God Makes Me Laugh

God makes me laugh.   He takes me out at night to a Starbucks (I don't do coffee) for a couple hours mainly to tell me two words: "Build Relationships".   Yes, He did show me many smaller tools and principles and such during the time, but His main purpose, that I currently see, was to tell me two words.  The simple things that God will stretch into such strange things and times to emphasize what He's saying and to teach a multi-point lesson, just amazes me!

Sleepy Snowy Night Driving

That moment when I'm driving home and I'm tired, and God decides to wake me up (in a fun, exciting and thrilling way- that I like, after I had complained to Him that I couldn't take a risky fun way home).

So it's snowing and slick and I came to a curve, and as my car started to slide it appeared that I was just going to drift around the curve - it's dark and no other cars are around. But then my car curves a bit more and I look straight ahead off the side of the road and realized I am looking straight into a quite deep ditch/hill/drop. But my car started to turn back to the right direction, and I realized likely one of two things is about to happen; 1) I will slide right off the deep ditch or 2) I will end up perfectly on the shoulder of the wrong side of the road. It looked like I was going to make the shoulder. . . that is until one of my tires made contact with the shoulder (which apparently is and inch or two lower than the road). As soon as my wheel hit the shoulder my car made an immediate 180* turn and swung me to the other side of the road. In the end, yes, I ended up on the shoulder of my side of the road facing the wrong direction. From that point on I was WIDE Awake!

Thank you Lord for waking me up, keeping me safe and blessing me with an exciting snow thrill! Your hand is visibly on me, thank you Dad!

- Sunday December 4, 2016

A Sick Week (Literally)

Last Saturday I started "really" feeling the affects of a cold or something.   The next morning (Sunday) I knew that I needed to stay home, but due to the large quantity of commitments and the events of the day, I asked God to help me make it through the day.  He did, though by the afternoon/evening I had almost no voice and wasn't feeling to well.  So as a result I stayed home sick on Monday.  Tuesday came and I knew that I needed a second day to stay home and rest, but I also knew that I was greatly needed in the classroom at the school.  So I went to church anyways.   I was greatly needed in the classroom and was told how greatly missed and needed I was on Monday.   However, though I had gone off of sweets and stated eating many oranges daily, healing didn't come.   Wednesday, I had the great privilege to go over to Bryce and Heidi's house for dinner with the other SLI Year 2's (though Brooke had other plans and wasn't able to make it).  After dinner we all went to church for Life Groups, but I decided to head home and go to bed early to catch up on some rest in hopes to kick the sickness away.   Though it helped, it didn't completely do it.  To the point that Thursday night the cold or whatever it is that I have got a lot worse and I stayed home sick on Friday - it's so hard to be in bed all day.  Yes I slept till mid afternoon and rested for a few hours after that, but I like to be up and doing something or driving somewhere.  I don't like being stuck in bed.   Friday night I cheated on my no sugar rule for the week, and had a piece of Daniel's Birthday brownie desert.   Saturday morning I went to Healing School at the church and then stayed home most of the rest of the day to catch up on rest - I did head out once with Jim and Laura to go to Costco to get our membership.   Sunday I'm not any better.   I stayed home from church, informed the leaders that I wasn't going to make it to my serving at Sunnyside nursing home today nor Christmas in Concert Practice today.   I have spent the day resting and praying.  I hope that I can be back to good health for SLI tomorrow.   9 Days is a bit to long for such a cold.   I am trying to avoid going to a doctor mainly because I am not a Canadian Citizen and the whole trip would be out of pocket and likely quite expensive.  Yes I am a ton better now than I was this morning (contrary to how the past week has been where I've been better in the mornings and worse in the evenings), but I am still not at full health.   Still praying for complete healing and comfort from God.  .  .

Encouragement: Psalm 1-50

I will thank you, Lord, with all my heart;
I will tell of all the marvelous things you have done.
I will be filled with joy because of you.
I will sing praises to your name, O Most High.

But the Lord reigns forever...

The Lord is king forever and ever!

The Lord's promises are pure

All the good things I have are from you [O Lord].

I know the Lord is always with me.
I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me.

You will show me the way of life,
granting me the joy of your presence
and the pleasures of living with you forever.

I love you, Lord; you are my strength.
The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior;
my God is my rock, in whom I find protection.
He is my shield, the strength of my salvation,
and my stronghold.

Lord, you have brought light to my life;
my God, you light up my darkness.
In your strength I can crush an army;
with my God I can scale any wall.
As for God, his way is perfect.
All the Lord's promises prove true.
He is a shield for all who look to him for protection.

The law of the Lord is perfect...
The decrees of the Lord are trustworthy...
The commandments of the Lord are right...
The commands of the Lord are clear...

...there is great reward for those who obey them.

Some nations boast in their armies and weapons,
but we boast in the Lord our God.

...The unfailing love of the Most High will keep
him from stumbling.

We praise you, Lord, for all your glorious power.
With music and singing we celebrate your mighty acts.

For the Lord is king!
He rules all the nations.

The Lord is my shepherd;
I have everything I need.

Even though I walk through the dark valley of death,
I will not be afraid,
for you are close beside me.
Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.

Who is the King of glory?
The Lord, strong and mighty,
the Lord, invincible in battle.

Who is the King of glory?
The Lord Almighty-
he is the King of glory.

Show me the path where I should walk, O Lord;
point out the right road for me to follow.

All day long I put my hope in you.

I have taken a stand,
and I will  publicly praise the Lord.

The Lord reigns as king forever.
The Lord gives his people strength.
The Lord blesses them with peace.

O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever!

I am overcome with joy because of your unfailing love,
for you have seen my troubles,
and you care about the anguish of my soul.

But I am trusting you, O Lord,
saying, "You are my God!"
My future is in your hands.

Your goodness is so great!

Praise the Lord,
for he has shown me his unfailing love.

For the word of the Lord holds true,
and everything he does is worthy of our trust.

But the Lord's plans stand firm forever;
his intentions can never be shaken.

We depend of the Lord alone to save us.
Only he can help us, protecting us like a shield.

I will praise the Lord at all times.
I will constantly speak his praises.

I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me,
freeing me from all my fears.
Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy;

He set me free from all my fears.

Taste and see that the Lord is good.
Oh, the joys of those who trust in him!

For you are the fountain of life,
the light by which we see.

Commit everything you do to the Lord.
Trust him, and he will help you.

It is better to be godly and have little
than to be evil and possess much.

The steps of the godly are directed by the Lord.
He delights in every detail of their lives.

Don't be impatient for the Lord to act!

I take joy in doing your will, my God,

...The Lord is great!

I will put my hope in God!
I will praise him again-
my Savior and my God!

I will put my hope in God!
I will praise him again-
my Savior and my God!

You are my King and my God.

God is our refuge and strength

The Lord Almighty is here among us...

For the Lord Most Hight is awesome.
He is the great king of all the earth.

How great is the Lord,

For that is what God is like.
He is our God forever and ever.
and he will be our guide until we die.

"Trust me in your times of trouble,
and I will rescue you,
and you will give me glory."



- A List of verses that have stuck out to me over the years from the first 50 chapters of Psalms'.

The Past Week At A Glance

This past week,

Monday night, October 31st: Koinonia had it's Bright Light's Night: Under the Sea! A night full of family fun games and fun, worship and skits, and of course, loads of candy!  That was a ton of fun.

Wednesday night, November 2nd: The start of nearly nonstop business.  It was life groups and I'm in How to receive your miracle.  It's very powerful, and God has been speaking volumes to me through it.  He is very visibly there every night.

Thursday Morning, November 3rd: 7:30am, I was among the 10 Koinonia Christian Academy Staff (minus 1) to leave for a 1-2 hour drive for an ACSI conference (for Christian Schools).  It was a fun day, and though I did feel out of place, I learned a lot.

Friday Morning, November 4th: 7:45am, I met the KCA's principal at his house and rode with him, again, to the conference for the second day (the rest of the teachers, minus one who could only attend one day, stayed overnight in a hotel).  Again the day was awesome and powerful.  Throughout the whole conference I learned a lot about how to work with kids in general and with kids with learning disabilities and their parents.  Through that I also learned a lot about myself as I grew up with learning disabilities, and how I can relate what I know about myself, to those who I am teaching.  One thing that really stuck out to me was one of the speakers, from America, brought up Chick-fil-A.  He said, "see your students and parents as Chick-fil-A sees their customers."  Most people, didn't fully understand it (I don't think) since there are no Chick-fil-A's up here.   However, It really stuck out to me, and struck home since I knew clearly what he was talking about.  Chick-fil-A see's their customers as valuable human beings; as someone who is worth something great; as someone who they would love to serve; as someone they can work with; and so much more.  

Friday afternoon, November 3rd: Dave (KCA Principal) and I left early from the conference (half way through the day) in order to make it back to Koinonia's mens Conference on good time.

