Back to Basics

You know, I started posting on this thing because I wanted a way to disemenate my life's news to my homies around the world. That was a noble and reasonable goal, I think. The fact, though, is that I just don't take the time necessary to keep you people in the loop on my world. That frustrates me.

I'll have to spit this out rather quickly, which is sad, but I'd rather do it that way than not at all:


I'm leaving tomorrow for Owerri, Nigeria. I'm going on a little trip with Mr. Peb and sons. We will be spending time in some church services over there, and we will also be going into villiages to talk and pray with people. I am expectant for healings and the kooky/miraculous. There has been a prophetic word that we will be led into what will seem like a dangerous detour, but will turn out to be a blessing. Money.

Nigeria, particularly Lagos, sounds like a nutty place as I read about it. Sounds severely unpredictable. This is cool with me. The fact that it's the hot/rainy season (incredibly humid, swarming disease-carrying mosquitoes) right now is less cool. I hear the food there is really very good, which is cool. I also hear that you can be mugged and even murdered INSIDE the airport. That is less cool.

As you can see, Nigeria is a land of contrasts. But I've been hanging out with some of my South African friends today, and they ALL tell me that I will leave Nigeria as a "devil-stomping, prophesying madman." Oyez. They tell me "the saints there are dramatic and full of faith. Their worship will energize you." Yum city.

See you tomorrow, colorful guy on a costumed horse!

I'm SO down with variety here.

I tried the thing where I post from a phone.

Failure. Their gathering system didn't work. At all.

I tried the thing where you comment into a voice mailbox.

Failure. You don't want to comment unless you can see what the others are saying, too. Fair enough.

Now I try this bit. It just breaks it up a bit, maybe. Let's see if you participate.

Today, I am full of desire

What I want is the LORD's PRESENCE. I want to FEEL his nearness and KNOW his friendship. I feel like Rick Joyner describes at the beginning of The Torch and The Sword: spending too much time on principles and strategies, and too little time teaching HIM. Ultimately, I have to admit to being a stranger to Him, a foreigner to his presence and ways. I want to be taught OF him, BY him. I almost wrote that I don't want to be taught ABOUT him, but even that is rare enough. In truth, I DO want to be taught about him. Where are those teachers? My main question, I think, is "how do I come by his presence?" Bible reading for its own sake, for instance, seems to me an endless pursuit of religious trivia. I want the scriptures only as gateways to more of his Spirit and presence. As has been said by others in numerous places, I am simply too easily satisfied. When I stop and consider it, I know that THIS is my honest desire--to be with him. The fatigue I've felt in my work lately is not disconnected to the fact that I just don't feel in step with the Spirit. I don't feel to be acting CONTRARY to the Spirit, but rather feel to have been going it alone. The weight of talking about God or going about "his work" without his presence is too much for anyone to bear. I am in need of an encounter with him, lest I become cynical, embittered, or despondent. Jesus is rightfully called the Hope of the Nations, and he is what I'm hoping in today.

Jesus said that if you don't receive the Kingdom like a little child, you won't get it. Today I want to receive it with a wide open mouth. And I'm painfully aware that Jesus IS the Kingdom--there's nothing outside of His person and presence worth spitting at.

RIP, Funny Letterman

Top 10 Expressions that Sound Dirty but Really Aren't (February 3, 1986)

10. "Frosting the pastry"
9. "Shooting hoops"
8. "Jumping the turnstile"
7. "Checking your oil"
6. "Tethering the blimp"
5. "Sending out for sushi"
4. "Picnic on the grass"
3. "Quarter-pounder at the Golden Arches"
2. "Shaking hands with Abraham Lincoln"
1. "Windsurfing on Mount Baldy"

Learning to Fly, Baby

3 weeks ago I was at the Air/Space Smithsonian in D.C. I saw, not a replica, but the ACTUAL PLANE that Mr.s Wright flew into the history books. It was overwhelming. I teared up. Last weekend I was at Kitty Hawk. I saw the ACTUAL FIELD where it all went down. I wanted to wait until I go see their home and shop in Dayton (completing the trifecta) to write this post, but I just can't wait any more. This is too good.


