Turn arounds

Its hard to say the how, the when or the why it happens. We've been feeling stuck lately, sorting out schedules, needing to make some significant changes and feeling lost in that, and dealing with the death of my dad two weeks ago. It has been heavy and depressing, even as we pressed in in prayer for so many people who are suffering from life-threatening illnesses - Ben Towne, Marina Mitskevich, Tina Thomas, Jason Mattax, and Pete Sheldrup.

Pastor Bill Johnson noted on Jesus' parables about prayer:

• the friend who comes to his neighbor at midnight asking for a loaf of bread for his guest; the neighbor won't give it because he is a friend, but because the neighbor is going to wake the children if he continues
• the widow who comes to the unjust judge for justice; he won't give it except that she keeps coming and bothering him, so he gives her what she asks for

Johnson says that there are prayers that God answers because we are His friends, and prayers He answers because He is the just judge, but there are prayers that are only answered because we persevere and press in for the answer.

While we haven't seen the level of healing that we are pressing in for, as I pressed in to Jesus this morning, I felt a cloud lift and a lightness of heart that I haven't felt for a while. I saw Jesus standing there, glorious, full of the fire of love and holiness, and had to look away as the cloud dispersed. His presence moved my eyes away from focusing on all that is before me as though it were telling me the truth of things. His invitation is to keep seeking Him, to keep pressing in, to keep asking, seeking and knocking; but to look to Him and keep looking - the Author and Perfecter of our Faith.

Wet Saturdays in August

Things are moving forward at Tierra Nueva. What that means is that we know things need to change and are having conversations about it, but not clarity as to what the change is to look like. There have been plenty of prophetic words about thinking "outside the box" and "beyond what we can imagine" so how do you get your thoughts around that?!

One thing that is clear that seems to be preparatory for this change concerns the tension between "entering the Kingdom as a little child" and growing up in Jesus. The Spirit is moving people away from a reactionary stance on all things that smack of the Law, for "those who are led by the Spirit are no longer under the law." But this still means submitting, obeying and following the Spirit.

There is also a realization that Tierra Nueva isn't what it used to be, which was solely a mission outreach. It is becoming a church. The image we discussed was the strawberry plant - each plant sends out runners so that a strawberry patch is a vast colony of one plant. In Latin, the runner is called an apostolos. Go figure. For years, TN has functioned as a para-church, but what we are discovering is that in the going, something has taken root and a mission community is growing that has all the parts of the plants, all necessary and equally valued. This is a big shift.