Monday morning meanderings. Vol. 84 addendum

Sayre, Oklahoma

Not sure how I could have forgotten to include this item in my post yesterday.  The calf activity distracted me from finishing up our weekly activities.

Friday we were treated to a day in the city, Oklahoma City that is, by our friends Buddy and Lynnie Suthers.  Buddy and Lynnie both work at Trinity after long careers in the family race horse business.  At one time the Merrick Ranch was one of the largest quarter horse operations any where. While they are not nearly as big as they used to be they still love it and are keeping their hand in it.

So we went to the city for a big yearling sale at a very upscale, at least to me, sale barn.  You can read more about it HERE.  It is a very nice place and during the 3 day sale nearly 1000 horses were sold by auction.  While we were there one sold for $185,000.00 based, I understand on it’s breeding and potential.  It was quite a place and very interesting.

I had told our children and grandchildren that we were going to a horse sale and I was going to bid on some horses as an investment.  I was not serious and even thought the way I wrote it they would know it was a jokebut apparently they didn’t and thought Poppa had bought them a horse.  There were a few that sold for 2500-3K but that too is a little rich for me, since there is little room in our trailer for a horse.  It was a lot of fun.

From there we went to Remington Park,the OKC horse racing facility where Lynnie’s brother Joe Merrick had a couple fo horses running. It is a beautiful race track with indoor viewing from a beautiful restaurant and the Suther’s treated us to a great dinner and an insiders view to horse racing.  Linda did the wagering and hit it big when one of Joe’s horses won!  We even were invited to the winners circle with the owner and his family for the “win” picture.  That picture is posted on my facebook page if you are interested.  HERE

It was one of those days where everything we did was new and exciting and being with Buddy and Lynnie is always special because they are such real and regular people who have been has high up as you can go in the horse business and seen their lives radically changed to be Kingdom people who are also in the horse business.  Their family story is pretty cool to hear.

The last item has to be “my” Washington Huskies win over the mighty USC Trojans on Saturday.  It was on TV here so I was able to watch it all.  That sure was fun.  Whatever happens from here at least we know what it can be.

Monday morning meanderings. Vol.84

Sayre, Oklahoma

I enjoy writing the meanderings each week because I get to see, right in front of me, what we have been up to.  It has also been a good way to fill our family and friends in on what we have been doing too.  So here is the 84th installment.

Item one.  It was a great first week back in Western Oklahoma and full of things one could only do here.  Got to go armadillo hunting for the first time (probably only time) which was an adventure.  These little creatures are not good for flower beds, nice grass or any other plant you like to look at.  They just rip it all up to get at the roots.  So they have to be removed and since I was right here on the “ranch” and I had a shotgun, I got the call.  One more task to add to my growing resume.

Item two.  Went with friend Yandy Yarbrough to put up a deer feeder which I wrote about already on the Juniper Tree.  Yandy works a regular job, is a life time cowboy, both working and rodeo, but what he really loves is hunting.  Riding with him in his truck is adventure because he never misses any animal that might be out there, no matter how much light there is.  One of the blessings of our life is the young families we get to enjoy relationship with here in Oklahoma.  It is so fun to be part of their lives and have a part in encouraging their relationship with the Father.

Item three.  We are beginning to settle in here, even though our regular spot is under construction.  We are having a cement pad poured to provide stability and a mud free place to park.  So we are parked nearby but without all our hookups.  It is just fine but we are looking forward to our “new” place.  Having these beautiful 100 acres as our Oklahoma home is really a blessing.

Item four.  Plans for Summit2 are well underway.  November 12-22 are the dates if you want in.  email me if you want information.  We are responsible for most of the administrative details of this conference and I do some teaching as well.  Here are a few summations of  summit1 speakers, I wrote after lasts years event: HERE and HERE.

Item five.  Jake the dog just barked me up to see a calf hanging out in front of the trailer.  Apparently an escapee from one of the pens here on the “ranch”.  We went out to try and herd him into one of the stalls in the barn but were unsuccessful.  Just another experience I rarely had in my past life.

I leave you with these words from my good friend Steve Grace: I would rather be a poor man serving Jesus than a rich man serving my own means. I would rather be weary fighting the good fight than well rested in my own irrelevant accomplishments. I would rather die for the cause of Christ than live for myself.  (Steve Grace)

Parables from a deer feeder.

