Prayers of Faith and Piloting Wide Loads

I was visiting with my mom this afternoon. We were chatting about times God has chosen to intervene in such a way as we knew beyond doubt God had stepped in. One such time was while growing up in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. My dad was on medical rehabilitation leave and preached at a small mission.

Living in Gold Run was under the most meager of means. There may have been gold there at one time, but I can guarantee it “ran” sometime prior to us getting there. One perfectly normal day, there was no food in the house and no money to buy it. We had an out-of-town guest living with us. So my folks wondered a bit how she would deal with a lack of necessities.

As was my mom and dad's norm, they bowed to pray and asked God to provide a “wide load” piloting job to make the money required for food. Back then, the mountain pass was only a two lane road and state law required a vehicle with flags go in front of the wide load to warn on-coming traffic. As was also the norm in answer to my dad's prayer, the telephone rang and a trucker needed my dad to pilot him over the pass. Our guest was quite surprised at God's direct intervention in our lives.

Today, things have not changed much. My family still has needs. We still depend on God. He continues to provide. It is not so surprising anymore, but is just as every bit encouraging.

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God Spots: http://37stories.wordpress.com

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Poor in Spirit - Rich in Faith

Jim Taylor

My wife and I are learning what it means to "poor in spirit". We have read that "Blessed are the poor in sprit for theirs is the Kingdom of God". Note: "..theirs IS.." not "theirs shall be". Our questions was, "what does it look like to be poor in spirit"?

The poor have no backup plan. Most of the time they have no options. They do not have insurance and credit and savings for a rainy day. (especially in the Majority World) The poor do not have resources. They are totally dependant. They do not have the means to help themselves.
To be 'poor in spirit' is to live totally dependant, without a backup plan, without resources, without a Plan B if Plan A fails. It is to live in the place where .. if Papa God does not help you, everything stops .. you die. 

We found that if we live poor in spirit, the Kingdom of God is ours! We can experience it now! We are learning that if we live poor in spirit .. no backup .. no Plan B .. and if we seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, EVERYTHING WE NEED is ADDED to our lives!

It is risky, it is uncomfortable at times, it is challenging, it is scary. But it is also a blessed place where we see the provision of God .. miraculously. 
Do we have times of doubt and struggle? Of course. It wouldn't be real if we didn't. Do we see God's hand move? Yes we do. Have we missed Him? Yes! More than once. Yet He remains faithful.

We are still learning. There is much more to this .. but if you find yourself in that uncomfortable place with no options, no help, no supply, no way out .. you are in the place where you can learn about the blessedness of being poor in spirit. Dont give up!

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When all hell breaks lose, what next?

When things go bad, what are the immediate thoughts that comes to mind? Likely at the top of list is, "Why me?" I don't deserve this.  Shortly after, there is the honest thought of, "God.  Where are you?  Don't you care?  Don't you see me? Are you blind?  Hello?!" .... and then silence.

During that moment of silence... comes that nagging thought, "God. Are you real?" It is a dark place to be when left in this desolate place.  I've been there more than once.  It is in this dark place we desperately search for answers, hoping with revelation we can exit the darkness.

When you find yourself alone and in the midst of darkness, remember: where there is light, there is no darkness.  Light dispells or breaks up the darkness.  Jesus is our source of light.  That is easy to say, but in practical terms what does it mean?  It means if you can but find Jesus you will find the way out of the darkness.  Sadly... some do, some don't.

The darkness I refer to is a spiritual lack of light.  It is a spiritual void, but it is felt physically.  One can find ones' self propelled there because of external physical circumstance.  It might be the death of someone or possibly long term illness contributes to your journey.  Sometimes the shattering of a dream or the let down felt from abandonment will lead one to a dark place in your life. 

As real as the darkness is, we must remember the reality of the light is even more brilliant.  So the trick is... how do you once again, turn on the light?

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The Great Goat Hunt by my friend in Africa - Jim Taylor

Twyla and I have been looking for a larger goat than what we have at Mieze.  We want one with a larger udder that would be easier to milk.  Our idea is to keep it here at the house and experiement with various feeds, seeing what affects the changes in feed have on milk production and quality.

So we have been looking ... which I mentioned to young minister who comes by here and who we know fairly well.  He said in Mieze Church there was a man who knew where large goats were and that he would be glad to show us.  We made an appointment to meet them Saturday morning for the "Great Goat Hunt'.

Saturday at 9;30 AM we meet and make plans.  The man says it is quite a ways to where the goats are ... 100 kilometers.  At this news I get a little hesitant.  I know that distance often does not mean the same to Mozambicans as to us.  As I was sorta backing away from the trip the others were saying "it's not that far" .. "we have time" etc.- all of which was true.

So we head out.

Two hours and 120k later we are getting low on fuel and talk begins about how far it is yet.  Oh .. it's a long way they tell me.  I knew it!  At Chure we find a 24 hour station and fill up. Fuel was cheap there, it only cost us about 1400 metacais to fill the tank. ($38 TO $40 U.S.)

