Waiting for the Cable Guy

So here I sit waiting for the cable guy. Not sure what his name is, but if it's Larry I'll eat his name tag. My internet's been down all day. I'm just doing this post by the power of prayer. NOT REALLY! Well maybe really. I'm working off the shop's internet provider rather than the one for work, and really, there's nothing stopping that setup from going down, as it does on a fairly regular basis. So I am actually praying that it doesn't.

I really hate that I cannot choose another provider for work (I work from home). There is another cable company in our area that Is supposed to be way superior. But no, no choice. For this address it has to be THIS ONE or NO ONE. Or DSL, which doesn't really work for work as it's not "high-speed" enough. So much for anti-monopoly laws.

Usually it works okay though, I have to say, just to be fair. But when it doesn't, it REALLY doesn't. And I still think I have more than my share of problems. Oh and I love when I call them to report a problem? They try to sell me more services. Hellooo??? You're not doing so great on the one service I have which is the only must-have that you have that I need. Why would I want to get your phone or TV service to boot? Cause that's what I'd do, boot them if they were as squirrelly as their internet service can be!!

Well his window of time is almost up and he's still not here. I guess I'd better light a candle in that window or something.

Hello cable guy? Are you there? Are you coming soon? Helloooooo!!! Wake me up when you get here.....

Fish egg breath and web logging

Okay, here goes.

Strange things happen. And just because I haven't written a post for this blog since time immemorial (i.e., over two years) is no reason to slow down now is it?

Seriously? I think I heard from the Lord today that I'm supposed to start writing again. Soon. Like now. And not start a whole new blog, which is what I always thought I would do when the blogbug finally bit me again. (I think that's kind of like a bedbug, but without the risk of disease transmission. And no nifty saying to tuck your kids in at night with.)

I'm not really sure about any of this though. I'm just kind of making it up as I go along. We'll see.

As you can imagine, a lot has happened since I last blogged, which I don't plan to share much of here. The reason for that is not mysterious, but is just this: It's a lot, it's pretty boring stuff, and most important from my perspective, I want to try to keep things in the "here and now."

So here we go folks. The future will reveal whether this is just a fluke or I'm seriously back to blogging. Not that anyone is waiting with bated breath. Or is that "baited breath"? I think you'd have to eat caviar or something for that to happen anyway.

Thanks for the reading!

Trust

Sorry I've been so unfaithful to this blog. My commitment to prayer hasn't wavered. But sometimes life, and all its sticky widgets, gets in the way a bit.

Recently I heard the Lord in my heart. He said, "Either you trust me or you don't." 

I decided that I do. 

I hope and pray that you do, too, whomever you may be, and wherever you may be right now. 

You Say You Want a Servolution

Okay, so I said I was going to start blogging more often, and I haven't really done so. I wasn't lying; I meant well, but it didn't happen. Starting a new job and all that entails, and working on the prayer team for Servolution, there just wasn't much of me left. Trust me, I'm not complaining. I'm extremely thankful for both of those activities. Especially after today.

It's 3:30 in the afternoon on a Saturday, my house is a mess, and I haven't lifted a finger to alter that situation. Yet. But I'm so excited about today, I want to write about it while the high is still fresh. Servolution was awesome. I have never experienced prayer like I did today. I'm sure anyone reading this has (I'd say "everyone" but there's a good chance it's "no one," especially given my faithlessness of late, so I chose to say "anyone"), but I hadn't. Experienced prayer like today, I mean, in case you lost track of where that sentence was going. Like I did.

I'd have thought praying with a group of people over the course of four hours might have gotten tedious, but it DIDN'T, at least not for me. I had a sense of knowing beyond any doubt that God was honoring our prayers in specific concrete ways. It was as if the Lord was sitting in the room with us, smiling and nodding at our every request, no matter how haltingly or falteringly or presumptuously it might be made, then sending orders instantly to the troops on the front lines.

When people starting trickling back to the church and we began to hear some of the stories, I heard myself sounding like a broken record, saying "Wow, we prayed for (or about) that exact thing!"

For instance: When one member of our group starting praying for the dogs and cats that might be impacted by our doings, and how that might garner the notice of some humans, I thought "Hm. That's kind of different, but who knows?" Later I heard how one team ended up rescuing a litter of kittens that had been abandoned by the mamma cat, bought formula and kitty baby bottles to feed them (I didn't even know there were such things!), then found a worker at the pet store who was willing to take the babies under her care (when she gets off at 5:00). And those folks saw another one of our "yellow shirt" teams at the pet store doing whatever they were doing, obviously something to do with animals, as well.

I thought how odd it must have sounded when I said, "Oh my, we prayed about that!" Sure... People get together to pray for those going forth to show the love of Jesus and just... pray about dogs and cats! Happens all the time!

There were the folks who went to nursing homes to visit patients, and later told us the patients loved that, but that it was the nurses who seemed the most touched. "That's exactly what we prayed for!" And so on.

And I'm certain that as more of the stories come out, we'll be saying that over and over again. Hopefully I can and will update this blog with additional news from the prayer front as news from all the other fronts comes in.

