Breathe

He desired to eat a last meal with His friends before He "suffered." If any of us knew what Christ knew about what was to come in a few hours-I'm betting we could not have gagged down even one bite. I had to have a biopsy once and couldn't sleep or eat the entire day and night before the procedure such was my dread of the discomfort.

In such a moment magnified to the power of Eternity, Christ was thinking about those dear to Him and considering their needs. In the horror that was to come, when they would be scattered by fear, He was giving them a standing stone of remembrance. A mental anchor, a place where they could connect to Him. He was establishing a new covenant throughout the generations.

So He put a towel around His waist, He who had held the universe in His hands, and He took their feet into those same hands and washed them. This really is a different kind of god. The world knew of nothing quite like Him. Isaiah 53 says, "...we did not esteem him." Power with gentleness. Righteousness with relationship. An un-scary God.

He brought the calm before the storm. Maybe as much for Himself as for them. He surrounded Himself with their comfort and familiarity, their humor, their smells. It would come down to the Garden and the will of the Father in a few hours but for the moment it was about the branches. It was all about beloved friends.

He is still that calm place for us. Still the God who washes, who feeds, who pours, who relates.

Take some time today and become still in God's presence. Slow your breathing through the following exercise:

Inhale: Breathe in the peace of Christ
Exhale: Breathe out the anxiety of the day.

Inhale: Breathe in the gentleness of Christ.
Exhale: Breathe out mental clutter and distraction.

Inhale: Breathe in freedom in Christ.
Exhale: Breathe out that which binds you.

Inhale: Breathe in the joy of Christ.
Exhale: Breathe out discouragement.

Inhale: Breathe in the love of Christ.
Exhale: Breathe out selfishness and personal agendas.*

Continue doing this until you feel ready to meet God today on His terms. Until you esteem Him for who He really is to you. Until you "remember" and recognize that the Vine holds tightly to its branches. He will not give you up. He is the God who suffered for a connectedness to you. You mean everything to Him. Everything.

As the meal is eaten one lays his head on Christ's shoulder.

Is it you?

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*(Breathing Exercise from Contemplating the Cross by Tricia Rhodes)

Show Us Your Glory

Rejoice heart and soul, daughter of Zion! Shout for joy, daughter of Jerusalem! Look your king is approaching, he is vindicated and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of the donkey. He will banish chariots from Ephraim and horses from Jerusalem; the bow of war will be banished. He will proclaim peace to the nations, his empire will stretch from sea to sea, from the River to the limits of the earth. Zechariah 9:9-10

I was awakened early this morning by a news story on the radio that was playing softly by the bed. It was a story about the economy. Had I still been dreaming it would have made a considerable nightmare. It was a nowhere to run nowhere to hide sort of story. The kind that you either dismiss out of self defense or get down on your knees.

As part of the awful story they were doing they discussed a book on the financial crisis, its origins and ongoing national and global effects. Its title struck me: All the Devils Are Here. (I assume as in "Hell is empty and all the devils are here" from Shakespeare's The Tempest) Now I am wide awake and thinking about a friend's child who is one year old today and my own two year old grandson. I am looking at the world they could inherit. I place the pillow over my head and try not to "see."

I recall T.S. Eliot, "This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper." Our world is beginning to whimper. I can hear it. The overt screams we notice like the Sudan or Rwanda or Katrina or 9/11 shake us when they occur but it is the whimpers spreading like foundational cracks that have pricked my ears. There is no safety outside of the Kingdom walls. No peace without the Prince of Peace. No real economy that is not backed up by Heaven. Remember the Glory.

The opening scripture was revealed when Israel was under the control of Persia and the Temple was being rebuilt. When it was again spoken of years later Rome was law. But that scripture speaks freedom to me today.

Today my day started with the words, All The Devils Are Here. Maybe that is so but when will they ever out number the angels of Heaven? When will the place they occupy ever have a position of supremacy over the Kingdom of the Lord and His Christ? Absolutely never.

Must we number the days aright to gain a wise heart? Certainly. Should we practice Kingdom economics and invest in what produces life? Ditto. But should we fret and be swept away by the predictions of the coming storm? Never.

I will take the advice of the prophet which flies in the very face of the gathering clouds. I will rejoice heart and soul. I will sing praises as His daughter. I will look for the One who will banish anguish and war and worry from my heart, who will break in pieces the siege engines of Hell and cause me to behold His empire stretching from sea to sea and from the River to the limits of the earth.

