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| One of my biggest heroes of the faith, Sam Conway, laid his armor down and heard the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant, welcome into the joy of your Lord” last week. The moment of his dreams is now reality: he has seen his Saviour face to face. By now, he’s probably been reunited with hundreds of the friends he knew, his daughter, his heroes of the faith. Imagine the thrill of meeting new saints, the angels who kept him from harm while in the shadowlands, people that are in Heaven because of him, and who knows how many people whose lives were silently and drastically changed because of the grace of God being lived out in his life. Mr. Conway personally impacted my life through encouraging and provoking me to be who God made me to be. Some of my best memories from my time at IBLP HQs include time spent with he and his wife, Ann. Two weeks ago I had the incredible opportunity to spend four hours with Sam and Ann, along with my sisters, Alicia and Abby Carman, and Beth Pleckham. They took us to Joe Gibb’s HQs, out to dinner, and their home in Cornelius, where they welcomed us, not just as friends---but as members of Christ’s body. While visiting with them, Mr. Conway confidently and unashamedly repeated these words: “All of life is about a RELATIONSHIP with Jesus, I know that He is TRUSTWORTHY, He is FAITHFUL, I don’t know what he has for me tomorrow, but I know that He is GOOD.” I left their home encouraged, provoked, even rebuked for my own lack of faith and trust, and amazed at their unrelenting hope in Christ. And now, he’s in Heaven: our real home! I was thinking today about Randy Alcorn, who is an author of numerous subjects, his most prevalent being eternity. I was thinking of his book Heaven and couldn't help but imagine where Mr. Conway is right now, and all the wonders that are before his eyes. In a childlike hope and faith, I like to imagine what Heaven is like, and I think Lewis described it well when he wrote: "And as He spoke He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before." ----The Last Battle Can’t wait to see you again, Mr. Conway!
 
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| The bond of unity between followers of Jesus is so compelling and tangible that it causes the heart to both sing and weep. We’ve been forgiven more than any creature deserver; is it any wonder then, that our hearts are filled to overflowing with love for each other, knitting us together in the bond of peace and infusing hope in your spirit that is so real you can almost touch it? God made us with yearning and desire, even to the point of letting us feel the pain of separation on this earth. We try to hide the tears, push back the pain of goodbyes, and hush the swelling of our souls that are filled with memories that almost seem reminiscent of a distant dream. Saying goodbye. Why is it so hard, so final? Unity always comes through struggle: finding our hearts in the same cross, skirmishing in the same battle, opposing the same enemy, waiting for the same Light-giver, anticipating the same dawn, tasting the same hope of Heaven. Ransomed hearts find unity in fighting for the King. He’s the center, the One who gives meaning to a world wrapped in anger, sin, and madness. He gives purpose to friendships, making them vast, deep, intimate. His love is rich, deeper than the sea, encompassing more than we can comprehend, piercing through the hidden parts of our souls, making us like Jesus. This is the love that knits us together. In our not-so-far-away Home, Heaven’s heroes cheer us on, saying not to give up, not to relinquish our hope, not to lose sight of the object of our trust (Hebrews 12:1). We don’t have to wander in the shadow-lands alone. He’s given His body and His Spirit to guide, comfort, and lead us to Heaven’s shore. It’s amazing to me that the deepest love we feel, sometimes for a mere moment, on this earth will be known in never-ending completeness in Heaven. Our ever-abiding Friend enters our sorrow, comforting through our deepest pain, seeing beyond our shame, making us know His love. What a holy moment it was when we all wept outside of Comfort Inn, saying goodbye to Ruthann, our friend and fellow warrior. It had been a long week. We were all emotionally fatigued; being stretched in different dimensions at the conference had left its mark on all of us—which no doubt added to the sense of soul-pain. But the fellowship even in the midst of tears as we said goodbye to Ruthann was actively at work, letting us know that the sting on this earth is really just birth pains, ushering and enfolding a new life in the resurrection for which we all eagerly wait. Tears of sorrow for a believer are good. Jesus understood pain