Almost sounds like a battle, all this talk about fronts and troops. Well that's pretty much how it felt from the situation (prayer) room. But it ALSO felt like our Father's Kingdom made some huge inroads into many hearts and lives, including those of some very small creatures whose eyes aren't even open yet. Because of God's love, they soon will be...one thing, at least, that they will have in common with the tens, the hundreds, maybe (down the road) even hundreds of thousands of their human counterparts. All because of one day called Servolution and one mighty, awesome God who isn't bound by our imagination, even when we're at our most imaginative!

Never underestimate the power of prayer. MORE IMPORTANT, never underestimate the power of LOVE!! Jesus was in the house and He rocks!

Oh, and what about that first song the worship team did this morning??? More on that in the future!

SERVOLUTION PRAYER

"No work for God has ever been know to prosper without prayer to support it." -- John Paterson

TWELVE PRAYERS FOR SERVOLUTION

(1) That God's love would shine through us for all to see... that Servolution would be first a work of God, and not of man.

(2) For each of us to have a servant's heart toward one another and those we serve.

(3) That no one would judge another's work, but "let each do according to what God has put in their heart."

That each project would:
(4) Come together exactly as God would have it--people, timing, resources. 

(5) Would have a supernatural anointing of the Holy Spirit.

(6) Demonstrate a true "doing of the Word."

(7) Demonstrate that God can do BIG THINGS even in LITTLE THINGS.

(8) For God's supernatural protection on teams and project leaders.

(9) That the wiles of the enemy would be turned to even greater opportunities to bring glory to God.

(10) That those who get involved at the "last hour" would have no less impact than anyone else (Matthew 20:16).

(11) That Servolution would produce a plentiful harvest and that those who are helped through it would then "go and do likewise."

(12) That we all would be Reminded to pray, PRAY, PRAY!!

If you would like to learn about additional Servolution prayer opportunities, please contact Michele @209-535-8359

Moving On/Servolution

My thanks to everyone who has prayed for me these recent weeks. It's humbling to feel so loved and cared for!

So I'm trying to get back to normal, including blogging. I realized I was feeling overwhelmed by the fact that I'm so behind on the blogs I like to read, overwhelmed by the idea of reading EVERYTHING I've missed. So I decided to give myself permission to just read everyone's latest entry, or maybe a little more. I really doubt anyone will notice I'm not going back a month and a half. But I've really missed it!

I'm starting a new job on Monday at Memorial Medical Center in Modesto. Thank you, Lord! At least, provided I pass the drug test. I'm fretting that the Sudafed I took last week or the poppy seeds Mike recently put in the beef stroganoff will result in a positive drug screen. Well, those are some of the reasons I've heard claimed for a positive test... 

But more important, I'm now the designated prayer person for Servolution. Arrrggghhh!! What have I done!?!? What have I agreed to? No, seriously, I've received such encouragement and confirmation, for which I'm most grateful. This is God's project, not mine! Also I've been reading "Messy Spirituality" lately, and I'm encouraged. I guess maybe it's just possible that my extremely messy version of Christianity can contribute something. Or rather God's version in me. 

Isn't it awesome how God so uniquely re-creates His Son in each of us?

So I'm moving on, growing up, and generally getting on with the details of life. Balancing my checkbook after two months. Starting a new job. Gearing up for Servolution. 

Nothing stays the same, everything changes... Everything except our Lord, Who is the same yesterday, today and forever. He knew every nanosecond of my life and of your life, and the lives of all who will be touched by Servolution from the foundation of the world. Nothing surprises Him. Nothing comes as a shock. Nothing changes His incredible love for the world. To think He wants to shine forth His love through us on May 10th (and every day)... I can't wait!

God bless!

Bump in the Road

There's something so doable about sameness. I'm so sorry to keep making everything be about me, but I feel I need to explain about not blogging so much lately. And not keeping up on everyone else's blogs like I'd like to.

It's ever since losing my job. I don't feel depressed or worried... just different. Nothing really appears to have changed much in my life, other than the person signing my paychecks. I work the same basic days. I sit at the same workstation (for now, but that's to change). I eat lunch with the same people (except for others who are gone and I miss so much).

But at the same time everything feels eerily different. My life, at least for the short-term, is now more or less defined by what has happened. Almost like how everyone remembers where they were and what they were doing when they heard about 9/11. But it's just my own private 9/11. Every event in recent memory gets automatically (but consciously) put into pre- or post-job loss status, and there doesn't seem to be anything I can do about that.

Life just seems to take a lot more energy, and I'm not sure why, exactly. It's such a minor bump in the road compared to what could be. And compared to things I've dealt with in the past. I trust there will come a time when my laundry and housework are again done on a regular basis. When I don't wake up and realize I haven't watered my plants in nearly two weeks. (Some plants will forgive this, some will not.) Or blogged about anything other than myself in who knows how long!

In the meantime, I find myself very thankful for the privilege of being able to keep up a steady dialogue with the Lord through this time. He sustains me and gives me peace. He calms the little storms of frustration at learning new systems, policies and procedures. And reminds me that by no means did my future fall from His hand when my job went bye-bye.

My little bump in the road, while bringing its bit of angst, also feels like I've hit a sacred time in my life. I'm learning big new things, taking a Big Girl Pill now and then, and continuing to grow up. That's in no way a bad thing!