Snowy mountains, Giants, UNDER ME, Misty Mountains, Diamond glittering sparkly people... (Washington State, Narnia, Middle Earth?) WHERE AM I????? (Lol)
I apologize for this note being a day late, but I do not have Internet in the area where I am, I also don’t have access to a phone. So I have to wait each day to go over to the Pastor’s house after church each day to get onto the Internet and post what is going on with me. Perhaps it’s a good thing, I can draw closer to God being sort of cut off.
Okay so, this is my second time going to preach a revival, and already, I feel that God is going to do something far greater than I could have ever imagined. I am not quite sure how to describe what I am feeling; I can just say that God is going to do something big. Just from talking with my pastor and host family, I can say that there are going to be immense challenges that God will overcome, and I can only tell you this…FASTEN YOUR SEATBELTS, my loyal readers (all 6 of you)…God is going to do amazing things.
Tomorrow (Sunday marks the day of perpetual preaching. I will be going through the big passages that I had prepared. (Isaiah 53 and Acts 8:26-40)
To start out with, I had a great time of fellowship on my way to the airport with my buddy Robert Catts (whose garment bag resides currently in my possession). He drove me and I felt I was able to be a blessing to him, as he was to me, giving me a ride. I spent 4 hours on a flight from Dallas/Fort Worth to Portland, Oregon, where I met my pastor, George Ford and his wife Beverly.
On the way, I got through the majority of C.S. Lewis’ book, The Silver Chair (part 4 of the Chronicles of Narnia). I seriously needed to read a book for fun, I was dying. I have been reading and reading and reading for school without any regard for reading for myself. I wanted to go through something for fun, and I had to start at the core, one of the greatest fantasy writers to ever live. Lewis is huge when it comes to fantasy. I was enjoying the book because it described wild lands to the north of Narnia, full of mountains, and we flew over the American Rockies, covered with snow. It was beautiful. I hadn’t seen mountains like that since I had flown from Milan, Italy to Chicago on my way back from Israel in 2007 when I flew over the Alps.
In addition to that, I read chapters from about 4 different books at once. I have been trying to go through a bunch of different things for myself. Especially considering all of my personal preferences towards entertainment are changing. I have kind of stopped watching and listening to Glee. My reasoning is this:
Last episode “On My Way” was kind of traumatic for me. I do not like remembering what it was like to be made fun of in high school. Keep in mind I didn’t have Facebook back in high school, because I would have done what the character did. The character Dave Karofsky was outed by his classmates and they had started spreading hateful rumors around school about him. Keep in mind, I do not endorse homosexuality in the slightest, but I remember what it was like to get made fun of, and if I had the opportunity, or the lack of desire to draw closer to the Lord, you would have heard about a suicide attempt. That is what happened, he tried to hang himself. So you see, sometimes, God gives us moments in our lives where we literally have to snap, in our convictions. I took a CD with Glee music on it and snapped it in half. God is doing something not only in me, but in those around me as well. My influences are changing, and believe me when I say, I just don’t know where God is going with what he is doing.
I find myself clinging to God’s Word as if I desperately need it to breathe, and reality is…that’s the way it should be for us as believers. Take what you read in God’s Word, apply it to your life and live it out like there is no tomorrow. It is the only way that you can truly live.
Along the drive from Portland, Oregon to Klickitat, Washington, I was reminded more and more of what it’s like to be in a fantasy epic as I saw the mountains covered in a shroud, similar to what was in Lord of the Rings, similar to what you’d see described in the Misty Mountains. It was just beautiful. It was nice to get to spend time with the pastor and his wife, and by the time I had gotten to my host home, we were sitting down to a home-cooked meal. The house where I am staying is on a mountain; It is surrounded by pine trees, snow, and white-water rapid filled rivers. In the home of LaDonna and Dave Osburn. I enjoyed a freshly caught trout for dinner…I cannot even begin to tell you in description how good this fish was, but supposedly Dave likes going fishing, so we may be eating steelhead or even salmon later this week, so stay tuned. Well, I must be off, It’s getting late, and I have to read through Isaiah 53 once through again for final preparation.
This is how the system will work…since I do not have access to the internet or a phone…
Once we get out of the dead zone area I will either tweet a picture or send a text to someone to let you know how I’m doing. Other than that, look for the posts from “Bagels and Lox” at the end of each day. I will try to head to the pastor’s house each night to post the blog online. It will be always at night, so please keep that in mind.
To my beloved wife, I love you and miss you fiercely, and look to the Word of God because it is your strength when I cannot hold you or be close to you.
To everyone else…um…yeah…
GRACE AND PEACE…
-Joel
Psalm 37:4
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