We continue to drive until we come to a place where we are told to turn onto a dirt road.  The dirt road is like all dirt roads in Mozambique... rough.  Now we cannot go more than 30 kph and often slower.  Time drags by.  The road gets smaller and rougher.  About 1PM I ask, "How far is it yet?" and the man says, "Oh .. 5 kilometers."  At 1:30 PM we are still not there. I said, "I am sorry but we are going no further.  We must get home before dark and we have come a very long way."  The man said he understood and then volunteered the information that it was still a long ways to his village.  Great.

We turn around and head home.  By the time we get back to Pemba it is dark.  We had not taken any food with us and had not eaten all day.  We stopped at a restaurant about a half mile from home and had a great meal!  

We did find a couple nice-sized goats much closer to home .. and within 20k of home I found a huge herd of goats that we are going to check out. And we saw some really neat country... parts of which most Westerners don't see.  It was well off the 'beaten path' ... I think we beat our own path in places.

I shared the story with several missionaries here and they just laughed and said, "Oh yeah!  I have done that a lot of times."  

Personally I think the guy was just looking for a free ride to his old village.  LOL!!!

Love to all

Jim & Twyla

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Mysteries of the Faith

My disclaimer: Test these thoughts against what you know in the Word.

I have a need. That is not so unusual, because it is likely everyone
has a need. Needs come with life. I was praying about my need to the
Father and wrestling with Him over the issue of serving a God of just
enough or serving a God of abundance. For many years there has been a
conflict with what I believed balanced against what I experienced. I
believed in abundance. I received just enough.

I have many times in the past stated that I serve a God of abundance.
I refuse to serve a God of just enough. I believe that the evil ones
have figured me out and step in between my receiving from a God of
plenty by providing just enough. I still believe that is the case for
me, many times.. I am impatient and when I see just enough offered, I
accept and thank God for just enough when it was not from God at all.
Does that make sense?

Tonight in prayer I once again shared with God that I refused to serve
a God of just enough. I reminded Him of His ownership in everything
as He is the creator. I said it as a blessing and not meant to get in
God's face or challenge Him in any way. I believe God gave me a
thought, I will share with you. Then, you will need to bounce it
against the Word and see if there is any truth to it.

I had the thought of a great banquet table. There was a place set for
me. The plate was over flowing with all types of savory food. A big
red juicy steak had caught my attention and I had cut off a chuck. It
was skewered on my fork and I was waving it in the air as I talked
with God,even as I had a mouth full already. I had every intention of
eating everything on the plate as it was mine and I was hungry. I
had no appreciation for the source of the food. I had no appreciation
for the fact that God had set the table. God had invited me to it.
God had encouraged me to take a seat. God allowed me to eat.

Then, truth was revealed and the mystery of serving a God of just
enough and a God of abundance was reconciled. We have received God's
Kingdom. We live in His Kingdom. We have been given keys to His
Kingdom. It is the keys that open the door to an incredible banquet.
But I believe with the keys come a responsibility.

With the keys, we have the opportunity to gorge ourselves because God
is the creator and a God of abundance. But with the keys to God's
Kingdom comes a responsibility to receive only what we need while
appreciating the fact that our plate is full to overflowing. It is
the receiving according to our needs, that God is Glorified and
honored in our attitude toward Him.

It is such a simple concept, yet took a life time to be revealed.
Maybe you will be smarter than I...

As a bonus, I think it important to note it is unlikely to be wise
waving a juicy chunk of prime steak on the end of your fork while
flippantly chatting with Jesus. .... in total deference to the
provider of the steak.

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I am passionate about this.... I have paid the price to speak.

I walk up to Job in the midst and say, "I am sorry for the suffering
you are going through. Oh so sorry." Job says, "Yeah. Me too. It will
get better, I believe." WRONG!

I walk up to Job and say, "How's it going?" Job says, "God is AWESOME!
You won't believe the blessing I am in the middle of! Won't you come
join me? Did I tell you? God is AWESOME! His love surpasses
Knowledge!"

I agree. God is AWESOME and I am happy for you! Be blessed. Be
faithful. Be ALL IN! I am there with you! Hand me some pottery. I'll
help you scrap.

Father. Forgive us for lack of knowledge... and poor revelation.

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God Spots are Encouraging!

Kathleen Heck Freeman of Facebook: Here's my small miracle. 1)
Boyfriend almost gets taken out by a car on his motorcycle 2) The
chiropractor he is sent to is given the choice of paying more to lease
with the doctor he'd been with for 14 yrs or having to move in 3 days
or less 3) Chiropractor moves to space within walking distance of our
home, helps boyfriend to heal and hires this little unemployed girl to
help him out and may even keep her. The LORD works in myseterious
ways.

Posted via email from Archie's Life Stream