from bad to good…

this has helped my bad mood lift. is there anything better than a baby’s laugh???

door closed

as i’ve shared in a previous post, listening to god has been the most important “habit” that i’ve been learning recently. i’m scared to even call it a habit because it’s so much more than that.

for the past 3 weeks i’ve been praying about buying a house here in colorado springs. the dialogue has been interesting with no clear cut answer emerging. because i didn’t hear “no” i proceeded thinking that during the process a door would close. tonight it did. the seller called me to say they accepted an offer from a family tonight. while i am slightly disappointed, i would not trade this journey for anything. i’ve never approached a decision with the determination to clearly hear from god. it’s crazy because i began to feel uneasy about this decision for the first time this morning. it was hard to know if it was because i was getting closer to signing on the dotted line. obviously that was a check because the door was about to close. i’m grateful because i have a beautiful place to live and will have the opportunity to save money by not buying the house.

fortunately i didn’t get attached to the house, but i did get more attached to my heavenly father.

music machines…

when church is spontaneous…

god shows off and the holy spirit does amazing things. today has been an unbelievable day full of tears and excitement and most of all seeing god display his glory through the death of a 14 year old boy and by changing lives during a very unusual church service. i went to a memorial service for ian lyons who was the son of a navigator co-worker whose short 14 year old life was cut short by cancer. person after person talked about his courage and faith in the face of a disease that would eventually take his life. i watched a family who prayed for ian’s healing raise their hands to worship the god who chose to make that healing through death. although that would not have been their choice, they rest in the fact that they will see ian again in heaven.

i don’t often go to the saturday night service at mountain springs but tonight it was the best option for going to church. i went with my usual level of anticipation but walked away from an experience that surpasses any church service i’ve ever attended. we’re in a doctrine series so i was looking forward to hear pastor steve share from the word and the worship always ushers me into the presence of the lord. i forgot that it was also baptism week which at mountain springs is a very exciting experience. parents baptize children…friends baptize friends…each speaking words of blessing over those being baptized. truly a celebration of what god has done in each heart. the church celebrated with those who made a public profession of their faith. pastor steve then got up and explained that the holy spirit prompted him to give an opportunity for those who needed to accept jesus to do so and for those who wanted to be baptized to do so. he prayed and they came and came and continued to come. in addition to the first 20 that were baptized at least 15 more people came forward. men, women and children of all ages…each willing to follow christ and be obedient and get dunked in their clothes. we take another opportunity to worship and then i expect that we’ll just move on with the service even though we over an hour into a time together. instead pastor steve explains that he was going to preach on the doctrine of the church but instead he explains that we have in fact experienced the church tonight. we watched it in action and saw god do something that only he could have orchestrated. we ask him to come to every service but tonight he showed up and rocked our church. we wrapped up with a time of prayer for healing for the sick in our body just like it talks about in james.

i don’t think i’ve ever been in a service like this one. usually services are planned to the minute and we just move through the schedule with no regard for what the holy spirit what might want to do. what could happen in our churches if we’re willing to ditch the timing and scheduling so that we can be open to the spirit? there’s no telling what he would do! after witnessing a movement of the spirit like this it’s hard to think about ever going back to a body of believers that settle for a canned service with no room for the holy spirit working.