutes. Then I saw the wind begin to move the tops of the trees around us then move down into the valley, until the flag unfurled in a splendor of bright colors. It struck me that without the wind of the Holy Spirit, all my efforts are not worth much. I’m like that flag wrapped around the crane, just waiting for something to move me.

Yes, I lost track of what was going on in our Bible Study, as I pulled out my phone to look up the origin of the flag and what the colors symbolized. I also made a quick check of what the colors often signify in the Bible. There are some differences, but it didn’t seem important because my mind was already moving on in prayer, using the words assigned to the colors by the flag’s creator:

Red – Life
That life in Christ would become central in all our lives.

Orange – Healing
That God would pour out healing and restoration on people and my community.

Yellow – Sunlight
That the Son of Light (another name for Jesus) would shine on each person that they might know the warmth of His love.

Green – Nature
That all would see the Creator through nature.

Blue – Harmony or Serenity
That there would be calm unity in our diversity, which allows for real love and concern to be shared.

Purple – Spirit
That the Spirit of God would move in our lives, that we would live in the fullness of God’s plan for each of us.

In the weeks since this event, I’ve been praising God for giving me new insight into His loving nature. Now, no matter where I see the rainbow, up in the clouds, or as a flag, I take a moment to pray for the people and communities under it. I hope the next time you see a rainbow you will join me in praying!

Andrea

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My City-My Valley Personal Musings

My Chicken Line

Treasure Hunters Mark, David, Andrea, and Nancy

I stepped across my “chicken line.” My friends, husband and I went out on our first Treasure Hunt (see the book by Kevin Dedmon), where we looked for people that God wanted us to find. I can’t lie, for me, there is nothing scarier than walking up to someone and trying to carry on a conversation, but this adventure takes it one step further. We needed to share with them something that God wanted them to know.

What if we didn’t find the person? What if we got what we were supposed to say wrong? What if the person wasn’t receptive? What if…what if? I had to believe it was God’s problem, not mine. So, we sat down and asked God to give us clues to the person He wanted us to meet. We used a form we found online with different categories like: Where is the person? What are they wearing or is there an identifying mark? Do they have something obvious for which you can pray? What does God want to reveal to them?

Ten minutes later, we had our Treasure Maps filled out.

As a group, we decided to go to my place first. We did a lot of people watching. I found myself relaxing into the moment. Then something switched, and I became aware of each person walking by as a God-given treasure. Even if they weren’t someone on any of our lists, I saw potential in each person. It made me thankful that God loves the individuality of each of us. I thought, that I don’t have to fit into a certain box or fit into a preconceived pattern for me to be a valuable treasure in God’s eyes. It was a freeing moment. In the half-hour we stayed in that space, many people came and went. My husband and one of our friends, started conversations with a few of the people, but we finally decided we needed to move on to the next place.

We went to my husband’s place next. It was a new grocery store in town. He was looking for a woman, with dark hair, buying a yellow zucchini. He walked into the store and within the first two minutes found his treasure. As he tells the story, he was so shocked he had to take a moment to compose himself. Eventually he did approach the woman and told her our story. She was polite but didn’t over engage. He left her with a blessing.

Meanwhile, one of our friends found two people that fit at least one clue on his list. He chatted with each of them. He even got to pray with the ‘blue pants’ lady from his sheet.

Our whole group had an ongoing joke about needing to go to IHOP. So, we went there next. Why not? We had just found three of our Treasures. Maybe we would find more. The friend that hadn’t found any of her clues was looking for a female, red hair, inside a building with issues with her lower extremities. Our other friend who had already found two on his list still had a strange clue of finding someone with a name he couldn’t pronounce.

Our server came, and his name badge was “Ilaya.” Our friend asked how to pronounce his name. Even now I can’t get it right. The server said he was English, but his name was Russian. Wow, we just found another one. Our friend tried to engage the server, but it fell flat. What’s up with that God?

Then I saw the red-headed, female, walking as if her feet hurt. She was a server in another section of the building. My friend didn’t want to get up and talk to her, probably because we had just watched the last conversation fizzle out. Anyway, we spent time talking about changing our approach, so it didn’t come off as confrontive or weird, but as a friendly blessing. I could see my friend still wasn’t going to jump into a conversation, so I gave her a piece of paper and suggested she write a note and give it to the server on our way out to encourage her Treasure. Our other friend also wrote a note to our server as a blessing. They passed them off on our way out. Though we don’t know how those notes were received, there was a sense of accomplishment handing them to the Treasure.

Though I was the only one that didn’t find a treasured person, I came away with some great treasures:

  1. Be aware of the people around you, they are God’s treasures, and He wants you to see them
  2. Instead of leading with questions that would make people uncomfortable, give away words of encouragement and appreciation
  3. If all else fails, write your message from God to them in a note
  4. Even if you don’t find your specific treasure, you have succeeded because you stepped out in faith.

I know God was with us as we went on our Treasure Hunt and we found Him working in strange places and interesting ways. As an extreme introvert who almost failed her Evangelism class in college, this adventure was way, way out of my comfort zone. It took a lot to get me to step across my chicken line. However, I’m extremely surprised to write that I’m looking forward to our next Treasure Hunt. I had fun! As the Hunt finished-up I realized I didn’t want to stop looking. What if my person was waiting for me and I just missed her? What if…what if?

Oh well, maybe next time I’ll be the one who finds three people on my list.

Praying that you find your Treasures!

Andrea Sanger
Live180