Grace & Paying it Forward .....

I am sitting on the shore of an 'Awesome Creation of God; Lake Ontario" ... Committed to Alone time with God, I needed to get away..... Go and listen for His Voice... Contemplate His Presence... Absorb His Grace......That HE would send me here is truly by His Design... 4 years ago I loaded  my panniers, mounted my bicycle, and struck out alone headed to Niagara Falls... I even wrote a story about it .."Take it to the Falls"  ...it was an amazing trek, cycling alone for days... Encountering the Grace of strangers... It is where I feel most comfortable... A solo ambassador for HIM. It was indeed ... The other side of the fence.... You see... I have learned 2 things .... We were created to Give ... and to receive.... It's a pay it forward thing......NONE of this... NONE of us 'own' ourselves, our grace, the things we give... NONE of it is ours... IT.....as US are HIS... Our Creators.... And knowing that makes it so easy to "Give it Away... Pay it Forward"
    Encountering God through people .... That has become my calling.... He abundantly "Gives" to me ... Shows me His Grace alive in people....  A short time after I cycled to the Falls, a young couple cycled through my town, and I gave them my bed, my time, my resources... I did not neglect to entertain strangers.... I truly entertained Angels ... I do that every day .... To ALL I meet .... God sends them to me/us for one reason ... For us to Reveal His Grace.... That is HIS purpose for those He gives to you..  in your short short earthly life... If you ignore them, avoid them, He weeps.... He gives you human encounters so that YOU can reveal A GOD OF LOVE & COMPASSION.... are you doing that... or do you say... I cant expose  myself, risk myself... We all know the answer to that... we ALL yearn to give ... yet we really don't... we don't give as Jesus did... BUT we can.. and it costs us...The cost seems high... but its not... I would pay it a million times   over ... the dividends are that great... who we become is beyond comprehension... we become ALL He embodies.... The young couple of Angels that I entertained.... Were the vehicle through which God worked - Through giving His Love - giving myself, my stuff... I began to receive emails & calls from a lady who lived on the shores of Lake Ontario... She said... John... Come & stay in my lakeside cottage anytime you want.... I want to thank you for being so nice to my Grand-daughter & her boyfriend as they rode through your town.  And so here I sit in a humble cottage which to me  represents the humility of Jesus... The cottage is so plain, yet has the comfort of Heaven.... From the porch I see Heaven... I see perfection..... I see Lake Ontario.... Passing ships, the Canadian Skyline.... Just feet away from the bed  I sleep in is paradise ... HIS paradise.... Something ONLY He could create.... HIS GRACE .... And I received  it because we choose... Those of us Whom He blesses.... We choose ... To pay that Grace Forward... In ALL things & ALL ways....Bless others...Be Blessed...Pay it Forward...Reveal His Grace..... That ALONE is ALL one really need do.... He does the rest.....and He takes care of our every need as we serve and bless others in His name...... There is True Grace.... He desires it to define YOUR life.....as It defines HIS......

Funeral for a Friend

I have had the privilege of celebrating the lives of two friends who have entered into eternal rest recently, one of the funerals was today. A friend who I have only known for 3 years passed away the day after her 50th birthday. She, like so many recent 'gifts' God has given me has touched my life in profound ways. She was a "Giver," that is how I would describe her to others, nothing greater defined her....She simply gave.. And she started in a place of simplicity, with the gift of herself, she was one of those very rare people who upon meeting you,  had a genuine concern for your soul, she loved the God in You, she saw past this earthly shell of a temple...straight into who we really are; 'Jesus in Disguise.'  For some reason, God has presented those people to me in amazing ways, each of them giving me what I so desperately desire to be, The Image of Christ. I will never forget the times we were together and we would walk, or run, or just talk, and the gift we gave one another was simply "The Encounter." If you have not experienced "The Encounter" it is your own fault... What we want in our lives, who we yearn to be.. is ONLY attainable by giving God's Love (In whatever form that may be) to others; THAT'S IT, THATS'S THE SECRET FORMULA!! This friend did that, and she lives on in profound ways in hundreds, if not thousands of people whose lives she touched. I had the privilege of being with her and her family the day before she passed away, I held her hand and prayed into her ear and felt the presence of God, it was time for her to go, God was returning her to the place of her origin, a place I yearn to go.
     The church was literally packed with people, standing room only, a testament to God's Might, people streamed into the church to experience God, I am convinced of that. This was the second recent funeral of two people who went to be with God at a reasonably young age. The first was a 44 year old friend, as I walked into the funeral home for his viewing and service, I was struck by what my eyes first saw, the sidewalk and front entrance area was filled with people, who could not fit into the funeral chapel, as I entered the door and made my way past a very crowded room, I was struck by the large amount of friends and family. After the viewing, and the words from the Pastor, an announcement was made that the family would be blessed if anyone would like to share some words, no one stepped forward, except I... I had not prepared for this, but My Father had, and speaking to 200 plus people wearing only running shorts, a tee shirt and the FULL armour of God, I was blessed to witness God's Presence in profound ways, after I spoke and returned home God Gently reminded me in His continual, profound ways that it is ALL about Him and He chooses to use us as HIS mouth piece, and the old is passed away, and His newness of spirit absorbs our lives. Indeed He has work for each of us to do on this short "World Tour." My prayer is that when it is time for our funerals, that He may be glorified in the ways He has been at the two recent "Funerals for a Friend"