Friday evening/night, November 3rd & Saturday all day, November 4th:  Koinonia's Mens conference, Valiant: Relentless, started.  It was filled with everything guys love, from food to intense teaching to RC racing, to axe throwing to blitz chess to video gaming, to garage band, to changing tires to so much more.   It was a loaded experience filled with great fellowship and worship.  

Text To Speach

As I'm closing the longest stretch, since starting my blog, of not posting anything, I'd like to explain a little.  Along with the fact that the past few weeks have been getting busier and busier, I have also been blessed to hear more and more from God.  I would love to share all my experiences, but I have decided not to post them on my blog.  As I have been expectantly seeking God, He has revealed Himself to me in numerous ways and has spoken many words directly into my life.  However, since the quantity of these experiences is so high, it would literally take me multiple days, non-stop typing to post them all.  Over the past few weeks this thought became more and more overwhelming, and in turn I never posted any of them.  So I have decided not to post them.  I would love to share them in person (verbally) if you would like to hear them, but I won't have the time or capacity (at this time) to post them all here on my blog.  

Rest & Healing At God's House

Friday morning when I got up, I knew that I was coming down with a cold or something again.  I did not feel that great, however, I felt good enough to go to church and serve in Kindergarten.   Though, I told myself, that this weekend I would rest.  

Saturday morning, I really felt like God was saying that this is going to be a weekend of healing, not just for me but for a lot of people.  I was feeling a lot worse, but I knew a bunch of people who were really sick as well.   So I asked my Facebook community to join me in prayer that this would be a weekend of healing.   I then returned to bed to get some rest.  

I woke up between 3:00-3:30pm on Saturday, more than 18 hours of rest, 17 of them I was asleep!   None the less I started my day at 3:30pm.   I ate, and then went and worked on reading my book and writing my book report.   It was a very productive day.  

Saturday night finally came and I didn't know if I'd be able to sleep.  I still wanted to be at church for 7:00am for my meeting with God, but I was worried I would show up low on sleep.   So in attempt to try to go to bed more tired, I stayed up till 9:00pm (I try to go to bed around 8:00pm) and then went to bed.  Well 10:00pm rolled around and though I was super tired and wanted to fall right to sleep, I couldn't sleep - likely because I got up at 3:30 that afternoon.   Then I heard that little whisper in my head telling me to go to the church again.  I wrestled with this for a bit, for I had been thinking about it and was replaying the words God spoke to me last time He asked me this.  I was un for sure this time if I was hearing God, or hearing my head replay God's voice from the previous time.  Finally God told me straight out that this was Him again, and I was to go to church again.  With warning and memory from last time, I prepared a bit more.   I got out of bed, showered, put warm clothes on top of my Sunday outfit and brought several blankets.   Then I headed out the door for the church parking lot, nearly 30 minutes away.  God told me that I would find rest and healing at His house, and that I did.  I had a beautiful sleep, wonderful actually.  It was gorgeous! Even though I only got 6 or 6.5 hours of sleep (where I try to get 8-9 hours every night) I felt well rested when I awoke.  I stayed warm all night and slept amazingly.

Praise and Glory be to God!!!!

An Ant Walking Through A Room

During Life Groups this past Wednesday God spent a good time talking to me:

I looked down and I saw a tiny ant walking on the carpet towards my shoe.  I squished it, but God used something as small as a (now dead) ant to speak volumes to me.

I saw the floor, the carpet, as life.   The stands of the material make little hills and valleys in life, but in general, it's "flat," though for the ant it's so much bigger.  But the room isn't empty, it's full of people, chairs, carts, tables, etc...

I am the ant, as I walk life I will run into shoes or chair legs, seemingly huge obstacles.  I so easily try to avoid dealing with them and will make a huge, too long of a trip, to go around the shoe instead of learning to climb over it and continue (the shortest path).  If/when I go around I will still run into obstacles, but they will be bigger and more overwhelming and challenging because I never learned how to climb over the smaller ones.   But if/when I walk through the fire and work through the pain and trial and climb over the shoe, it will be easier to climb the next, bigger obstacle.  It will be easier to build  upon the trust I built with God on the smaller obstacles.  

If I allow them to; if I approach obstacles with fear; if I live in fear, obstacles will squish me.

Canada Thanksgiving Day

Monday October 10, 2016 was Canada's Thanksgiving Day.  The previous day, some of Jim's family had come over for a thanksgiving meal (lunch).   On Monday though, I decided to go for a drive.   I felt like the Holy Spirit was prompting me to do so, and I love driving.  I didn't know where I was going, but I just drove and turned where He told me to turn.   I got to spend nearly the entire time praying and worshiping.   I have a stack of prayer cards that exceeds 170 prayer requests and I got to go through them and pray for them.  For each request I spend anywhere from 1-5 or 10 minutes praying, just depending how the Spirit leads me.   I first pray for the specific request in english, then I spend a good portion of the time praying in Spirit for them and their request.   I was blessed to have plenty of time to pray alone with God.  I was on the road for more than 4 hours, and I drove more than 200 miles.   It was a blast and I truly had a ton of fun!  

The next day I did something similar on the way home from church.  Except I only drove 70-100 miles.   The time I have alone with God to pray for others is a HUGE blessing.   I find rest in it, I find hope in it and I find joy in it.   I've been hearing tons of prayer requests and I am starting to hear tons of praise reports!   Here is an example that just..... just..... GOD!    Someone asked me to pray that they could sell something that was going to be really hard to sell.  As I was praying, the Spirit spoke through me praying that the thing would be sold that day.  Later when I asked this person, they told me that that day someone had randomly came up and asked if they could look at the item (when they guy wasn't even trying to sell it yet) and they bought the item the next day!  Praise and Glory to God!  Only God!  

What's Going On Right Now

It feels so weird right now. So many things are changing, so many things are just different here. My head hasn't quite grasped them all yet. So much is going on, I just don't know how to comprehend it all!

First off, tonight the temperature is suppose to drop below freezing, and then by Wednesday it's suppose to jump up to 20C/70F. Such strangeness.

Second, and largely right now, It's Thanksgiving up here!?!?!? No, Thanksgiving isn't until mid November, at least. Nope, not up here in Canada. Monday October 10th 2016 is Thanksgiving Day (in Canada). I...... I don't quite have words to understand it or grasp it, but it's real and happening...... Again, strange, not what I'm use to.

Thirdly, as many people have asked me how I'm liking SLI 2, I can say I love it! 10 months ago, and friends, classmates and teachers can confirm this, I was like, "no" when it came to me being with kids. I said, "I'm not good with kids, I'm not comfortable with dealing with that. . . no" And what do you know, God changed my heart and showed me a true Gift of mine. I now spend 4-6 hours a day with kids, I am now a kindergartener assistant at a school. And the strangest thing is, I LOVE IT! Praise God! He is so Good!

Fourth, I thought that with volunteering and being at the church 50+ hours a week, I wouldn't have much time to spend with God.   Boy was I wrong.   Now when I think I have less time, I have found I have more time.   I have found that I now value His voice more and am willing to make time.  Last year, when I had plenty of time, I maybe had a half an hour or 40 minutes (including the 30 devotions time set aside in SLI).  Now SLI 2 doesn't have any time set aside for that, and easily get to spend 2-4 hours a day with him, easily.     

Fifth, Now that I get to spend more time with God and seek Him more, He's answering many of my questions and seekings.  As I Listen to Him more, He speaks to me more.   I asked Him to take me to different places for His glory, and is sure doing that.  I asked Him to show me how to pray, He is doing that, and has done that.  I asked Him (after being challenged by Him and a leader) to show me what He wants me to see in a book I'm reading, and He did --- PLUS He showed me the answers to a number of other questions because I was seeking to hear Him in that book.  And through it all He's started a ministry of prayer in me that He's asked me to continue, and it lines right up with the callings that He has placed on my life.  God is Sooo Good to me!   Praise be to God!  

Prayer: There Is Power In Prayer

As I've been reading my book for SLI, Season's of Intercession by Frank Damazio, I got a little bored by it.  In fact I really, really didn't like the book, it seemed dry. And I told this to Bryce but he challenged me to look at the book with a different perspective.  Shortly after that, God challenged me to look at the book with a different perspective and to read the book expecting for God to speak to me through it.  Boy, oh boy, did that work.  I started reading it expecting to hear from God, and oh did I.  He really challenged me in the area of prayer. This is an area I've been asking God about for a while, "God teach me how to pray, for all my prayers feel like I'm saying the same thing over and over again."  And did He ever, but only through other people, ironically.

I was praying for someone else that He had put on my heart, and He got me really excited about praying for them.  It gave me a lot of energy and excitement.  He put the idea in my hear to ask all my Facebook friends if there was anything I could pray for them for.  And then pray for them.  I was quite pumped about this idea.  But I thought that I would sleep on the thought before acting on it, just incase it was another one of those impulse things that doesn't last.

