More "WOW" Moments!

I took the dog out around 5:30 this morning and stepped into a windy, cooler and overcast pre-dawn day.  By cooler I mean temperatures in the low 60’s instead of the mid-to high 70’s first thing in the morning temps that we’ve experienced over the last couple of weeks, that rise up into the high 90’s by the afternoon.  It's also been excessively windy.  This morning they were down a bit at only 16mph, whereas yesterday and last night they were up into the mid to high 20’s.  But to be honest, with the hot temperatures in the afternoons and similarly high humidity levels, the wind is actually a welcome addition to the mix as it helps to make the weather more tolerable!

When I returned to the comfort of my bed while Fiver munched on his doggie snack and  reclined on the same said bed… I opened up my Bible to Psalm 92:2.  The footnote in my Bible states that “Ancient Jewish tradition holds that Adam composed this psalm on the first Sabbath of creation, and it was to be sung by the Levites on the Sabbath in the temple.” 

I took that thought to note as the sun began to arise in the eastern sky and observed the brighter light beginning to shine through the slats on the window blinds.  I got to thinking as I pondered whether that tradition was actually true or not, about how wonderfully, awe-inspiring and breathe taking that first sunrise must have been to Adam as he stood within the perfection of God that surrounded him in the garden of Eden.  I mean… talk about a “WOW!” moment!

I had a couple of “WOW!” moments this week as I prayed over some re-awakening dreams and desires that have been arising in me as of late.  As I have mentioned a few times in recent blog posts, I have been thinking a lot about personal ministry callings and how much things around me have changed since Piper and I were actively involved in the ministry.  I’ve considered and re-considered over and over again how different things look now and how the particular dreams we had when we excitedly felt the strong leading to leave the comforts of home and the life we had established in California to move half way across the country to attend Bible College in Oklahoma.

To put it mildly, life has drastically changed since then.  For me, it has been turned inside out, knocked down, kicked around and submerged in a bottomless cavern where absolutely nothing is the same!  That may sound like a little bit of an exaggeration as Piper would sometimes accuse me of making… But for all intent and purposes… I would personally call it an under-exaggeration with the physical, emotional and mental feelings and pain that I have been through!

But lately, the Lord has repeatedly been drawing me back to the encouragement found in the book of 2^nd Timothy, chapter one, verses six and seven where Paul told his young protégé, “I’m writing to encourage you to fan into a flame and rekindle the fire of the spiritual gift(s) that God imparted to you when I laid my hands upon you.  For God will never give you the spirit of fear, but the Holy Spirit who gives you mighty power, love, and self-control.” (The Passion Translation) 

Those verses have been favorites of mine ever since Piper and I took our first Jr High Youth group to Snow Camp in the Sierra’s in California in the mid-seventies, where the group sessions were based on 2 Timothy 1:7.  Over the years, that particular scripture has had an immeasurable impact on my life.  With everything that we experienced with the attack on Piper’s health, I quickly learned to not allow the spirit of FEAR to have any voice in whatever we were doing and I depended HEAVILY on the promise that God had given me His Spirit of POWER, LOVE and a SOUND MIND (KJV)

Since her passing He has had to remind me many times about this verse, and has helped me to NOT be led by FEAR (as it is a direction that is NOT from God) but instead to “let the peace of God rule in my heart, to which also I was called in one body; and be thankful.” (Colossians 3:15 EMTV- personalized)  I can’t tell you how many times HIS PEACE has led me TO DO as well as NOT TO DO something since Piper went through the veil in September of 2018!

In the last few days, I have sensed Him stressing 2 Timothy 1:6 to me in order to encourage me “to fan into a flame and rekindle the fire of the spiritual gift(s) God imparted to me…”  Then when I began to inquire WHAT particular gift or gifts He was talking about, two thoughts fairly jumped into my mind!

The first being the hunger, thirsting, excitement and expectation that Piper and I had for the Word of God for as long as I can remember and secondly, my pretty much life-long desire to have a writing ministry.  The “WOW!” moments began to come pretty regularly after that revelation.  One was when I began to see that Piper and I have always strived to teach and share the Word of God to all of our groups of children, youth, college-career classes and adults as well, in a way that was creative, funny, simple, enjoyable and would make them easily grab on to the truth of the Word and quickly integrate it into their daily lives.  

If you ever sat in one of my regular teachers and/or parents’ meetings within the different churches we served in, you have would come out with a smile on your face and know our passion to make the Student Services ministry one that was FUN to be a part of.  We always sought to have our students and leadership teams know the importance of having them associate the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the most enjoyable times of their lives.

More “WOW!” moments came when I pondered my dream of writing and suddenly realized and began to laugh, when I saw that I have been writing for ministry purposes since Piper and I were enrolled at the Santa Rosa Junior College!  The Lord began to flash across the eyes of my mind remembrances of the Rock Opera I wrote when I was in my late teens, the literally thousands of original lessons plans I wrote over the 36+ years of ministry, all the plays, songs, Vacation Bible Schools, special church programs, Children’s outreaches, chapel services for some of the local Christian Schools and the various Children’s and Youth Curriculums I penned. 

Now, please understand that I am not saying any of this to pat myself on my back, because all of it was simply a labor of love!  What I am saying is that God was showing me that those giftings are still inside me and that it is up to me to get out of the funk I was in and to start fanning the smoldering flames within and get the fires re-kindled to blaze anew!

As I sit here plunking away on my laptop, I wonder how many of you who are reading this also need to begin “to fan into a flame and rekindle the fire of the spiritual gift(s) that God has imparted to you…?”  Hummm…. Am I hitting a little to close to home?  Well… I actually hope so!  When I see what I believe that God is trying to show me, I would think that I am not alone!  God has GOOD things that He wants YOU to do, that He has already put into you!  All we have to do is start praying and stir up the gifts!

More to come…

Have a wonderful rest of the week, and as you do, I encourage you to look and pray with joyful expectation in order to discover the gifts that God has placed inside of you!