and tears—why else would He weep at Lazarus’ tomb? Too often we live in the false assumption that the Christian is always supposed to have power, happiness, and perkiness. Oh how easily we swing to one end of the pendulum, forgetting the full meaning of redemption, trying to accomplish real Christianity on our own. I don’t want more “power,” I don’t want a how-to manual for Christian living. I crave and desire the life of Jesus Christ to live in me, allowing me and compelling me to feel what He feels, and live out His will on this earth. Sometimes we have to fight for joy; but the fighting isn’t a self-manifestation of external joy, it’s the laying down of my own weapons and embracing the eternal rather than the temporal. It’s learning to value the life of Jesus, to finish the race with joy, and to testify to the grace of God in our lives. The early church also understood this strange mystery of farewells in the shadow-land. Listen to what Luke the Physician wrote: “ . . . ‘But none of these things moved me (Paul); nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God . . . therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood . . . And now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.’ Then they all wept freely, and fell on Paul’s neck and kissed him, sorrowing most of all for the words which he spoke, that they would see his face no more. And they accompanied him to the ship.” That farewell in Nashville, along with several others recently, was the beginning of an ending of an era for many of us here at Headquarters. Things won’t and can’t be the same. Soon we will all move onto the next stage of grace, facing new battles, feeling new joys, growing through new experiences. Living at Headquarters can be extremely confusing and heart-wrenching. I’ve never lived somewhere where it’s so easy to get my eyes off of the object of my trust, turning them to the direction of the ministry, the hurts, the grumblings that crawl so easily on our tongues, the inconsistency and failure of mortals. I’m learning that living here will either make you broken before Father, or will force you to leave in bitterness and resentment. Maybe that’s why we become so close to people here, because we learn to live and love as broken vessels. Oh for the faith and grace to realize that the place of brokenness is exactly where He can use us! Steve Green understood this strange enigma when he wrote these words: When life becomes a shattered dream that’s slipping through my trembling hands I need to know that you are near, to know you see each falling tear When there is no one else who understands When I can’t find the words to speak, you feel the pain in each heartbeat Before I even call to you, in my deepest hour of need That’s when you come and pour you mercy on me Your beauty shines, your love surrounds Where cries of brokenness are found Bring hope alive Help me believe and trust you one more time In brokenness you shine That comfort me a living thing, a river flowing from my grief Where thirsty souls can drink their full and find in you their heart’s release And through my sorrow show your freedom and hope Your beauty shines, your love surrounds Where cries of brokenness are found Bring hope alive Help me believe and trust you one more time In brokenness you shine How could I know when others said a word or two then walked away That you the man of sorrows would come near to stay I want to see your beauty one more time In brokenness you shine And so, we move on, living and finding our being in the Unchanging I AM, listening to His heartbeat, crying His tears, feeling His joy. No barrier can hinder God from pouring out His blessing on those whose hearts are turned to Him. And so, Ruthann, I bless you with a yearning for Jesus Christ, with a passion to know Him as the Love of your soul, with a love that allows you to sympathize with the hurting, with Heaven’s life filling you, enabling you to radiate hope and meaning to the dying world in which we live. I bless you with a desire to know His will and to do it, to see Him above all others, to love Him more than life itself, to worship Him in His completeness, to find your deepest joys in Him, to know His sufficiency when dreams are shattered, to feel His good pleasure as you run eternity’s race. I love you. "You can have all this world, but give me Jesus." | | |
| Inimitable memories were made in Room 216 at the Shades of Green Resort in Disney World, FL. The conspirators for David and Sarah Rees’ wedding cake included Christy Stone, the mastermind, Jared and Katie Yates, my two sisters, Erin and Chloe, and myself. Who would have guessed that a wedding cake could be designed and decorated in a hotel room (on the day of the wedding, no less), using blow dryers instead of an oven, the sunlight instead of a microwave, and Starbucks stir sticks in place of cake pegs, all combined to create a scrumptious and tantalizing masterpiece? Good memories often centre around people and food, and this memory just happened to include sugar, chocolate, and roses—making it superior in quality and aesthetics.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The finished product. | | |