In the morning, I had the same excitement, so I began by asking everyone of my Facebook friends that were online at the moment, how I could pray for them.  That gave me something to pray about on my way to church.  Since then, I've been checking Facebook at different times of the day and asking every new friend that is online at the moment how I can pray for them.  Only a portion of the people actually reply, but the ones that do I have the privilege to pray for.  I have a growing list of 50-100 people I'm praying for right now, just from the Facebook responses.

Some people ask me why I asked them, or what I'm doing and I Happily tell them, "I believe strongly int he power of prayer, and I would love to able to use that power (that the Holy Spirit has given me) to pray for you."

I've had a number of people open up with personal things (which I will not share) and some who have very specific prayer requests. I like these the best because it can show that the person is willing to open up to have this powerful prayer used in their lives.  Others just ask for the general prayer or something not too specific, which is okay too.  Prayer is powerful either way.

I have a growing list of note cards that I keep with me and every time I get a new prayer request, I put it on the blank, white side of a card, and add it to the pile.  Depending on the request, each card holds 1-5 different prayer requests.  Then when I have a bit of spare time or I am driving, I will just read the next request on the top card and pray, both in english and in Spirit.  I find it kind of humorous that Facebook has threatened me several times to restrict me from using Facebook Messaging because I've been using it so often and rapidly.

There is tremendous amount of power in prayer! I thoroughly believe that!  If you have any prayer request let me know and I would love to pray for you! Either comment or FB me or send me an email (joshua.baurer@gmail.com).  I would love to pray for you.

I love hearing the results of prayer too.  For example a friend asked me to pray that she would get a job at a job interview.  Right after the interview, she thanked me for the prayers, for she got the job.   I've also had some great encouragement that God is using me in more ways that I can see.  I asked a certain guy on Facebook if I could pray for him (a guy in my class in High School) and he said that he is an atheist, but he thinks that my prayers will help the people in Florida, Haiti and other's affected by the hurricane.  I replied and told him that I would be praying and shared a little word from God, that God had shared with me for him.  He replied back, saying, "You have always impressed me as someone who truly practices what he preaches.  You follow the teachings of Christ well, and for that I respect you regardless of my own personal beliefs."  That right there is so encouraging.  God is moving behind the scenes and is using me in His work.  Praise and Glory be to God!

Listening, Driving, Praying & Doing

God is so good!   As I was pulling out to the church parking lot last night for the weekend, I felt God telling me to stop and go back into the parking lot and wait a bit.  He's done this a number of times, but He never tells me why until I obey him (a good life lesson right there).  So i turned back and parked, and as soon as I did, the Holy Spirit reminded me that I forgot my notebook in my office.  I've noticed that the Holy Spirit never lets me leave church without reminding me to get my notebook (when I forget it), for when God speaks to me, I immediately write it in my notebook.

Once I had my notebook, I had peace about driving away then.  God directed me to take some different routs on the way home.  He gave me plenty of prayer time and told me where to go as I prayed and drove.  He at one point took me to DCSS (Discipleship Christian Secondary School; a small christian high school).  At first I wasn't for sure why He had me go there.  as I was pulling in the parking lot, I had the image of myself praying in front of the front doors, I immediately replied, "oh no God, I'm staying in my car.  I'm not going to get out and pray in front of the school and make myself look ridiculous and embarrass myself. I'll stay in the car to pray though."  God calmly replied with a smile, "whom shall you fear?  Fear not for I am with you."   So as I pulled in, I said the same thing to God as I drove past and I saw a picture of myself parked right up front in the middle by the doors.  I told God I'll park off to the side further from the middle and the lights and people's sights.  But God gave me the same reply and what do you know, I parked right in the middle, up front, right in front of the doors - in plain view of any eye looking at the parking lot.

As I got out of the car, God instructed me to walk the parking lot, up and down the rows, across every parking spot and pray in the Spirit.  So I did.  Then He had me walk around the building (which wasn't lit all the way around).  The whole time I was here, He had me pray in the spirit, for He said that darkness was trying to (or was going to try to, or had) penetrate this place, and He wanted someone to pray it away; to bring the power of the spirit into the situation so that that place would be a light in the darkness.  He had me walk on the porch and on the sidewalks and hold each door handle while praying.  He had me walk all the parking lot aisles and back and forth over and over again at the entrance of the parking lot.   I met two people while praying and I asked them if I could pray for them, but they both said no.

As I was pulling out, God told me to drive down and back the street ahead of me 10 times praying in the spirit (down and back was one time).  So I did.  By the seventh or so time, a guy (who I had asked if I could pray for him earlier, who lived on the street and had been watching me) walked out and asked me what on earth am I doing (he didn't seem too happy).  I simply told him I was praying, and that seemed to satisfy him.  I again asked if I could pray for him for anything, and he said, "no I'll go to church on Sunday."  So I pray that God will work in his life at church on Sunday.

In all the 20-30 minute drive home from church took me about 90-100 minutes.  It was well worth it. I had some great time in prayer, and got to drive a lot.   God is so Good!

Fusion

Friday night was Fusion, Twenty20 (college age group) + Impact (high school age).  We met at church at 7:00 pm and had a great time of fellowship, mini games (jumbo Janga, fooseball, and much more) and more.  Then we went into the Impact Center for a blast-of-a time of Worship.  It was super powerful.  God continue to really challenge me on trusting Him FULLY.  To let Him have everything, and to take it all.

After worship we headed to the lounges and received instructions and got into groups for our upcoming game.  We had a half an hour to roam the whole church (in the dark) on the hunt for 12 different people hidden within the church.  Some of them had challenges for us to do, other's didn't.  We had to get a different symbol from each one.  It was called the Amazing Hunt.  

The whole night was a blast - out team of 6 only found 6 or the 12 people that were hidden.  between the 10-20 teams some of the hidden people didn't even get found.  Some were well hidden.  It was a ton of fun!  And great!  God is good!

Turn Right

Every morning on my way to church I always have a number of options on what path I can take to church.  I always try to remember to ask God what path He wants me to take.  "do I go straight lord, or do I turn left?"   Sometimes He will tell me to take a different path, even when I forget to ask.  I've known about 4 or 5 different ways I can go to church each morning.  Well, at several different 4-way intersections I can go straight or turn left.  For the past few weeks I've had this voice in my head saying, "turn right."  I always ignore it because that is silly and makes no sense.  I cant' get to church by turning right, at least not in decent time.  

Friday, it was a beautiful morning, and I knew that if I took the 'turn left' option I would be privileged to see some spectacular views of God's creation.  Once again that urge came, turn right.  This time it was a little stronger.  I protested in saying, "I don't want to miss such beautiful views this morning, they won't last for ever." But with the stronger prompting I turned right, saying "I don't know where this road leads, but I'm trusting you for direction God."   And He gave me directions, "go straight here...take the next left....turn right...." etc...  just one road at a time.  Yes it took a lot longer, but I have to say, 'God, you know what you are doing.  The views and sights of His nature on that morning in that new area, were breathtaking.  It was so gorgeous.  And I would of never seen it had I not listened to God.  He told me that this is How I am suppose to trust Him.

It was well worth the extra time.

Hillsong: Let Hope Rise

I just watched Hillsong: Let Hope Rise (movie).  It's an awesome thing!   It's a whole new genre, a theater version of a Worship Experience! And I have to say WOW!  Multiple times while watching it, I thought, "I would rate this movie a 10 out of a 10."  And so I will, I give Hillsong: Let Hope Rise a 10 out of 10 as far as movie ratings.  ----> I don't believe that I have given a movie a ten before.  the Lord of the Rings' and The Hobbit's were 9's or 9.5's, but I don't think I've given a movie a ten before!  God is Glorified all throughout this movie!

2016 Election Ballot

I've been a bit burdened lately. Monday I received my Official Election Ballot in the mail.  I signed up for the Voting by mail while in a different country.  I just feel a heavy weight on me as I have the ability to vote for who will lead our country next, and who will lead different areas of leadership within in the nation and all.  I ask for prayer and peace and wisdom as I get to vote for the United States 2016 Presidential (and local) Elections.

A View From the Eyes of God

A week or so ago, on my way home from church, I decided to take a drive through another town, Hawksville.  As I was driving many of the streets there (I drive these streets from time to time) I once again saw a cemetery, as I have seen many times before.  I've always wanted to stop and go through the cemetery for fun, because it interests me, but I've never had the time to do so.  However, this time I had the time and I really felt the peace of God saying that I should.  So I started walking around the older tombstones, fascinated by many of them.  But as I was making my way across the property, I suddenly felt the Spirit of God on me in a heavy way.  I looked around and saw families standing over old and new tombstones crying, I saw glimpses of many funeral burials and funeral processions.  I saw many people, some broken, some sad, some just there because they felt obligated to be there.  I saw the before and after of the burial.  I saw people coming after the funeral to visit the place of burial.  I saw families coming and going.  Then I saw a spiritual view of it all; people who were sad that they lost a loved one, yet rejoicing for the joy they had in Jesus; people who were sad and broken, yet confused by the idea they the dead person was saved by Christ; and people who were sad and broken, and were crushed and torn away, rotting and shaking in their Spiritual lifeless bodies.

