I thank my God every time I remember you. (Philippians 1:3)
It's the middle of May and we're preparing for the 3g event. And then all of a sudden I'm looking at the 4th of July parade. It feels like we had a jump in the time-space continuum. Madeline L'Engle might have called it a wrinkle in time. Or it might be something like Flashforward , except we stayed there.
This is a dog. Or what was left of a dog in the alley behind the prayer garage. The Roman historians would tell stories of how the Christians would take care of those stricken by the plagues with no attention to their own vulnerabilities.
At the end of May, we had a time of guerilla gardening and grilling. Our hope was to join with God in his attempts to beautify the Westside. Sometimes to make things beautiful some things have to be sacrificed. Caleb sacrificed for the Kingdom in the grossest of ways. And God's beauty is breaking forth.
Later in May, we gathered with the 24-7 tribe in Tulsa. There was a moment where I got to see a glimpse of how the Kingdom unfolds. Merlin, who is praying for the tribe, is now in Tulsa as an elder at Believers Church. 30 years ago, Joe Steinke also in picture and father to the 24-7 prayer movement had an indelible image seared in his memory of his recently saved father, being prayed for by a man. This man happened to be Merlin. Merlin came to the Steinkes house regularly to pray over and disciple Joe's dad. And through that, Joe came to be discipled by his father.
Two years ago, Joe came to Tulsa and saw Merlin after 28 years. And now Merlin joins with the 24-7 tribe to meet all of his great grandchildren in the Lord. We're learning about family and how it unfolds. We're seeing Kingdom resonance unbuckle the straight jacket of this world.
We learned a lot about worship in Tulsa as well. Dave and Tara Powers taught us about the psalms of ascent. As pilgrims were making their way up the hills to Jerusalem, they would recite Psalms 121 through 134. And as they reached the temple, there were 15 steps to ascend to enter into the temple area, one step for each psalm. Dave and Tara spread us out on the perimeter of the room and invited us to take 15 steps and with each step we paused and let God's word be spoken over us. In this time with them, we began to open ourselves up to the relationship of worship and the Word.
In June, we had a nationwide group of student leaders from Young Life come by for a conversation on missional living and calling. As the fifty of them filtered back out of the prayer garage, I recognized a face in the back that I had missed when they plopped down on sofas and cushions. It was Scotty. Scotty was a young man whom the Lord had saved a couple years ago. I had lost track of him. And now here he was, a young man filled with the fruit of the Spirit abiding in the Vine and opening himself up to whatever the Lord asks of Him. Such encouragement.
With this encouragement of seeing fruit, we had the privilege to begin another 40 days of 24-7 prayer in partnership with Crossroads Bible Church and the Bridge Street House of Prayer. Called Jubilee, we are looking to focus on praying for Isaiah 61 for Grand Rapids.
And we're already seeing the glimpses of Jubilee in our midst as God has been pouring out dreams, healing, new songs
and Fourth of July parades with Melissa and Angelina throwing out sweetness and joy.
We want to see You in Your fullness. We are seeing now as through a mirror dimly. We want to see you face to face. Thank you for providing these glimpses of your back as you pass by. We want to see you face to face.
::tony::
