fyi: i cannot check my email...so if i haven't responded that is why.  and...it's gretchen's birthday!!!!

so here i am at gordon's bay in south africa simply sitting and waiting on the Lord.  it's a good time for the team because we are such "doers".  it's nice to just BE with God. no rush, no schedule, no obligations simply go and be with the Lord.  while i'm here i am reading the kneeling christian and the shack.  i recommend both to you.  the Lord is constantly calling me to prayer and bringing me back to a more simpler way with Him.  He is drawing me closer to Him...asking me hard questions and stirring up the deepest parts of me. 

i have learned the past few weeks about the Father and the Son.  how Jesus did nothing on His own initiative.  He only did what He saw the Father doing and only said what the Father told Him.  now if only i could just stop and listen to the Lord long enough where all i had to do was what He did and say what He has said.  sure we could look at the word and see what God did and said but He is still speaking.  He is saying more than the words writen on a page.  (i am not rejecting God's word by any means but saying He has more and is not limited to those words.)  knowing His voice is so important! 

i have heard the Lord say so many things but what i have decided not to hear?  it's easy to hear God's voice...He's always speaking.  but what if the Lord said something that would challenge you, stretch you?  would you hear Him?  would you hear the Lord if He said, "sell everything you have...everything. then give all your money to the poor.  i want you to go live in another country."  this is all He says.  would you hear that?  you may say "that's not wise. it's not responsible. i can't just leave with nothing."  ask yourself why can't you? 

we say we trust the Lord and He is our provider, right?  so if we really trust Him then wouldn't we go where He says to go? and trust He will provide for us?  honestly, we don't know what real trust is.  we really don't know God as provider.  we trust on our pay checks from work.  is this extreme, is it foolish?  i don't know. 

and with prayer.  what an imtimate way to spend with the Father...pouring out your soul before Him, interceeding for those around me,  and speaking life over people who are not living at all.  i was reading in the kneeling christian about who receives the blessing in prayer, how many pastors and leaders of the church or even christians for that matter are not praying.  and if they are how limited it is in power, in affection and in time.  just because a church sees fruit is not necessarily the result of the pastor's prayers even though it may look as though it is but it is definitley as result of someone's prayers.  and when light is shinned on all circumstances the blessing will go to the one praying not to the other who seemed to be praying. 

do you believe prayer is powerful?  do you believe when Jesus said, " if you ask anything in my name i will give it to you"?  if we believe these things why do we not pray more often?  why are we so hesitant to ask God for anything?  if we want things to change, if we want people to know the Father we must pray. 

i believe i have given you enough to think and pray about.  more later.

I recommend reading A Tale of Three Kings by Gene Edwards.  It's a short and easy read about authority and brokenness.  Below are some quotes I took while reading the book.  It is a story breaking down the roles of Saul, David and Absalom.

God has people who claim to have God's authority but don't, who claim to be broken but are not, and many others in between.

Remember brokenness and submission require pain and suffering.

David fled from Saul alone.  He was not aiming to bring division.

Suffering was giving birth.  Humility was being born.

By earthly measures he was a shattered man; by heavens measure, a broken one.

Better he kill me than I learn his ways.  Better he kill me than I become as he is.  I shall not practice the way that cause kings to go mad.  I wil not throw spears, nor will I allow hatred to grow in my heart.  I will not avenge.  I will not destroy the Lord's anointed.  Not now.  Not ever! (David about Saul)

David showed submission, not authority.

He taught me not the quick cure of rules and laws, but the art of patience.

Legalism is nothing but a leaders way of avoiding suffering.

How sure are you that God is with you all the time?

I seek His will not His power.

The motives of man's heart will eventually be revealed.

BLANKETS!                                                         TEAGAN BEING SILLY.

TEAGAN IN THE WATER.

BOYS PLAYING ON ONE OF THE MATTRESSES.

!!!!THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!