I saw the hopes of people.  I saw that some saw a graveyard as a place to come morn for the dead and to live in the past, whereas others came to remember and respect their elders, but then leave and live in the present.  I saw the cemetery being "built" and sections being added on.  I saw the stages of life in this world; I saw the life that no one knew was in there.  I saw the gravestones and the peoples spirits that were once in those bodies.  I saw brokenness, lifelessness and pain.  I saw hurting, confusion and un-earthly feelings.  But then I saw others, other's tombs and saw their joy and peace, for they were with Christ, and had a personal relationship with Him.  I saw those who had a relationship with Him, and those who actively pursued a growing, deepening relationship with Him.  In those I saw great joy and love.  But the tombs of joy were numbered few.   Most were hurting and lost.  Most were lifeless and crying out, crying out for someone to help them, to take them from their agony.  I saw the pain and brokenness of those who were buried here and those who have visited here.

I read the words of the different stones and saw meaning and intentions behind them.  Most were typical phrases that were placed out of the "hope" that their loved one was in a better place or that they were something here on earth.  Yet a small few were rooted in true life and joy.  Some who saw the meaning of the loved one's life here, and yet saw the so much greater life they had ahead of them.  The Holy Spirit showed me those who were saved and those who were not.

I was overcome by the immense brokenness in that place.  I saw so much brokenness.  I saw so many lost, who did not hear the love of Christ.  Then the Holy Spirit spoke to me telling me, "don't let my children die not knowing me.  Bring them to my love, show them me.   Don't let anymore of my children go to the grave not knowing me."  - A continuation of previous words He has spoken to me.  He told me to lead his people out of darkness, to lead them in His light to Him.  That I was chosen to be one of His vessels.

The whole time it was saddening and glorious at the same time.  There was life and lostness at the same time.  Love and death.  Pace and pain.  Confusion and laughter.  Crying and jumping.

Then I came to a tree, a big, old tree in the cemetery.  I saw it as Christ.  His is rooted here and reaches out His branches to cover us, but not everyone comes under the covering.  And some that do come under the covering do no know Him.

At one point I was standing in the very back of the cemetery and I saw a man walking His dog around the path.  I felt the Holy Spirit prompting me to go ask him if I could pray for him.  I procrastinated.  As he was walking a bit closer to me, I started walking toward him, but the way it worked out was, it seemed, that he saw me as following him.  I was standing in the back until he came up and them I am following him???? - that seems a bit suspicious.  His pace seemed to quicken and he eyed me often.  So I made my path angle a bit towards my car.  He then left the cemetery and I missed my chance to talk to him - all because I procrastinated.  

After a bit, I was again asking for forgiveness for not obeying God right away, and he told me to turn left out of the cemetery, so I drove left.  Then he kept having me make right turns - the whole time I'm looking for that guy, to see If I can still talk to him - there was no sign of him.  After several right turns I was facing the cemetery again and I saw a lady doing some work on the greenery outside her house and I thought to stop and ask her If I can pray for her.  As I was pulling up, she was finishing up and heading in, but I stopped just in time and had a good chat with her.

  

A Night With God, At His House - In my Car

The twelve hours from Saturday evening to Sunday Morning were so strange.  Saturday night I went to bed at 8:00 pm (as I've been doing lately), excited that I could get nearly 10 hours of sleep and still make it for my 7:00 am appointment at the church.  As I've been doing lately also is playing Good, Good Father on a cycle of 7 times, and before I normally get through the 2nd or 3rd time, I am asleep.  Well this time was different.  I went through all 7. . .  and then I went through all 7 again.  Being still tired and asking God to give me sleep, I went back to what I use to do, a playlist of 22 different worship songs.  That didn't work either - a few songs into it I kept getting the thought to try what my dad had suggested, play a sermon podcast.  So I started one, but soon said to myself, "this won't work." I went back and was about to change to a worship song, when Pastor Robert Morris (from Gateway Church) on the podcast stated his title of the sermon.  It caught my attention so much, I said, "I want to hear this." So I left the podcast playing, hopping that I would fall asleep partway through it.  Well, half way through it, I didn't want to fall asleep until I finished the podcast.   At the end of the podcast, God started to speak to me about what pastor Robert Morris was saying.   When it was over, I played a worship song.  I was still really tired, but I just couldn't fall asleep.  It was nearly 10:00 pm now.

I suddenly felt a feeling saying, "go to church."  Strange.... I tried to ignore it but it kept returning. I kept saying, "this is a crazy idea my mind has come up with that I'm trying to decide if it's God or not!?"  This is crazy. (Side Note: I've been really working with God lately to learn how to tell the difference be the voice in my head and God's voice, and He's been testing me with it a lot).  Finally, I said, "God if this is you let me know, but this is crazy."  He replied, "Go to church, I will meet you there."  I'm like, "well technically, your everywhere."  "I will meet you at church." He replied.  I said again, "this seems foolish, it is just silly."  I was immediately reminded of a direct word from God earlier this year, "It may seem silly, but I said to do it."  So I got up and as I was told to, put on some warm clothing, (and packed a few extra jackets just in case) and packed a pillow and left (all the while trying to confirm with God if I was doing the right thing).  I had peace the whole time.  The way to church, God really spoke to me - His presence was very present in the car there.

When I got to church I parked where He told me to and I just felt that I would be spending the night there.  So I laid my seat back and got out my pillow.  As I was laying back, I asked God, "So why am I really here?"  His reply came right away, "Because you heard my voice.  I said I would meet you here and you came."  He continued with, "You will find rest in my voice, you will find rest in my presence."  Shortly after I fell asleep - after more than 2 hours of trying everything I've ever done to fall asleep, I followed God's seemingly crazy voice, and I fall asleep just like that.  Praise God!

No, I didn't have the best night, but my sleep was Wonderful.  Yes, I woke up who know how many times because of both my position and being really cold, but each little snippet of sleep, was wonderful.  In the morning I was well rested.  God said He would give me rest, and He did.  God is Good All the Time!

I woke up to my alarm around 4:45 am.  I then asked God, should I head home to shower, shave, comb my hair and brush my teeth and eat now, or should I sleep another 2 hours, miss our appointment, and go to McDonald's and pick up a comb, hair gel, toothbrush and toothpaste at Walmart?  He told me to do the latter.  So I got a lot more sleep - though When I woke to my alarm, I really had to use the bathroom.  When He told me to sleep, I said, God if you want me to sleep, you can hold my bladder until I get to a bathroom - and He did.  He's soo Good!

Sadly Ture, Time to Change

Picture yourself in the following situation.  As you pull into your driveway and get out of your car, you see movement inside your house.  Your family is with you in the car, so you know thieves are breaking into your house!  You run to the neighbor's house and call the police.  Anxiously you wait, hoping they arrive before the thieves leave with your valuables.  Down the street you hear the sirens.  Police cars screech to a halt in front of your house.  Officers jump out of their cars and run to the curb, where they line up and begin to sing.  Sing?

You listen closely.  They are singing about how they have the authority to stop the robbers and how they can regain your possessions.  Meanwhile the thieves rob you blind. *

This is often a picture of the Church today.  We sing about attacking the enemy, we talk about it, preach about ti, but we do not actually do it.

We must put action behind our words and intentions-we must attack the enemy!


*Dean Sherman
- Frank Damazio, Seasons of Intercession

Home Sick

Thursday Morning:

The last few days I've had symptoms of a cold, but I've ignored them.  It thought it was something small and that it would go away.  I was wrong. I woke up this morning feeling miserable.  I debated staying home, and concluded on praying about it.  Every time I prayed, I heard God speak the words that He spoke to me this past weekend, "Rest."  I was like, "yes I know I should rest, but should I stay home or not today.  It would be a bad day to stay home from church. I have aftercare and during the 4 hours of Kindergarten assistance we happen to have 6 more kids visiting the class.  But I felt God saying that he wanted me to stay home and rest.  I thought, okay, well this will give me time to catch up on reading my SLI book and updating my blog - which I am really behind on where I would like to be.  Plus it will give me an extended time with God today.

Well these thoughts quickly disappeared when I remembered that last night I had decided to leave my bible, book and laptop at church to prevent any distractions going to bed last night.  drat.   Well, ... hmm ... this put a little hiccup in my plan.  In the end, I drove to church at a little after 7:00am and retrieved my book, bible and laptop and returned home.  When I got home, I went straight to bed (around 7:40-7:50am).  When I woke up I figured that it was late morning, but I had a good sleep.  I rolled over and looked at the time and WOW, it was 2:40pm.  I got some good rest, praise God!

