Thirst

I just got back from a graduation ceremony where my dad and I ministered- it was for Teen Challenge- if you haven't heard about it, it's a rehab type program- the guy that we were there for is named Danny, and he was homeless walking the streets of NY with his bongos, and one day he cried out to God. He ended up coming to our church, which was kind of wacky at first, because he would come right up with the worship team and start playing his bongos, but God was gracious. Anyhow, he graduated from the program tonight, and he's been sober for over 150 days straight- awesome stuff. It doesn't stop there- his family came to watch the graduation, and his mom was really touched- my dad prayed for them and anointed them with oil. Exciting stuff...

Here's another awesome testimony- my dad's been going to this gym for a while to get in shape- he's doing boxing, and getting to know some of the guys over there and stuff-- long story short, he knows this guy who's a major fighter, does fights in Las Vegas and on pay-per-view and whatever- he's been away for a bit, but yesterday he showed up at the gym again. So my dad was in the locker room and God gave him a word for the guy. After some arguing with God (haha), he went and told the guy that he had still been praying for him, and that God gave him a message for him. He said, "God wants you to know that he loves you, and that he wants you to come back, and that whatever went down in the past doesn't matter." The guy started crying basically, and said, yeah, i know exactly what that means. So God is doing amazing stuff, and that's just two examples.

One final example-- going over to England, yay, big deal-- but i need money to get there, money i just don't have. Well, things just might work out- we'll see- my tax return is $797, I'm getting a check from the conservatory for another 150 or so, the church is taking up an offering for me on Sunday, and Great Shepherd might support me too-- Then, I went online to book my flight and i got a roundtrip ticket, NYC to London, for only $354, including taxes. That's an unbelievable price, virtually unheard of-- so, it all looks good. Thank God i didn't waste too much energy worrying about something He had taken care of from the beginning.

John, i love what you're saying about peace, because it's such an important thing -- Jesus said that he would leave us HIS peace, like john said, not the peace that the world gives, but REAL peace. It's a gift, and it's something we can enter into, but we have to make the choice to enter into it. So many times we allow our peace to be stolen away by the circumstances of our life, and we actually choose to live without peace. In the world you WILL have tribulation, but take courage! I have overcome the world! This is the kingdom perspective Jesus had and that we are called to have- the kingdom is coming and has come, God's inbreaking reign on earth-- and He will begin to demonstrate that kingdom to us and through us if we will step into it- awesome stuff... ok, later then...