Cheyenne, Oklahoma

Yesterday morning I went with one of our young friends, Yandy Yarbrough, isn’t that a great name, to put up a deer feeder.  Yandy is the consummate Oklahoma hunter with feeders in half a dozen places around western Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle and he loves everything about hunting and it shows in the way he goes about it.  His wife Bobbi and daughters Yaleigh and Y’leigh love it too.

Coming from the Pacific Northwest, I knew nothing about deer feeders but I learned yesterday how it works.  The feeder has a large hopper, filled with corn or grain that is placed about six feet off the ground.  There is a battery or solar powered unit attached to the bottom of the hopper that is started by a timer that turns on twice a day and spins in such a way as to throw the corn in an eight foot or so circle around the feeder.  (If you want to know more about it check HERE)

The idea behind a deer feeder is to put it in the very best deer country you can in the feeding pattern of the deer and ”train” the deer to come by the feeder until hunting season and then from your near by deer stand you can have a good chance of bagging the deer of your choice.  (in open country like it is out here, you would never get close enough to a deer to shoot it, especially with a bow, so feeders are a popular choice) 

I am no expert in hunting from a deer stand, or any other way, so I may not be exact in my description of this method of hunting, but I think I am close.

Because the deer feeder we were putting out yesterday was in an area where there were grazing cattle, we put up a barbed wire fence in a 20 foot or so radius around the feeder to keep the cattle out.  The deer can get in because they are agile enough to jump over or go under the fence.

The deer feeder is placed in the very best deer hunting area and it turns on twice a day and feeds the very best corn around a very set area.  The goal is to attract the biggest, healthiest, strongest buck deer (male) possible to the feeder on a routine, daily basis for a period of time, until he is acclimated to the area and feels safe.  Of course until hunting season opens, he is safe.

While we were doing this task yesterday the Spirit began to speak to me about how all of this was a lot like how we have done church over the years and why so many people have been hurt, stopped coming or had trouble getting in our churches.

Every Sunday morning, for years churches have gathered in the best and prescribed places and served up the finest of “food” targeted at the people who meet the standard we have for that particular church.  The goal is to get as many people to come to your particular feeder, and to come routinely, every sunday and eat as much “corn” as they can possibly put away.  In fact churches try their best (with, I think, good motives) to get people to eat as much as they can, because there is a belief that the more you eat (know), the better and more fit you will be.

Over time, if you come routinely and faithfully to the church (feeder), take in more spiritual food (corn) then every one else, and you are a male (buck) you can become the most attractive person at the church and great things are expected of you.

As time goes on you begin to feel safe at the church (feeder) and more and more is expected of you. Routinely you are given more and more responsibility and tagged as the person most likely to be a trophy of God’s grace.

Then you make a mistake and hunting season opens.  The place you routinely came for the best of food and where you had felt so safe and secure is not so protective.  For the deer, the mistake is tripping the motion sensitive camera and having his picture taken.  The hunter sees the buck for what he is and starts to figure out how to take him. 

For the person who as done all the right things in the “protective environment” of the church one mistake can be deadly.  You don’t ever want anyone to see your picture on a camera you didn’t know was there revealing your flaws to everyone who sees the photo.  Sometimes eating all the right food, growing stong in the “faith”, passing all the prescribed tests and becoming a trophy of God’s grace can make you more vulnerable than you have ever been.  The enemy sits in his “tree stand” ready to pick you off and often the enemy uses the people who were doing the feeding to take you out. 

We want our trophies without flaws and like the hunter, looking at the pictures of the bucks at his feeder, churches often pick out the one who has the least imperfections to tag for his trophy.  But also like the buck they aren’t often safe.

As we were setting out the feeder in that beautiful setting yesterday, a large herd of black cattle (Angus, I think) came around to see what was going on.  These were the ones we were putting up the barbed wire fence for.  By the time we were about done there were cattle all around the circular inclosure.  It was obvious they wanted in, but our goal was to make sure they didn’t get in and ruin the feeding station for the big bucks we were after.  Some of the corn we had scattered around had landed outside the fence and the cattle were eagerly scarfing up any kernel they could find.

The deer could go over or under the fence to get to the feeder but these cows were too big, to clumsy, to fat and besides they had flies all over them and dropped big blobs of poop all over.  (deer have very small and orderly poops) We did whatever we could to keep these big, fat, stinky animals away from our deer feeder.  They were not the species we were after.