Psalm 34:1

 I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

"BETTER Now that YOU are HERE!"

I am bald. That's a fact....Mostly by choice...because I shave 'the' head every other day. I just do... I feel better, lighter with a smooth head....or maybe I know that my full head of blond hair may not be there any more :) either way... its me... and I'm OK with me! OK with you...OK with however God wants us to look on the outside. The inside is what HE  looks at, and  its what WE should "SEE" in others, past their bald heads,skin color,age, physical scars, missing legs and arms, faces and bodies of all shapes and sizes... Some of the 'prettiest people' I know are suffering inside, and some of the 'not so pretty' people I know are so incredibly beautiful inside that they radiate HIS presence in profound ways ! Well, today after an amazing worship service (at one of the  many Church's that I worship at) I stopped off at one of the members house which has not been in Church for a few Sundays. As I rang the doorbell, and called out her name, I could hear her usual voice saying, "I'm coming"...... and she did...she came...she SHOWED UP at the door. As the closed door changed to open, and 'The Voice" stood there before me....I didn't recognize her! But after she took my hand and led me to her couch... I knew it was her... ( I "Saw" the REAL her, past the physical!)...The person I came to visit...to "Call On"....Why I had went to call on her...only God knows.....This person has been one of hundreds who have taken me aside in church's, on the streets, in a variety of places and they have looked me in the eye and Thanked Me for being there for them and for others, God Speaks... and He does it through His Children.....I AM TOTALLY CONVINCED OF THAT. And so....I go...Go whenever & wherever the prompting is...... Some people tell me, why do you bother with this or that.....His actions through our lives are the answer to that question........ My Friends greeting words are the  answer that question. As I sat down with my friend, and looked into her eyes....(Past her newly shaven head !!) I could see that she needed Our Father's Love, and She confirmed that need,as she answered my very first question of "How are you?" My bald, female friend looked into my eyes and reached over and kissed my bald head and said.... "I AM BETTER NOW THAT YOU ARE HERE!"

   God has revealed something to me, and He keeps on revealing it...and it is simplistic in nature (that's why I qualify, and why YOU do also) He has revealed that HE desperately yearns to BOLDLY take His Love into hurting lives...and He wants us to "Show Up" and when we do...... His Children SEE HIM and they rejoice and they "Feel Better now that HE is  there"  My prayer is that you are compelled to go touch one life, just one.... and then 2 and then watch as God empowers you with all power and authority and all resources, as His Messenger.... Indeed you are no longer the old... You are anew in Him, and there will be NOTHING you are incapable of doing, for there are unlimited needs and sufferings in people....People who will tell you........ I am so much better now that you have come to call on me!!!! 

     As it turns out my Fiend has been recently diagnosed with Cancer and is receiving radiation, and chose to shave her head.....as we held each other and I prayed over her, and our bald heads touched, I thanked My Father for the choices we have and I pray that we make the ones which will bring God's Love into the lives of all we encounter. I for sure will be visiting her again soon, and I will recognize her this time and we will both feel better now that God is Here!  Remove the veil, expose His Face, Be His Image to others... You'll feel better.....way, way....Better... And God will transform lives through YOU.
    Gotta go....Someones at the door, cant wait to answer it !!!

