Wading through life

My apartment building was without power for who-knows-how-long yesterday. There was a Consumers Energy crew at my building when I got back from work around 6 and there were even more of them when I got back from errands and working out around 9:30. Looked like a fairly major operation, though I don’t know the cause of the outage. It was just my building, though, so that was fairly odd.

Always one to consider the spiritual aspect of things, I started seeking revelation on what might be going on behind the scenes. I didn’t get anything solid, though 1 Corinthians 4:20 came to mind, where Paul says “For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God’s power” (NLT). For me, the power outage prophetically symbolized a lack of Kingdom power in the Jackson area amidst “a lot of talk.” The fact that the outage was limited to my building certainly caused me to look into my own heart and repent of ways I myself do a lot of talking but not as much demonstrating.

Paul addresses this, too, in 1 Corinthians–his church-life manifesto: “And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God” (2:4-5, NKJV).

Why, oh why, do we take so much pride in our ability to string together eloquent words and elaborate programs to convince people of God’s presence and love?

This is the evidence Jesus offered John the Baptist that the Kingdom was at hand: “The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them” (Luke 7:22-23, NKJV). If those things aren’t happening in our churches and communities, I wonder what makes us think Jesus is really present?

The kicker with Jesus’ message to John is that He wraps it up with this: “And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.” What does that mean? That the REAL DEAL is going to be offensive to many, if not most. The Kingdom, in it’s full manifestation, is going to tick many off and be completely unacceptable to them. And they’re going to kill Christians because of it, just like they killed Jesus.

Ok… this got deeper than I was originally planning. But it’s good, eh? God’s good because He wants so much more for us than Pharasitical, religious fluff and garbage. He wants us to have L-I-F-E life… His way. And when His power is present in us, His way “is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20, NKJV).

Lack-of-power irony of the evening: When I was leaving my gym, the guy next to me couldn’t start his vehicle. I asked if he needed a jump and he said he has a short somewhere in his wiring and it usually starts after he jiggles it… but that wasn’t happening tonight. I asked if he had a cell phone and he said he did and could call his wife.

Not seeing what else I could do, as a joke I said something like, “Well, I’m not a mechanic, so I guess there’s not much else I can do” as I climbed into my car.

I started my trusty Subaru and then it stuck me: I’m not a mechanic, but I’m a freaking CHRISTIAN! God’s in me! Sure there’s something I can do!

And so I sat there.

I thought about going out and offering to pray for his vehicle. Because after all, when my old Grand Prix wouldn’t start one time, Scott and I laid hands on it and it started up. But I was sure he’d be plenty confused at me offering to pray for his vehicle.

So, I sat there some more.

And then I thought about the dread I’d face a few short minutes later, sitting in my apartment and thinking about the opportunity I’d passed up to be an ambassador. But that didn’t get me out of my car either. He probably thought I was sitting there being a good neighbor—and I kind of was. But I was also suffering from slight paralysis by analysis.

So God, in His great mercy, gave me an out. After fiddling with the wires some more, I noticed the man’s light-under-the-hood turn on… and then he started his car. He and I exchanged thumbs-up and I drove off, admittedly relieved that I wasn’t leaving the scene in full rebellion.

Lastly: If anyone has any prophetic insight to connections that may exist between the two “no power” run-ins I had yesterday, I’m all ears!

I just realized I’m missing a key element to my office: a Nerf basketball hoop and ball. I’ve never had one in an office before, but I’m pretty sure it would come in handy for this four-months-to-launch stretch we have coming up.

Nothing blows steam like draining a few 3′s from 10′ out!

“Eskimo village sues over global warming”

You read it right—Eskimos are suing the big boys for their contribution toward global warming. A village of a couple hundred in Alaska is watching their community become threatened by the elements due to a loss of sea ice that normally protects them from the Chukchi Sea and Kivalina River.

Good luck convincing judges with the Fuzzy Global Warming Math.

2 Chronicles 29:3, 17, 36:

In the first year of his reign, in the first month, [Hezekiah] opened the doors of the house of the LORD and repaired them.

Now they began to sanctify on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they came to the vestibule of the LORD. So they sanctified the house of the LORD in eight days, and on the sixteenth day of the first month they finished.

Then Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced that God had prepared the people, since the events took place so suddenly.

The point: When you have a revelation of what God wants you to do, and have the ability and opportunity to do it…

DO IT!

Right away!

Red Moon Rising

Hope you caught tonight’s total lunar eclipse, because there won’t be another one until I’m 31. Five days before Christmas of 2010 is when it will happen next.

Nearly forgetting it was happening tonight, I threw on a hat and gloves, grabbed my tripod and camera bag and headed out to my trusty Springport Rd. / Sandstone Rd. intersection a few miles northwest of Jackson, where a graveyard backs up to a large field. It’s the same place I hunted for perseids in August.

Well, I was pretty unprepared for tonight’s event, not knowing when it was to start, peak or end… nor did I have a charged battery. So, after taking one photo early on, I lost the ability to operate my camera. Assuming the eclipse was going to take only 45 minutes or so, I figured there was no use heading back to my apartment to charge my battery.

About an hour later, and yet to witness the peak of the eclipse, I decided it was worth it to return and charge my battery. So, that’s what I did. Besides, my toes and hands were freezing from the 10° air.

After getting some juice in my battery, I snapped a few pictures outside my apartment and then returned to try and take a few more. The return was pretty much useless because I didn’t get anything good. But it was still a fun evening. Watching the moon turn red before my eyes gave my favorite book Red Moon Rising a whole new meaning. Makes me want to read it again. And it reminds me that I’m part of the army the Lord’s raising up as an answer to the prayers of many.

As the eclipse started, and after I realized my batter was dead, I just spent some time with the Lord, taking in the beautiful, clear winter sky. I remember thinking out loud, God, how big are you?. And I then immediately saw a shooting star. Oh. That big. And I remembered that He’s the one who skips meteors across our atmosphere like we skip stones on a pond.

Tomlin’s “How Great is Our God” of course came to mind, so I broke out into some solitary worship. It’s possible a dog heard me, but I don’t think anyone else. It was a good time. I only walked away with three decent photos. You can check them out at the February 2008 Lunar Eclipse gallery on Flickr.