I will do this now not at some future date. I will open my eyes wide and search the horizon for all signs of His coming. He is coming. His Glory will fill the earth one day. Today it will fill me. I will be humbled and surprised by it and filled, filled, filled! May the world see Jesus in my unveiled face.

I caught a glimpse of Your splendor
In the corner of my eye
The most beautiful thing I've ever seen
like a flash of lightning
Reflected off the sky
I know I'll never be the same

Show me Your glory
Send down Your Presence
I want to see Your face
Show me Your glory
(Third Day)

As for those devils who are all here...well...may they be like just so many cans on a fence and may the Bride have them in the "cross" hairs. We were meant to posses a dangerous beauty. Furthermore, if the Federal Reserve can print worthless paper and flood the economy with it maybe it is time for the Church to put the real thing into circulation. Look for every worthy opportunity to give and to bless. Open your wallet and let the Glory loose.

I will rejoice, Lord, heart and soul in your empire that stretches from sea to sea, whose waves break upon my own shore.

It is The Glory of the Lord that is here. Hell's going to be having the nightmares not the Beloved.

Rejoice heart and soul, daughter of Zion! Shout for joy, daughter of Jerusalem! Look your king is approaching.


Show us your Glory, Lord!
Show me your Glory!
May the earth be filled with your Glory!

Home Waits For You Soldier

Four years ago this month the faithful prayers of friends and family brought our son home from Iraq. To say we were thankful would have been to understate the gratitude we felt with all of its jubilant overtones and reverent undertones. To this day, every day, I remember to be thankful.

But other sons and daughters remain away from their families as we approach another holiday season as a nation at war. (64 lost their lives in Afghanistan just last month.) We must not leave our military out there without our support. We must continue to weave our prayerful protection around those on the field. At the same time we must ask God's healing for those who have returned whose injuries physical and emotional have brought many to the brink of despair. May God minister His peace to all. May he bring them all "Home."

The following is something we sent to friends as an email when JD was still in Iraq in 2006. I offer it now because it speaks of "Home" in a way we need to understand. May those in Iraq and those in Afghanistan know those of us at home are praying and waiting for their safe return. May those at home but hurting soldiers and veterans know we are here for them.

7/4/2006
America is having another birthday although there are many of her sons and daughters who will never see another one. Many will watch others set off black cats or bottle rockets because they can no longer run when the fuse is lit. More more will hang back as the parades they once marched in go by because their new prosthesis is still a bit strange and it can't seem to count. Some will remember buddies they can no longer call or email. Some will grieve for limbs lost and at the same time thank God they have a lap where a tiny child sits and says, "Daddy, make your chair go faster...Faster!" Every day sacrifice is added to sacrifice and we are reminded of how not free freedom is.

Soldiers have so many different reasons for enlisting. John David had about an even dozen. Some I bought. Some not. Our President had many reasons for going to war in Iraq. Some I bought. Some not. There are things I do not understand and things I have come to know too well.

This I do know, that the men and women on foreign soil are our men and women and once there, the thing they think of, and dream of, and speak of most, is home. No calling card ever has enough minutes, no letter is long enough. There can never be enough packages. There is never enough sleep or enough food or water or clean underwear but there is an abundance of prayer and hope and courage and talk about home.

There are pictures taped in Humvees, prayer cards and love letters slipped into Kevlar vests and there are always thoughts of home. "When I get back, you can make me Pancake Mountain and all the Tater Tots you can find." When I get back, I'm going to get in the shower and stay there three days." "When this is over, I'm going to curl up with my dog, my wife,...I'm going to surf, hike, bike...I'm going to smell good when I get home and I will never go to another memorial service ever again." "I'm going to sleep without a helmet!" " We'll go for tea." Every soldier I have talked to has his or her own version but home is always the essential ingredient.

Whatever the reason they went to war it is all about home now. For some of them it is not just about their home but about providing a safe home for the citizens of the countries they serve in. No matter how awful the news is about renegade soldiers there are those gentle warriors who vaccinate children, bring widows food after dark so the neighbors don't see who is giving it, give their own clothes to warm someone who is cold, make the roads safe for an old woman to vote or shop or go to prayers, find good homes for stray puppies. Home is peach trees in Georgia or cherry trees in Washington State but there are soldiers who know the palm trees in Baghdad are also someones home. Home is the best part of each of us and home is always worth fighting for.