Trust - Words From God

Wednesday night: Life Groups (Week #1); How to Find your Miracle: 

During Life Groups, I was taking notes and I noticed as Dot (on of the teachers) was reading John 5:30, an underlined area (that I had underlined long ago), "...I do nothing without consulting the Father."  That section just slammed min really hard and went back to the verse, "pray about everything."  God was just telling me that I need to talk to Him about Everything.

Then I felt the Holy Spirit pressing on me that I am fearing something.  So I cried out, "Lord what am I fearing?"  He replied that I am fearing by belief of inability to tell between His voice and my head.  That is so true and I was in tears. I had never thought about that as a fear before.  But God put it into words for me, thank you Lord!  He told me that if I listen I will know His voice.  If I dig intoHim, If I read His word, I fi seek Him, He will teach me His voice.  The more time I spend with Him, I will learn to know His voice better.

Bryan (another leader) came over and talked to me (and blessed me by bringing over a box of Kleenexes) and prayed with me.  His words were from God.  God spoke to me that His words are true.  That truth is pouring into me.  I need to dwell in the truth.

Through Bryan, God also spoke, I am a child of God.  He will teach me and speak with me.  The lies in me are flow ing out and God's truth is flowing in.  He is speaking to me.

As I was leaving church, I decided to leave everything at church so that I wouldn't have any distractions of going to bed when I got home.  But I felt God trying to say something to me.  I sat out in my car for a while and finally realized that God wanted to speak to me but knew that I would forget it if I didn't write it down.  He wanted me to go back into my office in the church and grab my notebook.  So I did.

On my drive home from church, I really had a strong feeling that God wanted to speak to me.  So I din't put any music on and I just prayed and reflected on the evenings events.  He told me what turns to make, taking me a different way home.  At one point he had me turn onto a road which would lead me to a gravel/dirt road.  I reminded Him that I don't like, nor do I feel comfortable, driving on gravel/dirt roads at night.  He responded with, "I want you to do it so you will know that there will be things that you don't wan to do, things that feel unsafe, but I tell you to do." He is with me and has a plan.

As I was doing it, I thought to myself, "I'll just drive slow, God didn't say I had to go full speed, I don't have to go 80." God heard my thoughts and said to me, "I want you to drive 80 on the gravel road."  At one point, He told me to let go of the wheel and let Him drive (while driving 80 on a gravel road at night).  Every time I did let go, the car would go towards the ditch and I would reach out and grab the wheel again. Further down the road,  I was able to let go for a bit longer, but God said, "You slowed down..."

All this to tell/show me the true depth of my trust in Him. . .

God's Words to my Life

Saturday afternoon; Encounter:

During a breakout session of quite time with God (60 minutes) I wasn't awake the whole time. During my sleep, God gave me a vision of something like an analogy or something.  He showed me a kids puzzle of shapes.  He said, "don't put the circle where the square goes and don't put the square where the circle goes. If they would fit in that slot they would have to be forced and they  would only be temporary fro that is not where they were intended to be.  Once they are in the right place they will be permanent and solid, for that is where they were intended to be."

I had no idea what this was suppose to mean.  After this period of time alone with God, was a time of prayer and worship.  I finally felt God prompting me to go ask one of the facilitators to pray over me that I may know what this means.  So I did.  As the facilitator's were praying, God told me that the puzzle pieces were gifts I have that He is yet to show me.  But I am not to get them mixed up with Gifts I think I have now.  

God has a plan for me.  He has a great things in store for my life and here within the house (Koinonia; God's church).

During the time I was balling my eyes out from the words that God was speaking to me while the facilitators were praying over me, God gave a word to one of the facilitators and he spoke it to me, though he did say that he doesn't know what is going on in my life, nor what I am going through, but he felt God telling him to tell me this: "Rest! There are things you have been praying about.  God says that He will work and is working.  He will do them, show them, reveal them in His own timing.  You can wait and rest! Rest!"

This really hit me hard, for there have been a number of things that this spoke right into. One being my visa.  Canada has told me that I am not eligible to apply for an application right now, and that has really got me worried deep down.  But the words that God spoke to me reminded me of words He spoke to me months ago, "Wait, for I am with you.  I will protect and provide. Wait."  God is soo Good!

Another facilitator felt that God was speaking to him other words I need to hear. He told me that when I pray for wisdom (which I do so, oh so often) I should hold my hands out together, like in a bowl, so that God may pour His wisdom into my bowl.

He also spoke to me concerning what He had told me the previous night.  About what I still needed to let go of in my heart.   He said, "Joshua, give me the wheel (of your heart/life).  I don't want to be the passenger give you directions.  I want to drive.  Give me the wheel."

Encounter with God

Friday night; Encounter:

 As I was worshiping I felt and extreme excitement and (un-natural) energy for worship.  God spoke to me there. There was a line in one of the songs:

What can I say
What can I do
But offer this heart oh God
Completely to you

Those last two lines really struck me.  I had my hands on my heart during this song - gripped quite tightly.  The first time we hit this verse, at those last two lines, I started to remove my hands from my heart in showing and representing that I'm offering my heart completely to God.  However, what surprised me was I stopped my hands, in saying to God, 'I want my heart.'  God really challenged me through this and really worked with me.  Finally I released my hands from my heart crying out to God, "Take my heart".  But I still felt Him saying, "release your heart fully to me." I tried everything that I knew how to give it to him, but nothing seemed to work.

At one time I couldn't stand and I fell to my knees and worshiped, cried out, praised and prayed.  God helped me, at that point, open my heart to Him more and He told me that is what he'll be doing this weekend.  When I fell  to my knees, I could not stop breathing deeply - which made me light headed.  I felt faint, and that I was exhaling my selfish life and my heart to God and breathing in His life.

(The worship session had ended and everyone was back in there seats at this point, but I felt that God was still speaking to me so I stayed were I was on the floor, next to my seat and off to the side).

The position I was sitting in, on my knees and feet, it made my feet start to fall asleep (a not too comfortable feeling in this position), but I felt I needed to stay in my position, so I did.  My hands dangled at my side, shaking, circling and out of my control.  At one point my hands, tingly and lack of feeling (in the realm of touch), were pulled backwards strongly.  So I let them go until God spoke to me saying, regarding my path ahead of me as a pastor, "you may feel like you are being pulled backwards but you will walk forwards."  Then He twisted my hands and pulled them closer together behind me, saying, "and you may feel that your hands are tied/trapped and caught, but you will continue building my church."

Then I was pulled downward and He said, "you may fall, but you will get up." And I suddenly felt my laniard became really heavy around my neck and He said, "Things will pull you down, but I will hold you up."  I felt lots of pain in my feet and he said, "life will have lots of pain, but keep going for I am with you and will protect you." I couldn't move my feet nor my legs and he said, "you may feel you cannot move, but you will move, you will go forward."  "you may feel alone, but I am with you."  "You will never be alone."  As I was being pulled further downward, I tried to hold myself up with my arms, but God said, "Don't. Let go.  I will hold you up, trust me."  "My love is sufficient."

I felt pain in my feet like crazy from my body weight cutting off the blood circulation, and and I started to move, to shift positions to get blood flowing again, but God said, "Don't." He told me to only move when He says to.  I may be in a position or situation where I know if I shift positions or move I will  have less pain, but I AM TO WAIT! God will tell me when I can move.  If I do it in my own time, it will be worse.  God's got a plan and he will help me and heal me - IN HIS OWN TIMING!  He will give me courage and strength.

After a long time when I finally fell to my side (for I couldn't move my legs or feet), I realized that it was about 40 minutes before I could move my legs and feet again.  There was lots of pain too as the blood flowed back into that part of my body again.  (As with almost every time the Holy Spirt takes me over like this, my feet become unearthly heavy afterwards for a period of time).

Encounter

This past weekend I attended Encounter at Koinonia.  Encounter is a time Friday evening and All day Saturday at the church set aside to Encounter God.  You sit under powerful teachings, in environments that tune your heart to hear God and Spirit-moving Worship services and Prayer Times.  The next few posts will consist of some of the powerful notes God has spoken to me through this weekend experience.

The funny thing is I wasn't planning on attending Encounter.   Not only that, I didn't realize that it was last weekend.  I had thought it was a month or so from now, when all of a sudden all last week, people are talking about Encounter and I found out that it was last weekend.  I figured, yes I would like to go to it, but it's kinda late and I can't really afford it.  It was $40, and I didn't have room for that in my budget.  Come Wednesday, less than 2 day prior to the event, I got an email sent out to all church staff informing us that registration for Encounter will now be open until Thursday night.

While doing Dishes Wednesday night, I was hit with a thought, "ask God".  So I did.  I asked God if I should go to Encounter.  He immediately responded with an, "Absolutely."  The way He said it was as if he were saying, 'why would you not go? I will be there, you will experience me, why not.  Am I not wort more than all your money?'   So right after dishes, I went and signed up online.  I figured I could due without a month or two of something else in my budget to experience God in a deeper way.