2 Corinthians 3:16-18   But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.  Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate  the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

    

Raising the Dead to Life

I just finished reading a book a new friend loaned me, actually she loaned me several, and I loaned her several, one was very familiar, I think many of us have read it. As she handed me her very personal copy, full of her notations, I was struck by why someone would hand me this particular read at this time.The books which always have absorbed me have been personal growth, spiritual in nature, testimonies of people's lives, books which enrich me. As it turns out those I am brought into contact with share the same appetite for literature. Like minded / hearted people seem to be drawn together, at least they have profoundly been in my life. In this most recent read, Tuesdays with Morrie, one which I have read before, (albeit a long time ago)  Morrie, a man dying of ALS shared with one of his former students an earlier encounter in his life, when he was working at a mental hospital and everyday one of the patients would wake each morning, walk from her room & lay on the floor face down & remain there until evening. This saddened Morrie, as everyone would simply ignore her. Morrie began to sit by the woman on the floor & even lay alongside her, speaking gently to her, eventually the woman rose & sat with him, and then got up and walked with him, I thought how profound that only human contact and compassion would raise this person from her loneliness & isolation. Things are so much simpler than we make them. Mother Theresa said it best; “Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time and always start with the person nearest you.” -- Trust me ,Mama T knew, the numbers would be endless, as there is no shortage of emptiness in peoples lives, and through doing as she did.... these "small things with great love" God uses you, in saintly fashion to fill that loneliness with His Love, and the world changes, I see it every day.
 In  Morrie's own words, he said "What she mostly wanted, he learned, was the same thing many people want--someone to notice she was there."  Of course the book is a 'life classroom' with Morrie's former student meeting a compassionate former, (yet not so former) teacher on Tuesdays as his body withered away due to his terminal illness. All of the life lessons which Morrie shared, as his worldly days clicked away are founded on  extending intentional love to others. One of the things Morrie did, is what we all should be doing with those who walk into our lives.... he had a "Living Funeral," he told people he loved them, he had 'relations' with them, and he allowed them to express their feelings to a living breathing person, and not wait until he was dead for people to say nice things to a corpse.One other thing struck me as I re-read the book, Morrie always was "Fully Present" when interacting with others, nothing on the planet entered his thoughts. People need our FULL attention, if even but for a moment or an hour, focus on others as if they were the only one alive & watch your relation s flourish!
  The 'lessons' Morrie shared are simplistic in nature, rooted in agape love, learning to give it away unconditionally & allow it to flow back in the abundant way that it will.This is what gives life meaning, satisfaction & purpose. For this young lady to put this book in my hands at this time is one of a multitude of pre-destined occurrences. Currently  a friend in her 40's is at an end of life facility that I frequent weekly. I have had  the privilege of  spending many hours with her & her family. Listening to scripture, holding her frail body & praying at length with her, all the while Jesus sat and layed down with us, I could speak to Him, literally feel Him.  Extending & receiving this compassion is a natural ingredient to the human experience which has its origin in a God of Love. We are all in varying stages of physical death, but someone powerful swallows that death up revealing eternal life. That someone is a God who sent you to this earth to intentionally " NOTICE THAT OTHERS ARE THERE"  laying on the floor waiting for A God of Love to raise them up through our witness. ALL of the people in your life are laying on the floor, waiting for you to give them what is rightfully God's. In us lies the ability to change the world, and we do it by sitting... and yes sometimes  lying next to our brothers & sisters. There is no shortage of people "wanting you to notice they are there"  God gives them to you daily, praise His Holy name for the power to heal nations, one unnoticed person at a time. I encourage you to think about those He has put in your life & compel you to go out of your way to share God's Love, it was entrusted to you for that purpose alone. All it takes is a phone call to an old friend, a note, extending common courtesy in our daily lives, getting  in the habit of showing and telling others that you love them, we all want to hear it... it raises the dead to life, and it has a power of healing which changes the world. People look for a calling and a purpose, some never find it, it is to obvious, to simple, so very overlooked. There is no greater 'skill' than opening your heart so that God's Love can penetrate the lives of His Children. That is the power that lies in each of us. I Love You, Rise up and know that 'You are Noticed'   Agape - john

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”  

