Making History and History Makers

Earlier today I viewed a matinee of The Da Vinci Code. Got this pic of Tom Hanks here.

The other night I had a strange dream with a powerful long haired older woman staring at me and then the screen of my mind went black, like a giant tablet, becoming etched full of cryptic ancient symbols, white on black.

Earlier today, watching the scene pictured here I saw the very black and white images from my dream (minus the preceding old lady). During the scene, the character of Robert Langdon is lecturing French students through some interesting powerpoint slides. When I saw the image from my dream it was like my whole spirit lept into my eyes. I knew this movie was digging into something primal.

Images of God. Icons of God. Words of God. Images of Goddess. Icons of Goddess. Words of Goddess. Can you feel the trembling birth pangs?

Check out these links Paulo sent me about the U.S. Embassy being built in Baghdad:

• corpwatch
• msnbc
• the babylon blog
• global security
  

Anyway, I'm not really into dispensational premillenial mumbo-jumbo. It waxes too much of "Oh crap, when the West burns the end will come!" Whatever. Maybe China and India get a turn at the wheel. And I'm not a doom and gloom end-times prophet. I do however know that history repeats itself. And eschatological literature tells us that history is circular and telescopic. The fate of all beastly empires has always been the same and it all gets more intense until... who knows when!?

Last weekend we had Adam and Crystal over for dinner. We talked a lot about the kingdom of God. After dinner we put the kids to bed and entered our living room (full of Christian symbols and tons of books) and talked more deeply. At one point in time Darlene told me to get in the circle, which means it was my turn to be prayed over. This is tradition in our home when someone needs prayer, they get on their knees on the floor and others in the room pray. We have prayed for many people in our home the last while.

So there I was on my knees with my head and shoulders down on the floor. I was small like a turtle. Crystal and Darlene (my wife) laid right over my back and began to pray. They had me covered in prayer. Two women covering a man in prayer. Adam had his hand on Crystal most, if not all of the time.

And it was under the prayers of two women of God that I was undergoing painful surgery and had intense visions. Two in particular I will share. I saw hell so clearly I had to cover my eyes. The flames. The demons that looked like giant fiery kings. The flailing arms. The smoke. I could smell it. I could taste it. Then I was lifted above those flames into clearer cleaner flames... shekinah. I saw an ancient place with a stone table. I had seen that same place two nights earlier when Kamal from India prayed for me in our living room with me in the same position (now that I think about it). Kamal had been praying in tongues and prophecying. I saw this sacred place with the table and beautiful light all around. But this night, with these women praying, the whole place was aflame with the glory of God.

And I saw Jesus near the table, but it and he were far enough away that I couldn't make out his face. I knew he had just turned towards me and was walking through the flames... I couldn't stand it anymore. I kept looking for his face. Kept asking him to reveal himself to me like he did when I was a child. All those times I saw his face. What I did get to see very vividly were deep wounds in flesh. And I knew they were His wounds. Not scars, but big red scratches left in skin... His skin. Anyway, needless to say it was hard getting up off the floor after that.

I only share this story to remove the veil a bit. I don't get into this stuff much in this blog because it's the most sacred experiences within my family which are closest to my heart. And who wants to peel their skin, break open their rib cage and pull out their heart all the time... not me.

Yet, in light of The Da Vinci Code and the recapitulation of the sacred feminine, I wanted to share this story to make a point. That in the intimate presence and power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ men and women can become fully human and truly alive to walk all over this broken globe as living images, icons, and words of God... humble, obedient, interdependant, and loving one another and every other.

I'm done typing for one night. The guys from The Contact just called from Red Deer. They will be here at 2 am to pick me up. I'll be driving with them through the night to Historymaker in Kamloops. I have no role or function there. I am going to watch and pray and serve the King of Kings and His people any way that I can.

obedient and available.

Mount Lady MacDonald

So these three crazy Halagonians (from Halifax, sea level, far from snow-capped thin-aired mountains in May) who play in a band wanted to hike a mountain while on tour out West. Here they are yesterday on Lady Mac's 8546 feet (2605 m), low enough in altitude that most of her snow has already melted.

Here is Tim on final approach. Canmore down below him.

Mark and Tim taking a breather just below the peak.

Mark, Geoff and Tim taking a break near the peak...
behind their heads a 3000 foot sheer drop.

