answered prayers

Today during beginning  worship at church, I had a vision. It was not your normal sort of vision… if there is a sort of thing as a “normal vision”. It began with a thought from Revelation and memories of a sermon from months, possibly years  gone by. Revelation 4 speaks of the 24 elders bowing before the throne of God and throwing their crowns before Him and worshiping Him saying :

                “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory, honor and power; for You created all things and because of Your will they existed and were created.”

One of the lovely things about not understanding all of the words of worship songs in service is that there is a blessed freedom of prayer in the midst of a congregation of worship, ascending to Our Father. These times for me are precious. So, in the midst of not understanding what everyone else around me was singing to Our God, I began to speak to him, and all of a sudden, before my eyes was Zelda. Yup. Zelda. I don’t even think I have ever played Zelda. I remember once watching my little brother play it and not being interested enough to try it myself.  However, this Zelda had a different mission. He was running about hurriedly seeking out and picking up crowns. When he reached the end of the level, he rushed into a glorious palace where you would expect to find a dastardly foe for him to obliterate, but instead, he ran to the feet of the master of the house, and threw down before Him all of the crowns he had collected. There was an expectation in Zelda of one who has a present for their dearly beloved father, waiting to see if He likes it or not.

This made me contemplate quite a few things. First off, what exactly are the crowns I am to collect for my Master, and it made me think about some of the vocabulary I use in a different light. When I say to someone “oh, it’s all for the Lord” do I really mean that the things I do are for the Lord? That if I receive a crown or prize for anything I do on this earth, that I am doing it with lack of selfish desire, and solely as an offering to my creator? Do I honestly go about life looking for the fruits of His kingdom to gather and bring to Him on the day of judgment, to cast them down at His feet and wait to hear Him say “well done, my good and faithful servant, enter into the Joy of your Master.”? Is this really the works of my hands and the intention of my heart? I would of course like to say “yes, all that I do is for the Lord with no selfish ambition what-so-ever.” But if I am honest with myself, I would love the credit for the things that God has done in my life.

It made me laugh too, that right after I had this epic thought, I got so angry at the girl sitting next to me for doing something childish, that I almost was incredibly horrid to her, and had to go through some intense repentance and forgiveness before I could receive any more form the Lord.

I was intrigued to find that when the pastor got up and spoke, that he preached about John 17:3 which says”

                “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”

The sermon was about differences in the characteristics of this life, and the life to come, and that how God desires to know us, and that He has us here as shining beacons of light into the dark that we may attract others to Him, that they also may know Him, and spend eternal life with Him.

He right off answered my question about the crowns. What greater joy could a father have, than adopting new children, that his older children had brought to Him? Now my theology might be a little off here. But really. Think about what will transfer into the life to come? 1 Corinthinans 13 says that Love never fails, and will not cease. And I know that those who are saved will live on with our Father into eternity. So I can imagine that the crowns that delight our Father are those of souls saved and love. So I prayed. I prayed today for divine appointments to love, and share His word. And our God never fails. Today Kristin and I had 2 very blatant chances to share the gospel and love today, and we were so honored that the Father would bring these 2 needy souls into our path. And it was SUCH a blessing to talk with them!  I do not say this to boast, I say this as an encouragement for your faith. Ask! Ask our Father to put people in your path to love. Then stop and take the time to love them. There really is no greater joy in this life, than to do the will of the Father, and be His hands and feet to a world that is lost and dying.