As I was driving home Friday night, one of my first thoughts was, "what I experienced tonight alone was worth more than my $40.  What I experienced tonight alone I would of paid $120 for a ticket for." In fact, I would of paid my entire bank account for it.

God is Good!


During all of this weekend and what's happened since, I've found the KEY to Hearing God is 1) have an open heart and 2) come expectant to hear from him.

God of Second Chances

Last week when I went to bed and was trying to fall asleep quickly, without much luck.  It was one of those moments where your really tired but can't sleep.  So I was asking God to help me fall asleep and He told me to change position (I was getting pretty warm since I had added an extra blanket, and I had resulted in taking my socks off to help my body cool off).  God instead said to put my socks on and take the extra blanket off to cool my body off just enough. Though I think it was more of a test to see if I would follow what He said more than it was actually cooling off.  Anyways, I was tired and I knew that the more I move around the more awake I would be, so for the time being, I said no.  God simply replied, you won't be able to go to sleep until you do.  So I resulted in following what he had said.

Shortly after, Daniel walked in the room and was over by his bed.  While he was there it sounded like his allergies were really bad.  So I prayed and asked God to take away his allergies.  Again I think it was God testing me to see if I will follow what He says right away, for He replied, "touch him and it will be done."   Sounds simply right, yeah it is, and I know that the Bible clearly teaches in the power of laying hands on people... BUT I was laying in bed, really tired and I wanted to go to sleep.   Daniel wasn't going to just happen to walk over to my bed (he though I was sleeping) so I can awkwardly reach out and touch him.  So I again told God my dilemma and that I didn't want to get out of bed.  He said, "if you touch him, he will be healed."  I said, "I don't want to get out of bed, if I get up it will wake me up."

Suddenly I was convicted that I was preventing someone from being healed do to my selfishness. As I was battling this, Daniel walked out of the room.  I was kicking myself that I hadn't done something when I finally decided to get up and walk out and pray for him.  I got up and opened the door only to find one of two options (both that would really wake me up): 1) he went outside or 2) he went upstairs.  The problem with upstairs is that Laura had company over and it was all full of talking up there.  So I sadly resulted in coming back to bed, sad that I hadn't done what God asked me to do, when He told me to do it.  I just felt heavy and guilty.  I started crying and asking God for forgiveness.  As He assured me that I am forgiven, the song "God of Second Chances" from the Veggie Tales movie: Jonah, flooded my head.

I was so thankful. Shortly after Daniel walked in and I asked if I could pray for him, and I did (and I fell asleep quickly after).  Then in the morning I asked him how his allergies were doing and he said they were great! Praise God!

Moral of the story: Do what God tells you to do the first time

KCA Faculty Photo

Since I am an "assistant" or part-time teacher this year at KCA (Koinonia Christian Academy), I am in their Faculty picture.  They decided that since I was the tallest, I should be placed right in the middle :)

Real Stories from the Minds of Kindergarteners

A group of kindergarteners had huddled around the lego table the other day and were testing their creative minds.  One boy, Brady, had created a space ship and was traveling through space (and telling the world that he was doing so).  An adorable girl next to him, Tiara, suddenly got a huge glow on her face and announced, "I've been to space before!"  Brady replied, "Really? You have?  When? What was it like?"  Tiara again responded, now with everyone's attention (for we all wanted to hear where she was going with this) "I've been to space before! I went with my sister, and she slept the whole time!"

Brady's older sister who was in the room for a moment asked, "Tiara, do you mean an airplane?"  Tiara replied, "Yes!  I've been to space before! It was fun!"

---

After school care:  a group of kids were playing 4-square with some of the kindergartner's in aftercare. The two kindergarteners that I was supervising were Ella and Erik.  Ella had made her way to the King of Four Square position (square #1) and Erik was in Square number four.  Ella bounced the ball towards Erik and it "slammed" the ground in Erik's square and bounced back up in the air.  On it's way down it lightly made a temporary pit stop on the top of Erik's head before returning to the ground.  The rest of the kids kindly informed Erik that he was out.  On his cheerful way back to the line, he kept shaking his little head saying, "I can't believe a girl did that to me."

The Greatness of God!

Psalm 99
v1 The Lord is King!...
v3b. Your name is Holy!....
v5 Exalt the Lord our God!

Psalm 48
v1 How great is the Lord,...
v14 For that is what God is like. He is our God forever and ever, and he will be our guide until we die.

Psalm 47
v2 For the Lord Most High is awesome.  He is the great King of all the earth.

Psalm 46
v1 God is our refuge and strength
v7 The Lord Almighty is here among us; the God of Israel is our fortress.

Psalm 44
v4 You are my King and my God.

Psalm 42
v5b I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again- my Savior and my God!
v11b I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again- my Savior and my God!

Psalm 40
v8 I take joy in doing your will, my God,...
v16c ..."The Lord is Great!"

Psalm 34
v6b He set me free from all my fears.
v8 Taste and see that the Lord is good.

Psalm 29
v.10b The Lord reigns as king forever.

Psalm 23
v1 The Lord is my shepherd; I have everything I need.
v4 Even though I walk through the dark valley of death, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me.  Your tod and your staff will protect and comfort me.

Psalm 24
v8 Who is the King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, invincible in battle.
v10 Who is the King of glory? The Lord Almighty- he is the King of glory.

A Word From God

As I said in my last post, I have been making time for God so that I will hear Him when He speaks.  And He will speak when I make time for Him and seek Him.  He spoke to me this afternoon.  Here is what happened:

I drove past a cemetery and asked God to show me what I like so much about them, what really gets me excited about them.  Why do I want to visit them?  He replied," it's where broken lives were sealed, it's where broken people lay (saved and unsaved).  It's where my children, my people lay (at this point His voice had tears in it, it was full of emotion).  I don't wan to see my children to die in brokenness.  Don't let them die in brokenness.  I want you to speak to the multitudes and show them the light.  Through me, lead my people out of death, don't let them die in brokenness." I asked, "Lord How? What do you want me to do? How can I do this?"  He replied, "Trust me.  I will be your safety and shield.  I will protect and provide.  I will be your guide. Trust me." "Lord, give me courage." "I will be with you. Trust me."

(Some of this He spoke to me while I was still driving and the rest (including the text below) he told me a few words at a time while I was writing this down)

"I have great plans for you, you will lead my people.  I have chosen you.  Guide them as I guide you.  Trust me." ... "You have fears, know that I, The Lord God Almighty, will make a way!  I am with you, and I will not leave your side, you are my child.  Trust me."

"Lives are going to be changed, a revival is coming, you will lead it. Trust me.  I am building an army that will soon attack the forces of darkness in ways it has never seen since Christ's Resurrection.   Prepare for war of war, for it is coming; Challenging Spiritual war is coming.  Trials will be known, Persecution will prosper, but know that I will reign.  My name will be known all through the earth.  I, the Lord, have spoken."

["Lord, How shall we prepare?"]

"Read my word, worship, be still and know me.  Listen for I am speaking.  A day will come when you will no longer be publicly free to worship me without persecution, but stay true to me and share my love and rewards will await you in heaven.  Be still and know, I am God!"

"Prepare by dedicating your time to me alone.  I am your strength, shield and guide.  I will protect you.  Seek me and I will reveal myself to you.  Fear not, for I am Love!  Fear not, for I am God!  Fear not, for I am Peace!  Fear not, for I am Joy!  Fear not, for I am life!  Fear not, for I am light!  Fear not! For I am, THE GREAT I AM! Trust me, Fear not!"

"Don't waste your time in money and material things that will not last, but invest in that which is eternal, in souls and lives that they may know me.  I seek relationship, life, love and obedience.  Trust me."

"Know that I AM God, and I, God the Father, have spoken."

"The things which  I have spoken of shall happen in your lifetime.  Live not in fear, but in joy, for many will come to know me and life will be given to them.  Life comes to those who seek it."

"My Holy Spirit, God Almighty, is with you, He is yours and you are mine.  Listen to Him.  Seek Him.  Seek His work, for He only speaks what I tell Him.  He is me and I am Him.  Trust God in 3 persons, bless our holy name, for I am your Lord and Father.  I am looking out for you.  Blessing and Honor will come to my name."

"Beware of false teachers and prophets.  For many will come in my name who are servants of the devil.  Know my work, know me and then you shall be able to know my voice.  And when you know my voice, you will know the false teachers and prophets when they speak.  For though they speak in my name, they do not know me.  Their names are not in the Book of Life.  Beware.  Know my word, know me. Listen to what I have to say.  Know my voice, Beware.  Prepare yourselves for the day of the Lord is near! He is coming swifter than time.  He, the Son, shall appear in the sky on a white horse to call His children to Him.  And His children will go with Him and all the world will know that I am God.  Prepare, Love, Grow and Learn.  Listen and Speak what I tell you for I am coming with the armies of heaven and you shall not fear!  I the Lord have spoken."

