Fuel for the Furnace

I will attempt to do the impossible this morning. I will attempt to be brief and amazing. I am still wanting to get updates from the La Paz trip, but those will have to wait a little bit.

I just finished reading an article from the Tallahassee newspaper that said that the Easter Seals closed down. They were unable to pay their mortgage, payroll, and other expenses. They had applied for but didn't receive a grant that would have given them $100,000 each year for the next five years.

The first time I went their to work with a client I was scared out of my mind. People were coming up to me, grabbing me, yelling at me and the conditions were just not good. However, it did provide a place for probably 50 adults with disabilities to go 5 days a week to be away from their families.

Unless the two other facilities in Tallahassee somehow decide to drastically expand their enrollment it means that those families will all be faced with the task of caring for their loved one full-time. The other facilities already have a long waiting list to get into them, so the outlook is bleak. God, stretch out your hand to heal developmental disabilities!

Speaking of that, Pastor Bill was crazy good in school yesterday. His main focus was Acts 4:29-30 which says:

"Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus."

His translation read ALL boldness. Yeah, we could use that. I was just thinking recently how nice it would be if I would approach people without having to try to be bold. It would be nice if it was just instinct and that boldness would kick in for the difficult situations.

Speaking of difficult situations, I had a dream yesterday as I was soaking. Essentially it was me watching a bunch of friends in groups of 3 or 4 floating around a safe little harbor in these small wooden boats. I was on land and was weary of them going out even though it seemed harmless. They were packed in them pretty tight because they were small. Then a huge Disney cruise ship came into the harbor for some reason. However rather than getting out of the way they all just stayed.

I was getting nervous at how close they were getting to the cruise ship. One group was literally touching the ship with their hands as it passed by. Then the ship turned and sideswiped another group. Their boat started to get pushed under water and the wood started to break. All I could think was "Emergency tongues!" So I just started to pray in the spirit, but was also thinking that I had to do something and that praying by itself wasn't enough, I would need to go save them.

This is all in a matter of seconds that I think that how can I go in after them when it is a cruise ship. The cruise ship could kill me too! Then, while still on the shore praying in tongues, I woke up.

Last night at Awakening Cry I realized that while it is super important to praying for the lost and dying, we have to actually do something about it. We need the radical boldness to go into the situations that seem impossible. It isn't enough to stand on the shore and pray "God save them, they are drowning!" We must also pray, "God, I'm going in after them and I need your help! Stretch out your hand to do a miracle!"

Yeah. Amen.