Geoff holding it together. Don't look down Halagonian.

Crazy Horse Mountain Mark loving the mountain.

The feet of a deer enjoying a siesta before descent.

Hallofuzion

:: This pic taken on Grassi Lake Trail :: Canmore AB ::

:: Ephesians 3:16-20 ::

But while we may doubt God, He still believes in us. He still invites ordinary people to "come follow me." And when He finds such people, they may be apparent saints like Mary the mother of Jesus or sinners such as Mary Magdalene, Saul, or a sex-mad student like Augustine. But the eyes of the Lord are still searching out those willing to live their lives above the gunnels of mediocrity and beyond the realms of inevitability. In our cynical age, God is looking for those naive enough to believe that the world can still be changed, those simple fools whose vision is to live and die for Christ alone.
Pete Greig - The Vision & The Vow

I wasn’t yet married and I had no aspirations towards kingdom ministry. I was a praying factory worker. I was driving alone down a perimeter road of my home town – London, Ontario.

It was hallofusion. An unseen being initiated it. Out of nowhere, everything inside the vehicle grew bright. It was as if the vehicle peeled away and I was carried right into heaven’s warm light. I somehow understood that I was in the presence of God or one of his angels. Time stood still. I don’t remember driving. I was motionless and dumbfounded in the midst of circular whirling perpetual enthusiasm. Instantaneously, hot tears poured out of my eyes and vaporized into wisps of steam onto my volcanic heart. Lightning struck the sandy beach of my mind and pooled my brain into molten glass. Someone had just pierced the mundane landscape of my soul with a touch of fierce power. Hallofuzion.

I was lifted upward and outward. I was a tiny wisp suspended high above huge gatherings of young people all over the nation of Canada. I saw schools and University campuses blazing with and for the glory of God. I was drawn up above the nation, and out over the Atlantic, and high enough to see the entire nation to the West. I turned and saw the U.K. and looked down to the Sahara.

I saw many intricacies I cannot explain, like blueprints to a movement. I saw little flames of fire walking on the water ways of the St. Lawrence Seaway and throughout the Great Lakes basin. The flames crossed the borders of provinces and territories. They traveled effortlessly on water and land. And as they moved, more flames ignited. All at once, the flames moved quickly South, East and West. They soon crossed the southern border into the United States, and simultaneously launched out onto the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. In my mind’s eye a phrase repeated itself as if it echoed through me, “Youth Revival Canada.”

And it was over. I was on the road driving again. The flow of tears didn’t stop. My face could still feel the heat from the presence of that other. So great. So holy. So alive. So absolutely wonderful.

When I was 18 years old my parents took me to hear Billy Graham preach in Hamilton, Ontario. When Dr. Graham came to the invitation I saw him glowing like a furnace. I turned to my mom and said, “He has the glow on.” At that time I never understood it as discernment. Ever since my childhood I could see certain preachers glow. Then, I looked around the coliseum and saw hundreds of people glowing. I had never noticed that before. In my spirit, I knew all those people were about to respond to the message of the cross. They were moving toward Jesus. As the invitation began, and those very glowing people began to get out of their seats, I prayed out loud, “God I understand what’s going on here. I could do this with the rest of my life.”

Visions and moments of discernment are not glorious ends in themselves. They can't just be, "O wow!" They had better be, "O God!" In Colossians 2:18-23, Paul warns:

Don't tolerate people who try to run your life, ordering you to bow and scrape, insisting that you join their obsession with angels and that you seek out visions. They're a lot of hot air, that's all they are. They're completely out of touch with the source of life, Christ, who puts us together in one piece, whose very breath and blood flow through us. He is the Head and we are the body. We can grow up healthy in God only as he nourishes us.

So, then, if with Christ you've put all that pretentious and infantile religion behind you, why do you let yourselves be bullied by it? "Don't touch this! Don't taste that! Don't go near this!" Do you think things that are here today and gone tomorrow are worth that kind of attention? Such things sound impressive if said in a deep enough voice. They even give the illusion of being pious and humble and ascetic. But they're just another way of showing off, making yourselves look important.

If my vision does not have me living to die for others, then my vision is not Christ.

He's been inviting me to come along with Him as He discovers His young leaders nationally, develops them locally and deploys them globally.