---

"Joshua, the cemetery is a reminder of this promise to you.  It is a reminder of what I've called you to do."


---

I asked why I like cemeteries and God answered.  Ask and you shall receive.  God will answer when you call upon His name.  God is Good!

Thank You Jesus!
Thank you Holy Spirit!
Thank you Father!

Your love is mighty and good!  Great is your name, be lifted High and Glorified!

I Love you!

Valuing God's Voice

Recently I've been listening to podcasts by Pastor Robert Morris from Gateway Church (near Dallas Texas).   In his message Value His Voice I was challenged that I don't really value God's voice like I should.  He shared one of the most practical ways to meet with God to hear His voce and He also shared a recorded Testimony from a guy (presented by Pastor Bill Hybles) at Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago.  It was a moving testimony how they guy made time to be with God and to Value His Voice.  And How God spoke to him and changed His life.  So between these two (Which I've listened and re-listened to this podcast a handful of times in the last two or three days), I challenged myself to do these seemingly practical things to make time with God.  One big challenge with finding time with God, is that I can just move things around in my morning schedule and oh what do you know it's time to leave and I didn't get to it.   So I took Pastor Morris's first step: Make an appointment.  I made an appointment with God.  I set a time, date and place with God.  I said, "God I'm going to meet with you at 7:00am in my office at the church on Sunday the September 18, 2016." And I made time to be there at 7:00am.  I had wanted to take a drive from the church to Sunnyside nursing home and back prior to church so that I know better how to get there when I go in the afternoon, but I didn't want to be late for my meeting with God.  So I went to bed at 8:20pm the night before and got up at 4:40am. I left at 5:30am, drove to the church, then to Sunnyside and then back to the church for 7:00am when the church was opened and my appointment with God was.  I made time for God.    I spent about 40 minutes being still and worshiping, then 20-30 minutes reading His word followed by a time of Prayer and writing what He spoke to me.  By then it was 8:30am, time for Church's Corporate prayer time.  It's so powerful to spend such time with God.  I will do it so that I may hear his voice.

Again, I set an appointment with God this morning.  I knew that the church opened at 7:00am, and that I had to spend an hour or so setting up the Kindergarten room by 8:30am, so I needed to be there earlier if I wanted a good amount of time with God.  So I set an appointment with Him at 6:00am in my car in the Church parking lot on Monday September 19, 2016.   I put it in my calendar and made it official.  I then went to bed at 7:40pm the night before and got up at 4:20am (I highly value sleep and try to get 7-8 hours of sleep at night - but when I get up this early I need at least 8-9 hours of sleep - So I set appointments based off of the guarantee that I will, if it is His will, get my needed sleep).  I left a little late, a bit after 5:30am, and arrived at the church at 6:09am.  I immediately jumped into my time with God; stillness and worship, reading His word, and praying and writing.  By 7:30, I went and started to set up the kindergarten room.

God's Voice

Recently I have really been struggling with knowing the difference between God's voice and my own. I've really been asking God for help knowing the difference.  This past week He gave me a great example.

I went for a walk and near the end of the walk had the thought cross my mind to send an email to someone specific.  I brushed it away, but it kept coming back.  So I asked God, "What do I say to [this person]?" He replied, "I will give you the words to write." I didn't really want to do it but it there so I finally sat down to write out this email.  I started with something like, "Dear ... I feel like I am suppose to write you this email but I don't really know what to say."   Then I figured that wasn't acceptable so I started a new line and God gave me a word to write. He then preceded to tell me words for two large paragraphs to write to this person.  But typical of God, in keeping our need in Him, He only told me up to three words at a time for this entire email.

When I finished the email, I didn't really want to send it to this person for it had some strong stuff in it and it would be embarrassing if I had misheard God and sent it to them.  I felt a slight nudge to send the email.  I said, okay, I'll sleep on it and see if God is still nudging me in the morning.  In the morning I felt a strong nudge all morning, "Send the email" it kept saying.  I kept asking God, "Please give me confirmation that this is you, I don't want to send this email if you aren't the one telling me to send it."  I kept feeling the nudge all the way to the church.  On the ride to church, I felt God whispering to me, "when you get to the church, send this person the email, it is something they really need to hear this morning."  Scared and fearful, when I got to church I didn't send the email.  But with the constant reminder in my head, "They need to see the email this morning" I told myself that I would send it this morning.  Of course not doing it right away, I forgot about it until I got home that night.  

When I got home I knew then that it really was God speaking to me and so I asked God if He still wanted me to send the email... no response.  I kept asking, and kept getting no response.  The next handful of days - which seemed like forever since I couldn't get a reply from God, I kept asking and I kept getting no response.  I knew that I wasn't getting a response because I had failed to listen to Him when He was speaking so why will He continue to speak to me if I am not going to listen and be obedient.    One evening, finally, God suddenly prompted me (without me asking) to send the email now.  So this time I did.  I hope that it was meaningful and had as much of an impact on the person as it would of had, but I now am getting a better picture of what God's voice sounds like.

Abi Got What????

So EXCITED!!!! Abi got her Driver's License today!!!!   With lots of potential complications, God just pushed them aside and blessed Abi with her license just days after her 16th birthday!   God is soo good.

It almost doesn't seem right though (sorry Abi :) ).  Abi is my little sister, not someone who is old enough to drive, shes just a sweet little girl.  Hahaha, nope, Time sure flies when your having fun.  She has way passed that stage, now she may still be my sweet little sister, but she's grown up, and has her driver's license.  Joking aside, Abi, I am so proud of you!  You made my day and I am super pumped with you!  Have fun, and don't learn to drive like David too fast now (haha).   Love you!

Beauty Beyond Beauty

WHOA!!!! God is So Beautiful and Awesome and Amazing and Good!!!!!

This morning on the way to church, I. . .  I. . . I have never, in my entire life, seen scenery so beautiful.   It literally took my breath away, it . . . was Soooo beautiful.  I honestly don't ever remember crying because something is so gorgeous, so astounding.  I was completely overcome by the beauty of God's Creation in nature.  The combinations of all that was this morning is beyond anything I can even begin to describe.  Yet another reason why I so desperately want a good DSLR, so I can capture just a glimpse of this masterpiece.  I know that a camera couldn't even get a good enough picture to show the true beauty behind it, but it would be a glimpse of God's beauty that others' could see who weren't there.   W O W ! ! !   God is Amazing!!! His Love is soo good, soo great, and so much more!   How great is our God!

Letter from the Queen again

About 3-4 months ago I sent another letter to the queen full of questions for her.  Today I received a reply from an assistant who told me due to the enormous amount of letters the queen gets, she cannot answer mine right now. I had asked in the letter for a few pictures and I received a handful of brochures for Buckingham palace. Hahahaha,  So I will try again....

A Drive With God

Last night, Jim's dad and his girlfriend came over for supper before heading down to the States.  Right after I finished eating I headed downstairs to my room for a bit.  I felt that I wanted to go for a drive (for fun) and that I needed to spend time with God.  God's been pretty good at showing me very clearly when I need to go for a drive, or walk or something to get away from life and it's distractions and just spend time alone with Him.   Even though it was dark, I went for a drive.

The drive turned out to be a blast and lasted nearly two and a half hours.  I don't know where I drove to (I've never been those roads before), and I don't really care, all I know is that I was alone with God.   He really challenged me again with fear - on and off throughout the whole drive.  I have too many fears.  What I found really helpful is He prompted me to list my fears.  Then I listed them again by saying, "Your love is stronger/greater than my fear________!" The whole trip was quite an emotional one and I spent a good mount of it crying.  When God is near, there is no holding back the tears.  I found fears that I had forgotten (or even didn't know) I had.  God pushed me and challenged me.  I am so thankful for what He has done.

He spoke truth into me and to me.  He gave me life.  He challenged me on things I am thankful for.  He showed me His love, so much stronger.   He is love.   He has blessed me.  He gave me courage to speak out agains pain, suffering and trials in His name.  He answered questions - Abi, He told me to tell you not to fear, He's got his hand on you as you go on this trip.  You will get what you seek.   Matthew 7:7 says, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."  We will be praying.  

God is Good!  He taught me things that I have been wanting to know for a long time.  He showed me His smile and love.  God is soo Good!

Broken Lie

Sunday night was Twenty20 and I was serving on the ushering team.  During the worship time God really spoke to me again.  He has themed recently again on fear, pointing out all the fears I have, one by one.  A good way into the worship he struck me with realization of a lie that I had believed so long ago.   A lie that has been holding me back from what I am doing this year and a lie that really has been holing me back ever since I first believed it.