| Dependence on the Triune God is a strange and stunning mystery that is mine to hold and possess. Father wants me to see Him as my Daddy, my Abba. The soul can and should rejoice in Jesus, the one who has made adoption possible, and the one who will fulfill His pleasure and purpose in me. Christ alone is fit to take the title of Alpha and Omega, the Author and Finisher of my faith. Intertwined in all of this is the Holy Dove. Father has been teaching me more about the Holy Spirit. He is a person, not merely a power to be obtained. He is fully God, not just part of God. He enables me to have intimate fellowship all day, every day—unlike the disciples who had to be in the literal presence of Jesus while He was on this earth. When I see the Triune God for who He really is, the new desire is to depend and rely on Him in childlike—and even radical—faith. “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” It is mine to surrender, desire, and believe. It is His to work, satisfy and glorify. Fullness of Christ O God, Thou has taught me That Christ has all fullness and so all plenitude of the Spirit, That all fullness I lack in myself is in him, For his people, not for himself alone, He having perfect knowledge, grace, righteousness, To make me see, To make me righteous, To give me fullness; That is my duty, out of a sense of emptiness, To go to Christ, possess, enjoy his fullness as mine, As if I had it in myself, because it is for me in him; That when I do this I am full of the Spirit, As a fish that has got from the shore to the sea And has all fullness of waters to move in, For when faith fills me, then I am full; That is the way to be filled with the Spirit, Like Stephen, first faith, then fullness, For this way makes me most empty, And so most fit for the Spirit to fill. Thou hast taught me that The finding of this treasure of all grace in the field of Christ Begets strength, joy, glory, And renders all graces alive. Help me to delight more in what I receive from Christ, More in that fullness which is in him, The fountain of all his glory. Let me not think to receive the Spirit from him as a ‘thing’ Apart from finding, drinking, being filled with him. To this end, O God, Do thou establish me in Christ, Settle me, give me a being there, Assure me with certainty that all this is mine, For this only will fill my heart with joy and peace. —Taken from The Valley of Vision | | |
| Carry On! It’s easy to fight when everything’s right, And you’re mad with thrill and the glory; It’s easy to cheer when victory’s near, And wallow in fields that are gory. It’s a different song when everything’s wrong, When you’re feeling infernally mortal; When it’s ten against one, and hope there is none, Buck up, little soldier, and chortle:
Carry on! Carry on! There isn’t much punch in your blow. You are glaring and staring and hitting out blind; You are muddy and bloody, but never you mind. Carry on! Carry on! You haven’t the ghost of a show. It’s looking like death, but while you’ve a breath, Carry on, my son! Carry on!
And so in the strife of the battle of life It’s easy to fight when you’re winning; It’s easy to slave, and starve and be brave, When the dawn of success is beginning. But the man who can meet despair and defeat With a cheer, there’s the man of God’s choosing; The man who can fight to Heaven’s own height Is the man who can fight when he’s losing.
Carry on! Carry on! Thing never were looming so black. But show that you haven’t a cowardly streak, And though you’re unlucky you never are weak. Carry on! Carry on! Brace up for another attack. It’s looking like hell, but – you never tell. Carry on, old man! Carry on!
There are some who drift out in the desert of doubt And some who in brutishness wallow; There are others, I know, who in piety go Because of a Heaven to follow. But to labor with zest, and to give of your best, For the sweetness and joy of the giving; To help folks along with a hand and a song; Why, there’s the real sunshine of living.
Carry on! Carry on! Fight the good fight and true; Believe in your mission, greet life with a cheer; There’s big work to do, and that’s why you are here. Carry on! Carry on! Let the world be the better for you; And at last when you die, let this be your cry! Carry on, my soul! Carry on!
—Robert Service I love this poem. | | |
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