More times than I care to admit, people came around churches I have been part of trying to get some of the corn laying outside the walls.  They found that food tastey so they came around eagerly looking for more.  It was obvious they were curious to know what was going on.  Sometimes what we were up to was so attractive we had people gathered all around the circle trying to get in.

But for whatever, of multiple reasons, they couldn’t jump the fence or get through the gate.  Maybe it was they were too needy and we just didn’t have enough corn to fill them up.  Perhaps it was the flies, or the smell or the color, or the fact that they were pushy, clumsy or too big to jump the fence.  Probably more often than not it was that their poops were not orderly or small but big and plopped all over everything.  Maybe they weren’t from the ”species” we were really looking to attract.  Whatever, they didn’t get in.

All analogies break down and pushed too hard this one will too.  I don’t think churches intentionally shoot their wounded or leave them vulnerable to the enemies arrow but we do it none the less.  I don’t think we choose to reject those who are not like us or those who are too needy or messy, but we do it.

I love it that churches everywhere are trying harder than ever to be Kingdom churches, tearing down fences and making their feeders available to everyone.  One very attractive church I know about in Washington even shut their feeder down a couple of weeks ago and took their corn out into the community.  More than 1400 people left the feeder for a Sunday and without fanfare took corn to those who didn’t all look like them or weren’t as fit as they were and in doing so tore down fences that might have been keeping curious people from dropping by the feeder to see what was going on.  

For Kingdom people hunting season is over and our feeders are open to anyone.  But we need help understanding the fences we have built around our feeders so we can stop holding others from our tasty corn.  It also might help to stop thinking our corn or feeder was better than everyone else’s.

Any ideas?

Monday morning meanderings. Vol.83

Sayre, Oklahoma

A young friend on Facebook, in a status update, made this comment: “I hate all blogs, all of them.”  So, if you don’t hate blogs continue reading the first meanderings in several weeks.

A lot has happened and nothing has happened.  After an eventful trip from Western Oklahoma to the Pacific Northwest we hung out with your adult children and our grandchildren.  Went to the beach, the zoo, Northwest Trek, Seattle, camped with everyone for a week, visited a few friends, preached a couple of times, went to church with Brad and Summer and the time went by.  All the grandkids are growing and changing and doing well.  Summer is growing and changing with granddaughter #2 and grandkid #6 and she is doing well too.  While there are challenges in each of their lives they seem to be handling them well and living life with hope and confidence.  I am very proud of our children and theirs. Most of our time was spent enjoying and caring for our family.

Item one. The trip back to Oklahoma took us through Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and back into Oklahoma.  We made stops outside Missoula, Montana at a favorite stopping spot for a couple of days.  We drove through the northwest gate into Yellowstone Park (up on of the steepest, windiest and narrowest roads we have travelled) and into Cody, Wyoming where we stayed on the grounds of the Cody Night Rodeo with our friend Dan.  Dan is from Sayre but was spending the summer announcing the rodeo in Cody.  He was our tour guide to the Buffalo Bill Cody Museum, one of the great museums in the west, in my opinion and around the beautiful Cody area.  He has become a Cody expert and it was fun to spend some time with him.

After Cody we drove up the Shell Canyon route to the top of the Big Horn mountains where we met my brother Mike and sister in law Vicky, for 5 days of camping and fishing in the most beautiful country anywhere.  We lived on the west side of the Big Horns when Mike and I were very young and then Linda and I and our family lived on the east side 20 years ago.  The Big Horns and the North Fork of the Tongue River are very special to all of us.  It was such a wonderful time and we really didn’t want to leave.  I would love to move back there again some day.  Just need a job!

The fishing was outstanding.  The North Fork is a meandering stream, through tall willows and so every corner is a new adventure. 20 years ago part of it was designated catch and release, barbless flies and lures only and it has turned that little stream into a monster cutthroat fishery.  We caught so many fish over 18 inches that the little ones (under 16 inches) were almost boring.  I caught 3-4 that were in the 22+ inch category, which in that river is a huge fish.  Probably weighed 3-4 pounds.  And, yes I did get a license!

There are moose every where up there as well and the four of us went “moose hunting” each evening.  Linda has some great pictures she will post somewhere I imagine.

