Life Before Death

Yes, LORD, walking in the way of Your Truth, we wait eagerly for You. For Your Name and Your Renown are the desire of our souls.
-Isaiah 26:8

Lufthansa 422. That's the flight we're on, heading from our stopover in Frankfurt. In an hour, the plane will touch down and the trip will be over. Done. I want to tell you guys about every last bit of it, but I know that's even not possible. So ask me things, because I will never be able to begin writing all that has happened.

Fire.
Let's start there. Fire. Best fire. The only real Fire. The kind that consumes. The fire of creation. If I were to hear myself tell this story a couple of years ago, I would think I am a bit of a nutjob. This is not an everyday story. This was not an everyday trip.

But I need to back up a bit before the Fire. We had a 14 hour train ride, and one of the things I love to do on long trips is to talk and listen. I love good conversation. I love finding out about people, love to understand them. The sleeper car seats four. A fifth individual stopped by the car, and we started sharing our testimonies. Not just the part where we came to Christ, but the part where our world was rocked the most. Where Christ became clearest.

The first four of us spoke of some very hard things from our past, and how God had used it for His glory in and through our lives. Then our visitor shared. I can't even write about it. I really can't. I could never do it justice, and I don't think I would be able to even see the screen through the tears it would bring back. But her story wasn't just a story only of sadness. It was a story of redemption. He made something beautiful from the ashes of her past. He raised her from the dead and created life before death.

While she told her story, the Spirit began to fill the room. By the end, the only thing we could do is pray. And as we prayed, the Spirit continued to fill the room. More and more and more, until we were laughing and crying and praising the Name. It was the sweetest experience of my life thus far. Unreal. Utterly Blessed.

Patience
This is something I have been learning about. The value of waiting in faith. Even though in recent years I believe I have been shown an understanding of grace, I still had gone back to the old ways. Believing in a formula. That if I just seek God, honestly looking to submit my heart to Him, He would bless me. An if-then. But it doesn't work like that. God chooses when and how to fill us with His spirit. It isn't up to us. None of it is. I understand a bit more of patience now because of that experience in the sleeper car.

Photos
I have a few photos to post. Somewhere between 400 and 500. There will be two galleries, one of the absolute best stuff that everyone can access, then another album with everything. Since the everything album will show the city and some of the national believers, it will be password protected. I'll send out a notification to everyone when it's ready along with the password, but keep it on the DL. Don't pass it around at all. Really. People's safety could be at stake.

You have redeemed my soul from the pit of emptiness
You have redeemed my soul from death
You have redeemed my soul from the pit of emptiness
You have redeemed my soul from death

I was a hungry child, a dried up river
I was a burned out forest
And no one could do anything for me
But you put food in my body
Water in my dry bed
And to my blackened branches
You brought the springtime green of a new life
And nothing is impossible for you

You have redeemed my soul from the pit of emptiness
You have redeemed my soul from death
You have redeemed my soul from the pit of emptiness
You have redeemed my soul from death

-Waterdeep

Called
I told some of you all that for the first time in my life, I felt specifically called to go on this trip. I can see so many things that have happened, so much fruit. But the story is not yet over. Be praying about that. Some decisions and events are out of my hands, and they really need prayer.

Pray that above all, God's Will would be done. Because He is good. If you don't Know or Understand that goodness, please ask me more. There really is life before death.

Entry posted by byscuits on January 11, 2005 11:15 AM

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