Matthew 22:37-40

Interruptions,Serving and Sacrificing

Throughout the ministry of Jesus Christ these three things defined His Actions- He allowed people to interrupt Him so that He would serve others, this of course meant for Him much sacrifice including a sacrifice like none other, literally making Himself the sacrificial lamb for God. This He calls us to also, He calls us to be readily available to heed the many promptings to be His Eyes,hands and feet to cast His compassion into the lives of others, in the doing we sacrifice ourselves, our time and our worldly ways & needs, He gives us a white stone with a new name written upon it, in return He provides us with the banquet of His eternal riches, and He doesn't wait for us to join Him in heaven, He gives them to us now, He literally brings heaven to earth equipping us with ALL we need for Him to transform a world and draw people to Him. When we do so we no longer are of this place, we walk in His Boldness doing greater things than He. As we walk each day in His way He gives us unlimited opportunities to reach others with agape love. The Free Wheelchair Mission is a vehicle to take that love not only around the globe, but to take it to those who walk our neighborhoods and pass through our communities. Recently God sent Gabriel Cordell and His Documentary Team straight into Wheeling WV. I encourage you to check out his amazing inspirational trek across America, at www.rollwithme.org Gabriel Cordell (born Suheil Aghabi)was born in Tripoli, Libya and migrated to America where he was tragically confined as a paraplegic to a wheelchair. Gabe has these words about the reason he ended up confined to a wheelchair "My accident was not an accident, it was God's plan for my life, Limitations do not define me, nor should they define you, whatever your situation always believe that it is where God wants you to be, and from that place you can change the world" Gabriel rolled out of Santa Monica Pier headed for West Hampton, N.Y. and we welcomed Him into our community, supplying Him and his seven person team with lodging,food and fellowship and love. In return, as we allowed ourselves to be interrupted, we witnessed the unstoppable power of God to inspire His people as Gabriel witnessed His heart in our midst. I spent 3 solid days with Gabe and his team and I can tell you that he represents YOU... Gabe is an average guy... one who serves and sacrifices so that we may see the face of God... in each of us is that very potential..the time has come for YOU to let it change the world.

Jesus said, "Give and it will be given to you. A good measure,pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use , it will be measured to you." Luke 6:38

HOW IS YOUR LAP ? MAY IT BE 'SOAKED' WITH A MEAURE LIKE NONE OTHER FLOWING THOUGH YOUR LIFE WITHOUT LIMITAIONS. !

A Hurting World Needs "YOUR" Witness....A Witness of HIS LOVE.....

As I thought about writing this post today... I became OVERWHELMED at that very thought..As I begin to transfer the 'imprints' God stamped on my heart these past three days into words on a page, I know that in my humanness will be unable to paint a vivid enough picture of what God has done, but for sure the perfectly arranged encounters He placed me in with His people and the witness of His Love empowered by the POWERFUL,POWERFUL presence of The Holy Spirit at the East Ohio United Methodist Annual Conference YAC (youth area conference) at Lakeside on the shores of Lake Erie unmistakeably define a God of Miracles,Signs and Wonders. For me to even be there was a mighty work of His Hand, I had spoken at two small United Methodist Churchs In Ohio a year or so ago, sharing about God's Love being taken directly to a hurting world in the form of the Free Wheelchair Mission. One day a few weeks ago the pastor of those churchs approached me sharing that she had a youth group of nine young adults who had never been to YAC and there was noone willing to take them, well....God knew that there was...so on Friday we all piled into my church van and headed to the lake. It's funny because the Pastor told me these words, she said "I am sure that God will provide you an opportuniy to witness" -- Was that EVER an understatement... and as my opening sentence said, There is simply no way to put it into words...It is stamped so deeply into my heart that releasing it can only be done by continuing to follow Him and His promptings and invitation to join Him in redeeming a lost hurting world... This HE Commissions each of us.. We are to Witness in the context of community, His Community, we are to Love others as HE Loves us, and HE WILL MAKE IT HAPPEN IN POWERFUL, LIFE TRANSFORMING WAYS. Being able to bring young people to Jesus this weekend literally broke my heart as I was able to stand before the multitudes and proclaim His Love and Grace, and minister in small groups and individual encounters. I invite you to contact me and hear the stories first hand, for they are stories of God using the most unlikely people as His MIGHTY Insturments to draw people to Him in profound ways. THIS MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS IS WHAT THE WORLD INDEED NEEDS..............YOUR WITNESS IN WORD AND ACTION OF HIS MIGHTY, MIGHTY,LOVE.