It was a very peaceful and soul renewing time for all of us.  I remembered again why fly-fishing has been so important to my mental and soul health, over the years.  Life has been quite uncertain, in a lot of ways, the last 4 years but one constant in our lives has been the opportunity to travel and see places that have real meaning in our history and refresh our lives.

Item two.  What the future looks like here in Sayre begins to play out this morning.  Linda will go to work on some administrative details that have piled up related to the ministries we serve.  I will get some things rolling for Convergence and Summit2 and we will both begin getting back into the relationships that mean so much to us.  Things have changed here in many ways since we have been gone.  I am not sure what it all means or how it all works out but we have a Father who does and loves to see us happy and fulfilled so we will enjoy that blessing.

Seasons change and so do we.  That is the Father’s intention.  He loves to love us and He loves to have us dependent on Him and Him alone.  That is the hard one for most of us.  We have our agenda’s and our need to be in control but life works best when we are desperate for Him to lead us through each day.  That is where I am this morning.

Blessings on all of you who read this.  You can follow us on facebook (www.facebook.com/gregory.scandrett)  and there will be some regular additions to the juniper tree as we move along.

Hearing through covering.

Belfair, Washington

Four years ago or so, my friend and now one of my spiritual fathers Andy Taylor, asked me this question in response to my asking him what I should do about some situation: “what is the Father saying to you?”  It was a question that began to change my life, because for the first time I started listening to the voice in my heart instead of the voice in my head.  An essential part of the Trinity DNA is to point people to the Father as the source of their direction and decisions rather than handing out advice that may or may not be the will of their Father.  It is the right way, even though at times it is easier to dispense or receive advice, rather than to wait for the Father.

But like all good and right things you can sometimes get in the ditch by not recognising there is at least one other important way to hear and move in the Spirit.  If we are staying in step with the Spirit we must be, in most circumstances, in relationship with other Family members.  The Spirit walk is not to be lived in isolation.  Just like we are born naturally into a family, when we are born again spiritually we become part of a Family that is as important as any natural one.

Being part of a Family where you are loved, affirmed, valued, encouraged and free to grow and fail is called a covering.  Under the covering of a true spiritual Family you are known as you know, your heart is knit together by the Spirit with others, and just like there is no way to be separated from the love of the Father there is no way to be separated from His true Family either.

Under this covering there is safety.  There is freedom.  There is failure and there is success.  Under the covering there also must be direction.  Spiritual families have parents just like natural families do.  In a spiritual Family we have fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers, aunts and uncles and cousins.  Sometimes I am as close as a brother to my Family and we relate on that level.  I do not know all of my Family equally well and so relate to some more as I do my natural cousins.  Sometimes for my spiritual family I serve in the role of a father/mother.  And sometimes I am functioning as a son to someone else who is my father/mother.

Fathers and mothers provide direction to a natural family and they must also in the Spiritual family.  I am not suggesting they are always telling us what to do, as that would negate the first principle of each Family member hearing The Father for themselves, but where and when there are decisions that in one way or another effect the life of the whole Family, then under the covering there are is a place for the Family fathers and mothers to give direction.

When those of us who serve as fathers and mothers (which in reality we all do at times) refuse to give counsel by hiding behind the first principle of hearing the Father for ourselves, we miss one of the ways the Father uses to move the whole Family in the way He is calling all of us to go and we end up in the ditch, just as we do when we are always depending on others to tell us what to do.

No question, learning to hear the voice of the Father for ourselves is preeminent. Nothing is more important and without an ability to clearly distinguish the Father’s Voice from the myriad of other family members voices that try to give direction, we will end up going from one thing to another without direction or focus and we will end up doing what others think we should do at the expense of doing what the Father wants us to do.

But under the safety of the Family Covering there are times when we need to hear the voice of fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers and even a few cousins, to confirm or affirm what we are hearing the Father say.  There is also, in the safety of the covering, a place for our spiritual parents to tell us what they think is best for the whole Family, when one of us is faced with a decision that may affect us all. 

Hearing the Father for yourself is essential but counsel from under the covering is a complimentary way to hear Him as well.

Monday morning meanderings. Vol.82

Shelton, Washington

Here is the weekly update of our life on the road between “homes”.

Item one.  Travelling between Western Washington, Western Oklahoma and Arizona is becoming pretty “normal”.  We have logged nearly 50K miles over the last 3 years but some of those miles are just the here and there of “living” somewhere for a couple of months at a time.  This is at least our 8th trip back to Washington since we sold the house and started living on the road.  It is good to be back in Washington but it never quite feels “right”.