May God Bless America, the home to so many different kinds of people. May the things we treasure not be things at all. May we always give as it has been given to us. May we always hold dear those who have given so much. May we always recognize that "every good and perfect gift" really does come from God's hand. May we keep a light in the window and in our hearts until all our troops are "home."

I found this poem and thought it said it well:

The Things That Make a Soldier Great

The things that make a soldier great and send him out to die
To face the flaming cannon's mouth and never question why
Are lilacs by a little porch, the row of tulips red
The peonies and pansies too, the old petunia bed
The grass plot where his children play, the roses on the wall
Tis these that make a soldier great, he's fighting for them all.

Tis not the pomp and pride of kings that make a soldier brave
Tis not allegiance to the flag that over him may wave
For soldiers never fight so well on land or on the foam
As when behind the cause they see the little place called home
Endanger but that humble street whereon his children run
You make a soldier of the man who never bore a gun

What is it through the battle smoke the valiant soldier sees
The little garden far away, the budding apple trees
The little patch of ground back there, the children at their play
Perhaps a tiny mound behind the simple church of gray
The golden thread of courage isn't linked to castle dome
But to the spot where'er it be - the humble spot called home

And now the lilacs bloom again and all is lovely there
And homesick soldiers far away know spring is in the air
The tulips come to bloom again, the grass once more is green
And every man can see the spot where all his joys have been
He sees his children smile at him, he hears the bugle call
And only death can stop him now he's fighting for them all

~ by Steve Vaus ~

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11/13/2010
God Bless our troops. Let them know home remembers them on this their eighth Thanksgiving on foreign soil. I am attaching this link to pictures from Afghanistan. They are graphic. One needs more clothes. They will all give you an idea of where our soldiers are and why they, and the people of Iraq and Afghanistan, need our prayers. God be God for us. We will not cease to pray because the war grows overlong. If the light in the window burns low we will replace it until all are "Home."

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/11/afghanistan_october_2010.html

(Copy and paste into your browser. Use J and K keys to move up or down)

Kathy

Gennesaret-Garden of Riches

There is an area of land, a valley, unique in all the earth. Some of Christ's most beloved teachings were given from this very spot. Parable of the Sower, Parable of the Mustard Seed and Parable of the Leaven to name a few.

The place I’m referring to is Gennesaret. Ancient Gennesaret was not that large being only two miles wide, four miles long and harp shaped. Its richness and fertility caused it to be known as the “Garden of God”, the "Garden of Riches" and the "Prince's Garden."

The land in Christ's day was so fertile that there was not a plant its soil refused to produce. The walnut, which is a tree that delights in a most wintry climate grew along side the palm tree, which thrives in heat. At the same time there were figs and olives, which required a milder atmosphere, ripening deliciously everywhere among their brother plants.

Plants that would normally compete and drive one another out also flourished side by side giving us a picture of the non-competitive environment God would have in the Church. So here in this place we find any number of different species normally requiring different climates and atmospheres all happily thriving.

Weeds were unwelcome in Gennesaret and seldom found. The good plantings so occupied the ground that there was little opportunity for a thorn or thistle to take root.

The fertility of Gennesaret was capable of supplying grapes and figs through ten months of the year. The growing season was so long that if you were delayed in planting early, even a seed planted late could still become part of the harvest. A good word for those of us who may have missed an opportunity or came to Christ later in life. He has given us seed and the promise of fruitfulness. There is time. I believe this delightful land is a territory God would like to place under cultivation in each one of us.

The fruits of Gennesaret were of such high repute among the people of the day that the Rabbis would ban them from Jerusalem at the time of the feasts, so that the worshipers would not be tempted to come just to enjoy the fruit. Shame on those Rabbis. One bite and you could not help but praise the God who created such lusciousness.

History made many changes in the Holy Land and Gennesaret fell upon hard times. Centuries of neglect made sad changes in this area. It became largely overgrown with thorn-bushes and thistles and no longer yielded the fruit for which it had become so famous. It became instead famous for the largest crop of thistles known to man.

The good news is that between recent purchases by German Catholics and the fact that a considerable portion of the land has passed back into the hands of the Jews, the Garden of Riches is almost entirely cleared of thorns and thistles and is on the road to once again yielding its ancient generosity of fruits.