Rain

It now has been raining for 21 hours non-stop. Now, for Portland, that is nothing abnormal and infact, when I woke up this morning, I'm quite sure I thought I was in the great NW, but rain here is a very different story.
It all began last night around 4:30. We had decided to cancel our english class early because only 7 out of our 20 students had showed up and dark clouds moved in threateningly overhead. The wind whipped around us as we began our 1/2 mile trek home. We thought if we walked quickly we might make it home before the storm, but to our dismay, a torrential downpour began pelting us before we were even a 1/4 of the way home. we started running, thinking that it might help our efforts of keeping us and our phones and Bibles dry, but to no avail. Within 60 seconds we were soaked to the bone and slowed our blind run to a chipper walk through the rain. Ususally these rains last no longer than an hour or so, then the sun comes and burns the clouds away and the rivers of rain water are dried up by the next day. This rain however has been quite a different story.
Last night we decided to skip dinner and dine on crackers instead of venture through the storm for a mile to the Pastor's house, figuring that things would clear up by this morning. But alas, we woke up to the greyest, coolest day I have yet beheld in Haiti. It was so Portland-esque that I put on a light weith sweater for the first time on our trip. Strangely enough though, ther rain of this morning is not a down-pour, but rather it is just a constant, rain. We decided that breakfast also was not worth the drenching muddiness that the trek to the Pastor's house would have ensured, so we asked the hotel for bread and coffee. They were out of coffee, so they gave us hot tea. I had never had Haitian hot tea. It was the strangest thing I have ever tasted. It was very dark, like coffee and had a pinkish hue. It was so thick with sugar and spice that I almost felt as if I was drinking a strange Haitian pastry. For lunch, the pastor and one of the girls from the house brought us lunch. I was delighted to see that they had resurrected the church pickup to venture out in. It has not been working since we have been here, and they were trying to fix it yesterday. Praise the Lord they got it running enough to not have to walk through the haze of rain and clouds just to bring us food.
I feel so blessed. God is SO good to Kristin and I. We are not wet. We have more than enough options for food, and He has given us a day of gracious rest in which we god to spend time in his presence, undistracted, and we cleaned our room :)

Impromptu Church Dance Party

I have always been the kid that loves church. I always have looked forward to it. When I was younger, I’m sure it was more about the singing, friends and free cookies after service, but in the years since I have truly fallen in love with Jesus, going to the building that we call the church has changed in to one of the greatest joys of my life. It is a time to come together with your friends, your family and brothers and sisters in Christ to tell Him together how much you love Him, praise Him for the things He has done for us, learn from Him and fall on our faces in need of Him. It is no exception here in Haiti. In fact, I’ve got to say that last night was possibly one of my favorite church services on record.

We got there early and two of our friends were playing key board and drums (Kristin got her first drum lesson… she may have a new calling on her life ;)) then this family of about 5 little kids came in and started grooving to our friends’ jam session.  So, Kristin and I went over and started dancing with them. We danced until service started, and by the time we composed ourselves to have “orderly worship” we realized that quite a few others had filtered in and were dancing in the pews, praising our Lord too. Prayer time began. Now I’ve got to say. I would be SO stoked if we prayed like they do here in the states. I don’t think first time visitors would like it too much but, who knows. In our church here, the prayer leader gets up and opens us up in community prayer, and then there is a time for us all to pray out loud together, and let me tell you! Those times of community out loud prayer are some of the most powerful prayer times I’ve had in my entire life. (and for the record, this isn’t a Pentecostal or charismatic church… not that there is anything wrong with that, we are just a Jesus loving church here in Haiti)  After prayer, last night’s worship was unearthly. We sang… and we danced, and let me tell you… Haitians can dance for their Savior. I personally have no rhythm and no moves, but last night, I couldn’t stop it. I didn’t know the words to sing, but the amazing thing about worshiping our God is that you don’t always have to use words. I’m pretty sure He likes it when we let go of our inhibitions and dance and clap before Him with our brothers and sisters. Moments like these remind me of David in 2 Samuel 6 where he is celebrating with all of the people and he dances before the Lord with all of his might. Then when his wife despises him because of his celebration before the Lord and David responds "Therefore, I will celebrate before the Lord and I will be more lightly esteemed than this and will be humble in my own eyes." (6:22) I can’t tell you how much joy and celebration of the Lord there was last night. Oh! The Wonder of our God.