Item two.  Part of this nomadic life means you really don’t completely “fit” anywhere.  There are no roots and no real permanence.  That is the trade off.  If you live in a house and work in a community you collect stuff and take care of stuff and turn in a circle of relationships at work and whatever else you do to connect with people.  When you “live” in a variety of locations you don’t sink down in, because you know you are moving on and so every stop is temporary.

The relationships we have are as good as any we have ever had but they are such that you never quite “fit” because life is so different for us.  We don’t have regular jobs and we don’t have lawns to mow, houses to take care of or regular meetings or gatherings to attend especially when we are not in Sayre.  Sometimes I really want that “normal” again but that isn’t possible here in Mason County and if we settle into that normal in Western Oklahoma we miss out on life with our family here in Washington.  It is always a dilemma without a good solution, so we keep on doing what we do.

Item three.  Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington.  The most direct route to Washington from Oklahoma passes through all of those states and covers a little more than 2000 miles.  We stopped in Colorado Springs overnight to have dinner with my dad and see his new apartment.  He has a $3000.00 view for $300.00 in a senior housing place.  Really great.

I parked the trailer at my brothers business and it was the biggest trailer mess ever, by far.  I got into one of those jams people who pull trailers avoid at all costs but because of the “perfect storm” of situations I got to the place where I could not back up or pull forward without damaging the trailer, the pickup or both.  It was a lose/lose situation.  Wish I had pictures so you could see what I stepped in.  It was totally bad judgement on my part but there were so many factors going on it was easy to make a bad decision.  After much effort in a rain storm, angels lifted the trailer a couple of inches and we made it out with some small scrapes.  I still have nightmares about it.

We went from The Springs to Charlie and Lorissa Kingsbury’s family ranch outside Greeley, Colorado where we spent the fourthof July weekend with Charlies family.  We were treated like family (which we are) and had such a great time.  Wonderful meals, the Greeley Stampede (87th annual), fireworks at the country club (never been to one of those) prayer with Charlies car dealership partners over their businesses, church (the most patriotic Sunday ever!) and many more fun activities that left us gasping for breath.  Great fun with great people.

We left Greeley about noon and drove into Wyoming and on to a rest area 60 miles east of Bozeman, Montana where we spent a short night and then on the next morning to Missoula where we loaded up on groceries and headed to our destination along Lolo Pass and the Lochsa River.  We have stayed in this National Forest Campground many times over the years and always enjoy it there.  I caught a lot of fish including 10-12 of the biggest cutthroat trout ever on that river (16-20 inches)  Great fun.

Did something dumb there too.  Because the nearest place to buy a fishing licence is about 50 miles one way, down the winding highway, I decided for the first time ever in my life, and I fish a lot in a lot of different states, to see how the fishing was before I made the trip to get the license (there was road construction too).  I have fished dozens of different rivers in at least 5 states over the years, always bought a license and never, ever been checked, ever!  You guessed it.  10 minutes into my decision to check the fishing before buying the license, along comes the LAW and checks me for a license! I felt so stupid and there is nothing you can say, no explanation wanted and none he hasn’t heard before.  The saga is still not concluded because it looks like I will have to drive back over there to appear in court.  I am trying to work something out but they are pretty tough on poachers!  “You just have to believe me, Sir, I have never done this before, honest, really, I never have…”  Sure.

We left Wilderness Gateway Friday morning and drove the 500 plus miles to Shelton arriving in time for #1 grandson Sloan’s 5th birthday.  We drove to Gig Harbor to pick up Brad’s two children, Canyon Paul and Sage and brought them to Shelton for Sloan’s party as dad was doing a wedding and mom wanted to go along without two small children.  It was a long day but a log of fun.

Well, that gets us to today and the start of 7 weeks or so in Washington before we head out on another adventure in living “nowhere”.

Not sure what we will do with all of this time here but will let you know.

Monday morning meanderings. Vol.80

Norman, Oklahoma

We have the trailer parked in a new section of the Lake Thunderbird Lake State Park just south and a little east of Norman Oklahoma.  Norman, of course is the home of the University of Oklahoma, or OU for short, the school I pull for out here in Big 12 country. If it is OU why is it not called Oklahoma University?  We have some more work on the truck tomorrow in OK City so this was a good place to come from Duncan.