There are three modern territories in our lives that need the soil of ancient Gennesaret to be cultivated there. Our church life, our home life and our thought life.

In any given church there are competing interests; so many different personalities, so many different points of view, so many differing approaches to life in general. Have you ever noticed how easy it becomes to get on one another’s nerves if we’re not careful. (Fruits and nuts growing side by side-remember?)

In the early church we see in the book of Acts that they had all things common. These brothers and sisters were working together with a common good in mind. The spirit of Gennesaret in our church life today promotes the development of a rich diversity and proficiency of spiritual gifts without envy or competition. All are encouraged and nourished toward developing their gifts. It is not reserved for a sacred few. All are trusting the Master Gardener to shape and direct. All are recognized as essential be they palm or walnut, grape or fig.

That non-competative Gennesaret spirit within a family causes the husband to prefer the wife and the wife to prefer the husband. What causes the wife to flourish causes the husband to flourish, and vice versa. My wife is a talented person and she has lately mined a rich vein of creativity. My heart is thrilled! The good that is happening to her might as well be happening to me, because in effect it is.

Where children are concerned there are no favorite sons or daughters. All are heirs. Such is how God wants His Church to be. When was the last time you heard God the Father ask, "Why can't you be more like your brother?" NEVER!

Finally, within our own thoughts, when we discover competing wants and desires, God will help us sort it all out. He will help us find the way for all of it to grow together if it is of Him, side by side, just as He arranged for the ground in Gennesaret to support the plant life that one would never have expected. It is God who knows how to blend our talents for the Kindgdom. Thoughts contrary to life and fruitfulness (fears and failures) are crowded out as the garden yields its goodness. Thoughts not rooted in the Kingdom, He prunes to inspire growth.

Ancient Gennesaret was about abundance and delightful fruit that nourished and satisfied, and grew in a cooperative atmosphere. Gennesaret today is a Kingdom place. It is the rich soil God has prepared in the very heart of us to produce the fruit this world is crying out for. Repentant fruit, joyously juicy, satisfying fruit. Fruit that smells like Heaven. Fruit that believes. Fruit that sustains. Fruit that heals. Fruit that remembers. Fruit that remains.

The next time you find yourself in prayer, quiet your thoughts, place your hand over your heart and breathe out the word "Gennesaret." Then walk out into that land and claim it for Christ. Smell its sweetness.

“Sow righteousness for yourselves,
reap the fruit of unfailing love,
and break up your unplowed ground;
for it is time to seek the LORD,
until he comes and showers his righteousness on you.
(Hosea 10:12)

Gennesaret!
***********************************************************

Presented to
Abundant Life Assembly
Sterling, Alaska
By Rev. John LaMantia 11/7/10

With Honor

It is God that girds me with strength, and makes my way perfect...He teaches my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by my arms. Lord, you have also given me the shield of your salvation, your right hand upholds me and your own gentleness has made me great. (Psalm 18)

"Mom, I enlisted today." I cried in secret for days after hearing that from my only child. I was proud and terrified. After Basic and Advanced Infantry he was headed to Iraq with the 101st Airborne.

His father and I took him to the airport and watched him walk away from us into his destiny. We sat in the car in the parking garage and cried so hard I do not know how we didn't set off the car alarms.

That was difficult enough the first time. When he had to return a second time it was almost more than we could stand. I felt like the universe was playing Russian Roulette with someone irreplaceable to us. As if John David's returning to Iraq was not bad enough, we learned he would be going to one of the most awful and dangerous places in Iraq. The Triangle of Death.

When he called to tell us this he said an amazing and insightful thing. He said, "Mom," don't worry." (Like I was going to take that advice. It reminded me of all the Mom don't worries of his high octane childhood) "I told God to cut my orders and to send me wherever He would be able to keep me. So if I am going to that terrible place then that is the place where His grace will be found and He can keep me. Not everything that feels good is a blessing and not everything that feels bad is a curse." He was right. He had the situation squarely illuminated by his spiritual high-beams. When had he become so wise?

God kept our son and our son kept God. My son knows a lot of scripture but in JD's Bible the only verse he has underlined is "Thy gentleness hath made me great." It is his testimony. My son is a warrior but there remain gentle places in his soul. He is loyal and loving and best of all he is home. God did in fact keep him just as JD said He would. John David can now teach that confidence to his own son.