Here's what I learned about these guys:

1) There's no flying machines without these guys' relationship. They said that they were so closely related to one another that they thought the same. Together, they rejected the theories of flight of their day (!). Together, they screwed around at something they loved until they changed the way our world works. Relationship was the platform.

2) To this day, the engineers and aeronautics gurus tell us that their most valuable contribution was NOT being the first men to fly. Watch this: it was that they DISCOVERED THE FOUNDATIONS of flight. The simplest bases of flight were introduced to the planet by these guys (who'd failed 1,000+ times), and that's what changed it all. Didi and I learned that ALL modern planes contain ONLY the elements of flying that are present in their Model A. There has been nothing new discovered since about the way to put weight on the wings of the wind. This blows your mind.

I could leave you to make the appropriate spiritual application, but I enjoy saying it too much to pass up: in the world system, those who perform the 'crowning achievement' are honored. Not so much the innovators, but the ones who bring the innovation to the masses. Those who package it right and, maybe with the aid of steroids, break long-standing records, if you get my drift. Not so in the kindgom. In the kingdom, those with authority are those who lay foundations, who 'go low' and do the small thing with a pure heart. These will be, as Jesus called them, The Greatest in the Kingdom. The Slaves of Everyone. God says, "Don't sweat the brass ring. You be about discovering and laying FOUNDATIONS, m'boy. Stay low and be saved." Try to discover what's beneath everything. Then plow there.


3) I love to imagine the anonymity (sp?) of that first flight. About 5 dudes trying to get 750 lbs of spruce and linen and aluminum off the ground. 12 seconds... 120 feet... then thud. Onto the sand. And there it is, folks. The town around them was unaware of what was happening. The world media was ignorant. But I bet those brothers winked at each other. Jackpot.

Zech 4:10 "Who despises the day of small things?" Hey human guy: Do you have ambitions for some degree of notariety? Respect from men? Respectability, perhaps? A "certain standard of living"? Do you entertain any notions about a style of righteousness that you could call your own? Hmmm? ... HMMMM?

Well, in the name of God, lay all that offal aside. See the greatness in the small, unapplauded thing. That conversation over the phone with your mom MATTERS. The email you've been putting off may well be a HIGHLY REGARDED ACTIVITY in the eyes of God. Raking the neighbors' yard might be the most important thing you do all year. Who despises the day of small things? Things that change the world happen in mosquito-infested sand dunes in view of nobody. "But your heavenly Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." OOOOOOOHHHHHH SNAP.

PS- I nominate this as Most Inspiring Photograph Ever.

Truth In Unexpected Places

I love it when I find God content outside those who say they're talking about God. It's like the proverb that tells us to study an ant to learn about God. That's Bible telling me to look outside the Bible to learn about God. Psalm 19 kind of stuff.

My Chemical Romance is a band I would typically dismiss out-of-hand. They're high style and low substance, from a True Truth perspective. But, like the Arcade Fire Angry Guy, I wonder if these people are having dreams from God and don't know what they're seeing, or what. But you can't deny the power of this sort of thing. And the truth! My goodness, the truth! So here I publicize it for your benefit.



My Chemical Romance
"Black Parade"

My father took me into the city to see a marching band.
He said, "Son when you grow up, will you be the saviour of the broken,
The beaten and the damned?"
He said, "Will you defeat them, your demons, and all the non believers,
the plans that they have made?" Because one day I will leave you
A Phantom to lead you in the summer, to join the black parade."

...And we will send you reeling from decimated dreams
Your misery and hate will kill us all
So paint it black and take it back
Lets shout it loud and clear
Do you fight it to the end?
We hear the call to carry on

And on we carry through the fears, disappointed faces of your peers
Take a look at me cause I could not care at all
Do or die, you'll never make me
Cause the world, will never take my heart
You can try, you'll never break me
Want it all? I'm gonna play this part
Wont explain or say i'm sorry
I'm not ashamed, I'm gonna show my scar
You're the chair, for all the broken
Listen here, because it's only..
I'm just a man, I'm not a hero
Just a boy, who's meant to sing this song