Item one.  We left Sayre Friday and headed south to Duncan, Oklahoma for the Oklahoma state high school finals (rodeo).  This event is the culmination of a year long effort to be a state champion in one of many events in high school girls and boys rodeo.  We had a great time going to the final two performances of a week long event, hanging with Charlie and Lorissa and the kids and with Jason and June and their family.  Their son Lane finished up his year as state champ in the bull riding event.  He will ride in the National Finals rodeo in Farmington, NM later in the month.

It is amazing to me that at these high school/junior high rodeos they begin the event with prayer.  True for all rodeo events as far as I can tell.  But not only do they have prayer to start off they almost all have a church service if the event goes over a Sunday, as most of them do.  Can you imagine starting basketball games in Washington with prayer and weekend tournaments hosting a church service?

Jason and June were responsible for the church service and invited Charlie and another friend, world champion bull rider, Matt Austin to be the speakers.  Jason was leading worship and invited me to play with the band (they were short handed).  It was a lot of fun and the guys did a great job of speaking Kingdom into these young people and their families.  Matt and Charlie are both Convergence students and great friends.

Item two. We have been busy lately with a number of interesting opportunities.  We hosted a group from Fellowship of Christian Cowboys at Trinity a couple of weeks ago and have also been spending some time helping them with some administrative duties.  They are one of the many  national Christian organizations that are in transition and so we are helping them to refocus and to think more long term.  Lots of organizations tend to have some real growth and influence but after a few years discover they are not longer making much of an impact doing things the way they used to do them.  It has been a challenge to find the right hooks back into viability but it is coming. 

Item three.  We started teaching a new Convergence class this past week called “Pursuing a Kingdom marriage and family”.  We had the biggest group we have ever had for a Wednesday evening class.  My thesis is that like so many other things that are called Christian, marriage has taken on more of a cultural influence than it has a Kingdom one.  The high point in a Christian marriage is usually the wedding and from then on “Christian” marriage looks about like any other marriage.  Divorce rates seem to bear this thesis out.  We need to help our young people see what marriage was intended to be prior to marriage and to guide those already married away from the cultural way of doing the marriage relationship and into a Kingdom one.

For the first session I worked hard to raise our awareness of the high value of marriage as a picture of how much our Father loves us and desires intimacy with us.  Marriage and the sexual union in marriage is designed by the Father to be a picture of His love for us and the potential of intimacy with Him.  The highlight of the class had to be a discussion of how sexual intimacy in marriage is a graphic illustration of how the Bride is to come into an intimate relationship with the Bridegroom, through worship.  If you want to listen to the audio of the teaching you can find it HERE.

Hope to get the next post on 24 up this week.  We are ready to focus our attention on the second of 3 questions the disciples asked Jesus in Matthew 24.

Have a great week.

What are you passionate about? Lorissa Kingsbury

Sayre, Oklahoma

A few weeks ago I sent an email to about 50 people asking this question:  What are you passionate about?  Several responded and here is the first post.  Maybe seeing how this looks more of you will want to join.

Lorissa Kingsbury is one of our Spiritual daughters here in Sayre.  Just writing that made me think about how blessed we are to be able to say that.  We share that honor with others and that is part of what makes Spiritual parenting so special.  Lorissa is a lot of things including wife to Charlie, mother to Chaynee, Carty and Cason.  She is a sports woman who has competed at the highest level in rodeo, basketball, track and probably others.  She is a runner, a serious runner, having completed a number of marathons including the Boston Marathon.  I think her best time is under 3:15 which is very good.  She grew up on a ranch in Texas and she and Charlie ranched together in Colorado after they travelled doing rodeo together.  She loves the Father, hears from Him and stays in step with the Spirit. 

What is Lorissa passionate about?  Here is what she wrote:

I am passionate about my relationship with the Father first and foremost. I feel like outside of that I am in a season of my life where my main focus is on my family and serving them. And I love it and enjoy every moment I have with Charlie and my children. I am completely satisfied with just being “Mom and Charlie’s wife” as it’s called by most. The enemy tries often to remind me that I don’t do much for the Kingdom. But I am passionate about the real truth and that is that I am building character and implanting the Kingdom of God in not only my children but all their friends.