There are many sons and daughters who "Gave their last full measure of devotion" in Iraq and Afghanistan these past years and even more in all of our other wars. May those who returned and those who remember them honor their memory today.

May all of our military who serve and our veterans who have served, be made to feel the grateful embrace of this nation under God. May they know we are thankful for their service in confusing times. May they possess the assurance that even though those of us who were left behind cannot fully, experientially grasp what they have endured and often suffered; nevertheless our hearts are knit with theirs. That we pray God's soothing, Almighty love into their souls and lives.

May God continue to gird them with strength and make their way perfect. May He heal them and reward their faithfulness. May God continue to be God for America.

O, thus be it ever when freemen shall stand,
Between their loved home and the war's desolation,
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
(National Anthem)

Thank you to all who did not, do not, bear the sword in vain.

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John David, your parents love you, thank you and honor you. You are our best day and a good man. God has my heartfelt gratitude for sending His Angels to the battlefield to bringing you home. Mom

Ephphatha

So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us...Romans 12

I am so happy! I recently visited the home of a friend who is an artist. For the past several years, however, rather than working in pen or paint, she has been sculpting. She has been fashioning two little boys into sons of God. As all mothers will testify (especially mothers blessed with boys) this can be rewarding but exhausting work.

My friend is part of a small circle of spiritually like minded friends who have been encouraging one another to "BE!" as in "Light, Be!" or "Glory, Be!" Encouraging one another to study, paint, write, heal, and practice fierce belief. "Iron has been sharpening iron," if you will, as we have been praying to become river producing clouds.

Last weekend our talented friend rained upon our fields. She painted this picture of my words about our Beloved Lord traveling around the world. (Just as this blog hit everywhere but the South Pole.) I added it to the site with gratitude.

She also painted a picture of fire and water issuing forth from John's sax. John said her prophetic image was upper most in his mind a day later when he played belief and healing over a congregation.

Second Timothy 1:6 mentions stirring up or fanning into a flame the gifts within us. How much it helps if we have friends with matches and a love of seeing God's work light up our lives through our giftings.

John recently preached about the land of Gennesaret where plants that would be in competition with each other anywhere else on the planet all thrive together, produce together and create abundance. Non competitive, juicy, fruitfulness was a hallmark of this ancient Valley and "Garden of Riches."

The Church should be Gennesaret. Some of us have found our way there to our delight. This is a fruitful place with good soil and lots of encouragement. A place where thistles are unwelcome and find no nourishment. This is a garden true Holy Spirit friendship has planted. I encourage you to take your gifts and your friends in hand and find your way there.

Kim, many deep and sincere thanks for your gifts, your inspiration and your friendship. I can hear Christ saying, "Well done!" I love my Word-Seeds and the seven stars in my hair and how wise of you to have made me look younger!

You are a rare find. "A woman who surpasses them all."

To all of you reading this with gifts hidden away in side of you
I say, "Ephphatha-Be opened."
It is a prayer true friends pray over one another.
It is a prayer Heaven will answer.

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To Kim Lorentzen, wife, mother, friend, daughter, artist. Don't let your paint brush dry out!

Stay

Been thinking about how the world would be better off with out you?

Self murder looking like a better option than having to wake up in the morning?

I heard a doctor once say to a suicidal patient, "You're right. Something needs to die-IT JUST ISN'T YOU!"

What needs to get killed off is our false self. The self that believes all the unfruitful and unbeautiful stories about who we are. God sees us so differently, so hopefully. He called us by name before He ever made an atom.

He made us from dust but it was stardust and from stars He loved enough to name. (He counts the number of the stars; He gives names to all of them. Great is our Lord, and abundant in strength; His understanding is infinite. Psalm 147)

So look up. The stars are singing about His love for you. Your deep heart can learn the words. "In the beginning" He sang them to you. On Calvary He wrote them down. From the empty tomb His music spilled out into the world. You are part of something here. Don't ever forget it.

Jesus: Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. John 5:24

I do not know who you are but God spoke to me to speak this to you and put it on my blog. I have a good friend who struggles with depression and she makes a pact with herself each day to live one more day in the grace given for that day as she grows toward her complete healing.

God loves this old Universe and He loves you.
He really does.
So don't go.
Stay.

http://wimp.com/comprehenduniverse/