It was back 2 or 3 years ago when I was on a missions trip to the Dream Center in Peoria (LA has the mother Dream Center).  On this missions trip, I spent a lot of time with kids, for we were doing VBS programs throughout inner city Peoria.   I didn't feel that I was that good with the kids, in fact, I wasn't.  l was very awkward around them and my mind seemed to blank every time I tried to talk to them and sharing the Gospel with them didn't go well.  Because of a week of this, satan placed the lie in my head that I am not good with kids.  Even though it was just a bad experience, I felt awful and I believed him.

Now, God has shown me this lie and has set me free from it.  I know that I am good with kids, I just have to push myself out of my little comfort zone that has little fears of what could happen.  But God is helping me through that.  He is giving me confidence and assurance.  Praise be to God!  He is Good!

No More McDonalds???

Those of you who know me well, know that I love McDonalds!  It is the best, not to mention cheapest, fast food restaurant out there. I've found that I can get the most satisfying food there for my buck.  I always go straight for the dollar menu and get 3 McChickens (~$1 USD each) and a large Fry (~$2 USD).  So for about $5 or so I can get a full, satisfying meal and a ton of food.

Sadly to say, and yet not that sad, I may have found something today that has beaten that.  Correction, I have found it.  In fact it beats it on every level.   Mike Beecraft (Koinonia's Youth pastor) for the past year has always raved about Shawarma.  He's always saying how good it is; it seemed that nearly every time on the way to Kidzone it would come up.  So I decided to give it a try for lunch today.  Boy was it good!  For a good price I was able to get a quite large Shawarma Chicken Sandwich.  I think in total it had more food (+1 against my McDonalds choice); it tasted better (+2); it's way healthier (+3); it was more satisfying (+4); and, after tax, it was a bit cheaper (+5).  My McDonalds meals may be over (to some extent), yes mom I am actually saying that.  With all 5 strikes agains my past meals, Shawarma will take my service now.

Lord Help Us

I saw this picture on Facebook today and normally I would of ignored it, not liking it's content.  However the Holy Spirit really convicted me with this and I could not stop staring at it.  I was looking at it for 10, 15 minutes at least. I then started to read the comments, and it broke my heart.  We live in blindness.  How often do we really do this and not realize it.  I want to challenge you to stop and think about this, pray about this; How do you as a person do this to others?   Our outside shell tells us that we don't do it, but dig deeper, you'll likely find that you actually do.  Ask the Holy Spirit to show you where you do, and ask Him how you can change so that we can share love with others rather than condemnation.

For those who are upset at Christians for doing this, I want to apologize.  My goal is to spread love, to shed light in the darkness and to serve others.  I don't want to condemn you or anyone else for anything.  This is not easy to follow though.  We today, the church of God, we too easily take out beliefs and expect others who do not share that belief to follow it.  We have no such right to do so.  Our right is to share Christ's love with you and nothing more.  We won't make actions or decisions against what we believe but we will share our love with you.  We want to love you as Christ loves us, and God will do the rest.  God alone can work in our hearts.  We too often think that our condemnation, our judgements, and out "fighting" for the truth in extreme ways will change peoples hearts.  But only God can change your heart, that is not our responsibility.  We may share out beliefs with you, but do not claim that as condemnation or judgement until it really is.  Sharing and judgement are two separate things.  We want to share and love, so that Christ's name will be glorified.   We really do love you.  God really dose love you.

New Phone Number

Just an update:

I'm attempting to text everyone on my contacts list on my phone, but it's going rather slow, so I will post it here too.

I switched to a Canadian Phone Plan and I now have a new cell phone number: 519-500-3850

Sierra

Last night I was at Sierra Guderian's Going away party.  She (is a classmate from SLI) is heading down to LA to do a 10-month Internship at the LA Dream Center (the mother organization of the Peoria Dream Center).  It's hard to say goodbye to close friends but God calls us all to different places at different times.   We all had a great time and were blessed to spend some of Sierra's last moments in Canada with her.   She left this morning for LA and won't likely be retuning until Christmas.

Sierra, we will continue to pray for you as you are following God's call into another country for this short season of life.   You will be blessed, and are so blessed already.  Know that God is with you always wherever you go and whenever you are in need.  He is there when you think all is good and He is there when all seems to be crumbling.   God is so thrilled that you are listening to Him and His laughters of joy are so life-giving to hear. He has been waiting for this moment in your life and He won't hesitate to make it one that you will never forget.  He is excited to show you who you really are and things that you do not know that you love.  The life you are heading into will be a pivoting point for your life.  God's love and light are going to shine through you in ways that you cannot even imagine.   He will bring down walls and build up lamps to light the way for others.   He will open your eyes to see what He sees, He will speak to your heart words that no one has heard and He will fill your soul with wisdom from Heaven.   Get ready, for God's taking you on the ride of your life.  What joy will come from this; what peace will flow because of it; what hope will arise for what is to come and what revival will there be in that land! God is preparing the hearts of His people for the time is near when He will call out to His people and they will come.   Rejoice for the day is near, God is moving. His armies are lined up and ready for battle.  He is calling.  Go, go in the peace, readiness and the Love of Christ.  God said to Go into all the world and preach the Gospel.  Go!   Be blessed!  

Labour Day

Well, it was nice to be able to get a handful of things done today.  I declined two different offers to go to the beach today (one being the whole Baxter family) mainly so I could get some things done before craziness hits tomorrow.  (Well, another reason I turned down the Baxter's offer to go to the beach with them was from what I've learned of girls over the past 3 or 4 years specifically.  They're biggest reason (usually) for wanting to go to the beach is to lay out on the sand and tan.   I have no interest in that and the beach is a lot less fun when you don't have people to hang out with, in general.  Yes Daniel went, but he took his bike to ride around and that doesn't interest me either, at least not in the way he want's to ride.  So I declined the offer, probably about an hour prior to their departure this morning.)

I went into town looking for a few things and I was shocked by how many stores are closed.  Especially Walmart.  From my memory, in the States Walmart is open 24/7 365 days a year except for 3 or 4 hours on Christmas morning.   Here in Canada, I haven't even found one that's open 24/7.   I thought at least a handful of decent stores would be open, at least for what I was looking for, but I was wrong, almost every store was closed.   I glad for the companies and for the employees.

I also got a lot of good time alone with God away from distractions and such, which I was very thankful for.  And I was also able to get a handful of Old Testament Survey's done.  I only have 5 left (I think).   Hopefully I can get them done before Bryce changes the password of this year's SLI class.

Though the day wasn't as productive as I would of liked it to be, I did get a lot done, and I am very thankful for that.

SLI Year 2 Schedule

SO it appears I'll have quite a busy schedule (compared to what I'm use to) this year.  SLI year 1 and KCA start tomorrow, so SLI year 2 will also start it's actual "real-ish" stuff.  Last week seemed to be just a lot of meetings and prepping for this week and the rest of the year.  So here's my schedule:

Monday
7:45am -12:00pm --> Kindergarten; Lunch Duty
12:30pm - 5:30pm (give or take)* --> Operations; Facilities, KCA Childcare/Staff Meeting

Tuesday
8:30am - 12:00pm --> Kindergarten; Lunch Duty
12:30pm - 5:30pm (give or take)* --> Operations IT and Facilities; KCA Childcare
6:45pm - ??? --> KCA Parent Meeting

Wednesday
9:00am - 12:00am --> All Staff Meeting, Kindergarten, Chess Club
12:30pm - 2:30pm --> SLI (Year 2 time)
2:45pm - ??? --> Kindergarten Science
7:00pm - 9:30pm --> Midweek Service

Thursday
8:30am - 12:00pm --> Kindergarten; Lunch Duty
12:30pm - 5:30pm (give or take)* --> Operations IT, KCA Childcare

Friday
8:30 - 11:30 --> Kindergarten

Saturday
OFF

Sunday
8:30am - 12:30pm --> Services
Every 3rd Sunday of the Month: 12:30pm --> Sunnyside (Service @ a Nursing Home)
Every 2nd & 4th Sunday: 7:00pm - 10:00pm (give or take) --> Twenty20 Service

*Monday, Tuesday and Thursday afternoons I will be doing KCA (Koinonia Christian Academy (JK-Grade 8)) Childcare.  Childcare starts at 3:30pm and goes till 5:30pm.  However the kids may get picked up earlier.

Overall, in general, I would guess that I will be at church around 40-50 hours a week.  There will be lots of challenges and stretching moments, but I know they will be healthy for me and in the end I will like them and be thankful for them.   I asked God to let His will be done and not mine... and that's what He's doing.

Now the schedule that I have posted above is only my schedule.  Janette Kuepfer's and Brooke Nafziger's schedules look completely different (Janette & Brooke are the other two SLI Year 2 Students - who were in my SLI class last year).  All three of us were accepted into different area's within Koinonia, and therefore we will be doing different things throughout each day.  We won't all start at the same time each day, nor will we end at the same time each day.