I have been asking the Father what’s next for me as my youngest children start school. I think another child is part of the picture but have yet to see that come to pass. I am passionate about running and fitness and nutrition. It has been a lot of fun to pass on the things that I know God has downloaded to me concerning being healthy to my family and lots of friends. I have wondered for a long time if personal training is for me or maybe teaching and coaching.

I guess the thing I could use help with is prayer to know what the next season will consist of and when it will start. That really makes me laugh because isn’t that the question that everyone ask? And almost constantly. I just know that until I hear from the Father I’m going to do my best to just love Him and the people He has given to me.

Thanks Lorissa!  I love what I see the Father doing in you and in me, through you. 

 

 

 

 

Lorissa and Charlie

Now see, that wasn’t so hard.  If you want to join us check out the last part of this POST and then respond!

Monday morning meanderings. Vol.76

Sayre, Oklahoma

After more than two months away we are back in our spot on the beautiful 100 acres that comprise Trinity Fellowship.  We arrived back yesterday in time for the second service yesterday,  and the opportunity to hear our friend and spiritual son Charlie, share some thoughts on staying fit spiritually, from the inside out.  It was a good word and really fun to see how this young man has grown.  He has such a good grasp on the importance of relationships in the Family and the value of hearing the Father.  Wish you could all know Charlie, Lorissa and their family, they are such a great example of how the Family is producing sons and daughters who get the Kingdom and are living out Kingdom values.  (Don’t have time for a pic, wish I did)

Item one.  We spent some really great time in Williams, Arizona with another Kingdom family.  Brooks and Melissa are ranchers in the dry high desert country.  Brooks rides herd over about 100 square miles of land where he cares for as many as 1000 head of cattle.  That is a lot of country.  I went with Brooks to help a neighbor with branding and moving some calves, while Linda helped Melissa with the homeschooling of their two oldest.  Along the way we shared our relationship with the Father and shared some pain and some joy. We are so blessed to have spiritual sons and daughters to go alond with our natural (they are spiritual, too) sons and daughters.  I don’t have any fear for the future of the Kingdom (of course we have a great King) because it is populated with some young people who are living it out.  There are so many more I could write about and probably will, but these two couples are fresh on my mind today.

Item two.  We were about half way between Flagstaff and Winslow, Arizona when I-40 was closed down in both directions because of blowing sand.  We have experienced road closures because of snow, ice, flooding, downed trees, among other things, but never for blowing sand.  We sat on the freeway, with a few thousand other people, for over 4 hours before we were able to head on towards Albuquerque where we spent the night.  I really wanted to stop in Winslow where I hear there really is “a girl my Lord in a flat bed Ford…”  Didn’t get to this trip.  (extra points if you understand that last line)

Item three.  I intend to do a post just on points made by Bill Johnson in a message we listened to on Resurrection Sunday.  We had our own service with Chuck and Nancy and it was really powerful, great worship, good friends, an encounter with the Word that has stayed with me for days and excellent food.  Even watched the end of the Masters.  hard to beat a day like that.  There are not many messages these days that still have your attention days or weeks later but this was one of them.  He was talking about the fear of God and how the church has watered down the meaning of the word so as to try and make a relationship with the Creator more user friendly.  Bill said, and I agree, that fear really does mean fear, but he went on to say there are two kinds of fear in the Scriptures; fear that messes you up so you run from God and fear that brings us near to God, low and surrendered.  Not to many Christians in that posture these days.  More on that later.

Item four.  We are officially out of the trucking biz.  After several months of really good income followed by several more of limited income and then more of none, we had someone approach us about buying our truck and it seems like a good deal for us.  The oil industry has tanked out here so the work we had is just not there anymore and we are not interested in trying to find other kinds of loads so we decided to call it a career.  Many lessons learned and there are still some unanswered questions, but that isn’t all bad.  Questions always force trust in places we haven’t trusted before and of course that is what builds stronger faith.  Perhaps there still be some use for my CDL.

Item five.  There are all kinds of projects to work on now that we are back in Sayre.  While we were away a high speed fibre optic line was put in place which will now allow us to get our classes and services on line in real time and to archive other video for use by our students and others.  This is really exciting for me but it is also pretty new to me so I will be flying by the seat of my pants as we put it together.  Convergence Summit 2 is not that far away and there is much to do, like securing speakers and publicity and all that goes with putting a program together for 100+ people.  We are also talking about a 3 month Convergence program for 10-15 students who want to live, learn and serve in the western culture.  There is also teaching to do plus our work with Forever Cowboys, Fellowship of Christian Cowboys and the Pro Bull Riding Outreach.  We have varied responsibilities and opportunities with these groups but we have a high level of interest in their success in reaching their Kingdom vision. 