Still Waters-Lush Valleys- Hovering Spirit of God

Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. Genesis 1:2 I cannot begin to put into words or even imagine what God is at task doing, but I do know that it is mighty and it is with devine purpose and it involves you and I and a four letter word....Love....His Agape Love. When the Power of The Holy Spirit is at work, no longer hovering over us,but rather dwelling in us and working through and from us... Things happen, lives are touched, people and churches and nations are transformed,and it all starts with That Blessed Hovering Holy Spirit which when unleashed by God through the way we live our lives...will give a people that promised All Power and Authority to do greather things than He. I would like to share some of the profound messages God has spoken to me since I took my pajamas off Sunday afternoon after church and headed back into the world to let God weave the new church, His Complete Body of ALL Peoples. Keep in mind that I have no skills, no special education, no abundant resources to offer.....But as I told my congregation.... That is who God wants, and He wants YOU now, and He wants you in your pajamas, your underware, your raged clothes, your broken self in whatever form that is....be it alcoholism, addiction, divorced, mentally challenged, emotionally challenged, lonly, lost, desperate, jobless, homeless, gay, or perhaps the seemingly so ordinary, the church goer, the believer, the one who goes to church and is masked by the ways of the world, yet deep in the fiber of their being, they desire to Be Raw and Honest and Stand Out for GOD...Even if that means standing alone....Trust me.... You may think you are alone.. and in human terms, at times you will be... But as you step out in faith and live the red letters of the bible and model your life after Jesus and all He said in the Sermon on The Mount He takes this seemingly aloneness and He Becomes YOUR Bride and He Begins to change the world through YOU. My prayer for the people of God is that they experience a day similar to the one I did yesterday... and through God's Grace do most days. I beleive with ALL my heart that sharing God's Revelations is essential to drawing a hurting world to Him, so emerse yourself in This brief story of the message God reaffirmed to me yesterday and realize that He Reveals these things when we do but 3 things...Love Him with all our heart, Love others with all our hearts, putting their EVERY SINGLE Need before ours and that we report to where God is at Work, Join Him in His mission to transform a lost world.... Yesterday morning with a heart full of joy and a night full of prayer for a couple of specific people with needs, I arose and went to Liza's Place, where people lie waiting for the end of this mortal life, and I was blessed to be showered with God's Graces as I connected in touch,prayer and conversatuon with those dying as well as family, staff and doctors, I was counting as I was preparing to leave and I interacted powerfully with 16 people,16 souls God allowed me to reveal His Love to. I bet He has given you that many if not more....NEVER walk past someone without sharing the Peace of Christ... NEVER.... As I was grabing a 'Free' Coffee for the ride whereever God was to call me, my phone rang...It was God... In the form of a friend Adam...Who offered to buy me coffee....Of course if you know me and you wave people and Coffee in my face... Im there..24/7. What occureed the rest of the day was so powerful and such a revelation. As Adam and I had coffee and visited with so many people on the porch of one of our favorite cafes God plucked us up and put us in that Wood Truck,(Old Woody, He now has a purpose, God revealed a need for him and Woody steped up and said "Here I am Lord take me, use me" God I Love Woody's Heart! For some devine purpose God delivered us 3... Woody, Adam and I to a place where I stood in awe of what He was showing these eyes... It was a lush valley, a literal earthly valley yes, full of growing vegetables, and shinig hillsides and radiant sunshine and dirt, the stuff we came from... As we stood there with old Woody, The Power of The Holy Spirit rained down on us and in Prayer and Thanksgiving we cried out amidst His sunshine for revival, revival of this Valley, a raining down on us of that Hovering Holy Spirit of God which He told us about in The Book of Genesis. God is speaking and He is leading us through those still waters, (Which looked like flowing waters when Adam yelled "hit the gas John, You can make it to the other side of this creek") With all assurances I thought to mysef, I don't see it happening, I see us being washed away... But I was willing to Hit that gas..to stand alone for Him so that He could stand out and reveal a lush valley on the other side of that water which would reaffirm in me the Mission He has laid on my heart, that from tis Place, from this valley, from Your Heart and mine... God is going to bring His Kingdom to Earth and Love will flow like a river and carry us each directly into the Mighty Palm of His Hand. How do we/you do that...ah so simple my friend.... I challenge you to an experiment..Take a day and go into the world, and in a concience effort bless people all day long, you dont have to have any special tools or resources, use HIS HEART...The one HE has Given you...Open it and God will fill it and you will empty it and sure......People will be blessed...BUT MY DEAR DEAR BROTHER AND SISTERS YOU WILL RECIEVE A NEW HEART.... A NEW NAME..... AND YOU WILL WANT FOR NOTHING....BECAUSE YOU WILL HAVE THE ULTIMATE EVERYTHING.... THE HEART Of OUR BLESSED JESUS CHRIST....LORD OF OUR LIVES.. Come and see a Man who knows my every tought.... If you are intimidaed to go it alone, reach out, we are assembling teams and groups to "Bless the world as The Church on the Move" We would be blessed to encounter God's Riches with you by emptying ourselves so that others may see with their own eyes the Living God that walks with us at every hour. We are after your heart God, and we will not rest until all experience that thirst and YOUR Abundant Water which causes us to thirst no more.