There is a big difference between being a witness 'for' Christ and being a witness 'of' Christ. Being a witness 'for' Him is abstract and arbitrary - abandon it. Being a witness 'of' Him is complete and costly - and meant for a whole people, soul friends on the journey who have nothing but grace and mercy for one another and all others who are becoming witnesses of the majesty and glory of the Commander of Angel Armies... our Lord and our God.

Anniversaries and Altars

Here is Darlene at the foot of Cascade. Today marks 13 years of marriage.

On Friday evening we had friends look after the kids while we drove through Canmore to Banff for a nice night away at the Buffalo Lodge. Nice woodburning fireplace.

We spent a couple of hours Saturday afternoon in the sunny Rundle Room at Banff Springs where Dar read scripture and I read more of Eugene Peterson's take on Jeremiah in "Run With the Horses".

We took a break and walked out on the deck of the hotel. A friendly oil industry engineer from India took our picture.

Dar and I chatted about what she was reading in Genesis 12-14 about Abram and Sarah and their experience in Egypt and Abram's 318 fighting men and how he didn't take any plunder offered from the king of Sodom, and how timely it was for Melchizedek to show up right then:

After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King's Valley).

Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram, saying, "Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And blessed be God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand."

Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

The king of Sodom said to Abram, "Give me the people and keep the goods for yourself."

But Abram said to the king of Sodom, "I have raised my hand to the LORD, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, and have taken an oath that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the thong of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, 'I made Abram rich.' I will accept nothing but what my men have eaten and the share that belongs to the men who went with me—to Aner, Eshcol and Mamre. Let them have their share."

Reminded me of Isaiah 45:13, "I will raise up Cyrus in my righteousness: I will make all his ways straight. He will rebuild my city and set my exiles free, but not for a price or reward, says the Lord Almighty."

After a late lunch in Banff, we stopped in at three sisters to make an altar and pray. Why Three Sisters? I felt led to drive up there and pray. We had never been at the foot of those mountains before. The resort village atmosphere that is growing there made my heart leap. I had no idea it was even there. I was expecting trees and a mountain. I was full of joy and anticipation of what God is doing there. We walked through open houses/condos worth more than a million and climbing in value. After walking out of a place that strangely felt like home I said to Dar,

Imagine young leaders of the world coming here and living in one of these condos with us. Here we are watching God discover them internationally, developing them locally and then deploying them globally. We just walked through an open house where a man said this place is about health, wellness and adventure. I can see a house of prayer for all nations right here. Maybe I need to sit down with the developer who put all this together and ask him/her if a guy with a Masters in Spiritual Theology can help him help others on their way to health, wellness and andventure. I'm not really a golfer though. I wonder if there is a Christian who owns one of these condos. You never know what God might be up to.

Deep in my heart joy and hope seemed to bubble up. We drove away from the condos and found a spot to put twelve stones together. We built an altar near the NE corner of Three Sisters Parkway and Three Sisters Blvd. where we prayed and gave our future to God. Our prayers weren't about The Ridge or Stewart Creek. Our family is in a position of infinite resignation before our Father in heaven. We want to be with Him in what He is doing amidst the young leaders of His kingdom in this His world in this His time. We have nothing, but know the One who possesses everything (II Cor. 6:10).

From Eugene Peterson's "Run With the Horses":

Jeremiah knew that buying that field looked impractical and foolish. It was against history, against reason, against public opinion. But he didn't buy the field on the advice of his broker, but by the leading of God. He was not planning a retirement cabin on the property; he was witnessing an involvement in the continuity of God's promises...

Buying that field in Anathoth was a deliberate act of hope. All acts of hope expose themselves to ridicule because they seem impractical, failing to conform to visible reality. But in fact they are the reality that is being constructed but is not yet visible. Hope commits us to actions that connect with God's promises.

What we call hoping is often only wishing. We want things we think are impossible, but we have better sense than to spend any money or commit our lives to them. Biblical hope, though, is an act - like buying a field in Anathoth. Hope acts on the conviction that God will complete the work that he has begun even when the appearances, especially when the appearances, oppose it...

We have to get practical. Really practical. The most practical thing we can do is hear what God says and act in appropriate response to it. "Arguments are ineffectual unless supported by events." Hope-determined actions participate in the future that God is bringing into being. These acts are rarely spectacular. Usually they take place outside sacred things...

It is not easy to act in hope because most of the immediate evidence is against it.