So, lots to do.  Still hope to keep the Juniper Tree growing too, so stick around, I appreciate you.  Have an anointed week!

Monday morning meanderings. Vol.74

Payson, Arizona

Our time in Arizona is coming to an end.  We leave early tomorrow morning for the 2 hour drive to the Phoenix airport and a flight to Seattle, where we will spend a short week with our children and grandchildren.  Next Tuesday we will return to Payson, pick up our trailer and begin the trip back to Western Oklahoma, arriving just in time for tornado season!  Don’t want to miss that!

Item one.  When we left Sayre a couple of months ago I believed I had heard God about what we were supposed to do with our time.  It was not a wishful thinking plan but one we felt was simply going the next step with some individuals and groups we had been sowing into for some time.  The first month went according to plan and in fact,  things happened that we didn’t expect, and were a real blessing to us. 

This last month has gone a completely other direction from what we thought would happen.  It is easy for me to question if I heard God right when things don’t work out the way I planned and it is hard for me to just go with what is, rather than being disappointed with what isn’t.  Any one relate?  But I have learned a lot about staying in step with the Spirit, doing what is right in front of me, as my friend Doug encourages me to do, and being ok with not accomplishing the plan.  Never easy for me but I am learning. Here are a few things God did while we have been in Payson, that I didn’t plan on or expect.

• We have spent a lot of time with Chuck and Nancy, more than I imagined and that has been good.  We have poured into them, been poured into by them and had some really fun relaxing times which I think they needed maybe more than we did.  I have been able to work several days helping Chuck with their business which has been fun and I helpful, I think.  We have shared a lot together, hearing the Spirit about their future and ours.  While I knew we would spend time together it has been encouraging to do more than expected with them.
• I love to worship and I love to participate in leading worship.  I have played very average guitar for years and have had a desire to do more worship leading but there are always people more gifted than I am around to lead.  Chuck is a guitar player and a worship leader and leads regularly at two meetings each week and he invited me to join him.  So I have been practicing a few times a week and participating in leading worship a couple of times every week and it has been a lot of fun.  My fingers are toughened up, I have increased my skill a little, had a lot of fun and helped some folks enter in to worship. 
• When we arrived in Payson our hosts were in the process of training and certification to open a Healing Room here in this part of Arizona.  I was familiar with Healing Rooms (find out about my experience HERE) and wanted to know more.  Each week we participated in a small group training time with the people who will lead and staff this new ministry in Payson.  Then this past weekend we went to a large group training in Phoenix where we were led by the Southwest Directors for Healing Rooms.  It was a really good learning experience and a good time of ministry in the Spirit.  We now have some experience and training we can use in ministry wherever we are and the potential of starting or being part of a Healing Room ministry in Oklahoma.
• Payson is a beautiful place.  As nice as any where we have been.  The weather is nearly perfect and the sky a beautiful blue almost all the time, with very little wind.  We are parked in Chuck and Nancy’s side yard on a hill, overlooking the city.  Our view is really nice.  It is easy to take these kinds of gifts for granted as we are privileged to be in a lot of really nice places.  I have been trying to not take it lightly, but to bless the Father several times each day for this gift.  The view repeatedly puts me in a place of prayer for this city and for the ministries that go on here, day after day.  It is really an honor to pray for a city and to believe God for breakthrough in the hearts of people you don’t know and will probably never meet.  That has been good for me.

We have now been on this journey for nearly two years.  We really had no idea where it would take us and what we would do.  Our Family at Trinity in Sayre has not only embraced us and given us a place to belong and serve, they have also freed us to travel from place to place sharing what we have been given with others.  They not only took us in when we felt like outcasts and foreigners in our own home, they have launched us into a unigue ministry that is always interesting.  It will be good to return to Sayre and the Family there, and to see what the Father has for us to do next.  I have some plans but remaining open to the Spirit’s direction!

But for now it is Canyon Paul, Sage O, Eyob, Sean and Sloan time!!!! (will spend some time with their parents too!)