The Highlander

The darkness rolls in like a cloud
 
It encompasses my soul
 
Yet, I am not drawn into it
 
But invited in order to be made whole
 
The silence and the sense of being alone is deeply known
 
Even though this painful place is part of leading me home
 
Desperation, fear, anguish and confusion
 
assault the core of my heart
 
But in every turn and in every step
 
God plays a vital part
 
The knowledge of walking “through” the valley
 
Is a comfort to rest in
 
But the experience of the journey
 
Leads to great brokenness deep within
 
And when I reach the depths where I cry out
 
“Where am I?  What is going on?”
 
I find that I take just a few steps further
 
And I see the glorious light of a brand new dawn.
 
 The Highlander 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Today, I had the honor of leading in the funeral of a precious saint of God.  She had lived a full life, and at the age of 87, was ready to go!  As I was sharing about all that God has prepared for us in the next realm, I could not but get excited at the prospect of making the transition myself!

I read the words of Paul about how he longed to go and be with Jesus, but was hanging around here for the sake of the church.  Here was a man who was so consumed with a passion to know Christ, and stated that his whole existence was wrapped up in Jesus.  All that he had come to know of Christ at that point in his life, only served to make him hungry to know more.  He ate, breathed, and slept Jesus.  He also knew that in his limited, mortal body, he could only know just so much of Christ.  He wanted more!  He wanted the fulness of the experience of Christ that death opened the door to.  I know how he felt.

 Heaven is not a strange, ethereal, gray place inhabited by wispy spirits floating around on puffy, white clouds, playing weird harps all day long.  No, it is a place of breathtaking beauty.  A realm of mountains, streams, rivers, and valleys, covered in pristine beauty where everything, even the very air itself is alive.  Every blade of grass, every blooming flower, every leaf on a tree, pulsates with the life of God Himself.

 The dwellings there would make the finest designer and architect on earth drool.  I have put in my order for a simple place somewhere on a tropical beach, surrounded by high mountains.  The water out front will be crystal clear, and the sunsets will blow you away!

 But hey, what makes heaven, heaven, is not all that wonderful stuff.  What makes heaven the place of beauty, wonder, adventure and glory is Jesus!  It is the full manifestation of God Himself in all of His magnificent beauty! The one thing that I cannot wait to do is see Him face to face!  I cannot wait to look into those eyes of liquid love, and to bow down before Him and say, “Thank You!”, a million times over!  Oh, and to be held in His arms and drink in the essence of grace, love and mercy that flows from His heart to mine will be awesome. 

 I am looking forward to entering into that realm of absolute freedom and perfection, and experiencing the full inheritance that Papa has for us all.  Trust me, that which I have already tasted here, is making me long for all that awaits me there.

 Without a doubt, this life truly is just the preface to the book of our existence. Chapter One has yet to be written; but I can tell you this, I can’t wait until He picks up the pen and begins to put it to paper!  As John said, “Even so, come Lord Jesus!”

The Highlander 

Hello to you all!

It has been a LOOONNNGG time since you have heard from me!  I’ll bet you are surprised.  No, we did not drop off the face of the earth, nor did Jesus return (but I guess you know that).  

I wanted to let you all know about the status of the water project in Santa Elena.  Remember we started this project over 2 years ago, and I am glad to report that it is done!  The folks there now have clean drinking water flowing to their homes!  We were able to take funds down there to them in March and went back again in April to check up on it.  It was so satisfying to see clean water flowing to their houses.  I cannot say, “thank you”, enough to those of you who prayed and gave towards this.  The remaining financial need was met by the fellowship here at Mount Pisgah, and the folks there were overflowing with gratitude!

I cannot tell you how much we miss being down there.  We have enjoyed each return trip and the adventure it always brings.  It is always so cool to see God go before you and prepare the way for things that you never expect!  He is alive and ALWAYS GOOD!

We are continuing to work with the church in Tegucigalpa, Rebano de Jesus.  They are growing by leaps and bounds.  The little group of 50 or so that we started working with three years ago, is now close to 250!  They are putting a badly needed new roof on their facility, and we are trying to help get them funds for that.  It is going to cost them around $15,000.00 for that whole project, and they are well on their way to getting the money together for it.  They especially need it before rainy season sets in.  If you would like to help in any way with that, please let us know.  You can still send funds through:

Command Evangelism

641 Walapai Drive

Fuquay-Varina, N.C. 27526

We still thank God regularly for all of you who made it possible for us to serve down there.  Who knows?  God may have some more of those kinds of adventures for us down the road.  We are sure open to it!

May His grace and peace be yours in fullest measure!!!!

The Highlander

Greetings friends!

Well, our recent trip to Honduras was, as expected, a great blessing, as well as a blast!  It was also a trip that made Denise and I very homesick for our “other home”.  It was wonderful to see dear friends that we have missed terribly, and to revisit many of the places where we have done ministry over the last four years.  Cesar, one of the best friends we have in this world, took us around all week, and Alberto, one of our other “sons”, helped our group with translation.

The church in Tegucigalpa, Rebano de Jesus, continues to grow, both numerically and spiritually.  We held a service there the second night, and with just word of mouth about us being there, we had well over seventy five percent of the congregation in attendance!  The service was alive, stirring, and God touched many lives (especially ours and our groups), that night.  I fought back the tears for as long as I could, but then just broke down as we stood at the front as they prayed for us at the close.

We were finally able to make it back to Santa Elena where we have wanted to help the people get clean water from the mountain for so long.  We had been collecting blankets to take down to them for nearly two months, and the people here at Mount Pisgah, as well as some of Anna’s co-workers at Starbucks, were so gracious in their giving to help us.  Yes, it does get cold up there, and because it is in cloud forest, it is a damp cold.  So,  blankets are a real need. Read the rest of this entry »

Well, I hope I can keep a connection here long enough to get this out.  Right now, we operate off of a wireless connection because we cannot get DSL where we are located…yet.  It is either this, or dial-up (yuk!).  Right now, I have three bars, so I am trying to type fast!

Life for all of us has been a REALLY big adjustment over these last four months.  I do not think that we ever saw some of it coming. Moving back into the culture and way of life here has been a transition that has required big doses of grace and mercy from Papa.  I was telling a friend of ours just his last week, that I know that deep inside of me there is a river of tears that is ready to burst forth at some point, I just do not know when.  I do know that when it comes, it will be a good flush for my soul.

Denise and I have been reminded over and over how hard it is to move forward, while you are still looking back over your shoulder and asking the question, ”Why?”  I know that we all do this from time to time over different issues in our lives, and we get that “stuck” feeling.  You wake up just feeling numb on the inside and go through the day like you are living in some sort of weird and unexpected dream.  You wonder if you will ever feel “normal” (whatever that is), and “at home”, again.

Read the rest of this entry »

Two weeks ago, my girls and I braved the elements and went to the first showing of Prince Caspian which took place at 12:01 am. Now, I must say that I have been looking forward to this for a long time, and I was not disappointed.There in the midst of a host of college kids and a few adults who were allowed to (or were able to), stay up past their bed time, I was blessed with another fresh encounter with the living Aslan. There were several points during the movie, when I just had to keep from breaking down and crying uncontrollably. I know that may seem weird to some, but to others, it makes perfectly good sense. Read the rest of this entry »

Have you ever stopped and listened to many of our conversations about our relationship with God? If so, have you ever noticed how much of our language is rooted in an Old Covenant, separation mentality? Here are a few simple examples:”Welcome to the “the Lord’s house”" (Usually given when welcoming people to a Sunday morning gathering).

“Lord, we come into Your Presence…”

“Be with us Jesus…”

“Help us draw near to You…”

“Cast me not away from Your Presence”

“Come to us now Lord…”

These are just a few of the kind of Old Covenant, separation Freudian slips we make when talking about our relationship with God. Are they correct? Heck no! Read the rest of this entry »

This past Sunday we went and listened to my father-in-law preach at the church where he is the interim Pastor. He spoke from Matthew 15:21-28. There we have the story of the woman who came to Jesus, desperately pleading for Him to deliver her daughter who was being tormented by a demon. As I sat and listened, I began to think about this woman’s plight and the level of desperation she was at. I also thought about how Jesus was truly, as my father-in-law shared, drawing something out of her that He had already given to her.

This lady was desperate! She was so desperate to see her daughter healed that she was willing to make a scene and a fool of herself in her desperation. Her loud pleading and crying was really an embarrassment to Jesus’ little entourage. They wanted Jesus to just shoo her off and send her away. The nerve of that lady making such a fuss in the Presence of the Teacher! Read the rest of this entry »

Do you ever wonder why God hates sin so much?  I was reflecting on this the other night, and I was struck by many of the reasons why.  Have you ever noticed what happens when we sin?  Well, first of all after the initial pleasurable feeling (that’s right pleasurable, why do it if it does not feel good to do so?), the guilt comes.  For us as children of God, the Holy Spirit brings conviction to us that we have hurt Him in some way.  Now, the enemy is waiting to step right in when this conviction comes.  He wants to turn this feeling into false and heavy guilt and condemnation.  These “lies” are intended to lead to something…flight!

That’s right.  He wants us to take the Adam and Eve “run away, run away” and hide action.  He also wants to use our sin to create a feeling of great separation and isolation away from God.  Then in our place of hiding from God, he fills our minds with thoughts like, “God is so disappointed with me.  He is angry with me.  He will never bless me.  He is surely going to punish me for what I have done.  I am a failure.  I am no good.  I can never do anything right.  God does not really love me, He just tolerates me for Jesus’ sake.  I cannot go to Him again and ask forgiveness for this.  I am sure He is running out of patience with me on this one…”  On and on I could go. Read the rest of this entry »

You know, it really is a hard thing to stay focused on seeking God’s Kingdom first, and trusting that “all these things” shall be added to us.  Over these last five weeks since we got back from Honduras, I have found that many of my prayers have turned from being “God centered” to “me centered”.  Things like, “God help!  We need a house to live in!”  “God do something, we all need jobs to pay the bills!”  “God, are you ever going to open something up for us in…?”  “God, are you there?  Are you listening?”  Ever been there before? Read the rest of this entry »