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Yesterday, while in the  3rd airport of another 29 hour day, Patti and I stopped at one of our (Patti’s) favorite Mes-i-kin food eating spots in the DFW airport.   Nothing like tasting grilled onions, guacamole and greasy tortilla chips again at 32,000 feet.  *brrrp*  I digress…

The place was packed and our waitress was awesome.  Very sharp, astute and quick in proactive thinking about things that needed to be done on the table without the customer really realizing what she was up too.  She was awesome.  But, to look at her, you just knew:  THIS GIRL HAS BEEN HURT…SOMEBODY TOOK SOMETHING THEY DIDN’T HAVE PERMISSION TO TAKE…THIS IS HER BEST-LINE DEFENSE.  IT IS TRIBAL, BUT SHE’S IN DEEP FOR PROTECTION. I guess it all really could be about the art.  That’s fine.  I’m cool with that.  But, in this case I suspect there is another grueling tale.  Another really bad story and this is where she finds her acceptance and her safety.  Honestly, I kinda dig the whole Gothic look, probably much more than I do the Polo dandies scene.   But with our gentle waitress, it seems obvious that something is askew when the dress has completely and absolutely neutered any evidence of her God given gender and/or sexuality.   Kinda  like SNL’s “Pat” gone punk.  Somewhere, somehow, she got the ideal that covert was more more convenient.  So she’s stuck.  Maybe stuck on purpose.  But, stuck none-the-less.  Maybe I’m just wrong and she’s the lead singer for a Metallica cover band, but I doubt it.

There is a great scene in the second of three MATRIX movies, where Neo is talking to the Oracle.  She is explaining how things work with rogue programs running games in the system (matrix):  “Every time you hear stories about vampires, werewolves or aliens, it is the system assimilating something it’s not supposed to be doing.” In other words, it’s a diversionary tactic to keep from exposing some hidden truth.  For me, that explains too much.  We deal with our “rejection” (poorly) in thousands of ways and in the ministry culture where God has me now, it is all too obvious that the perpetual problems of natural and spiritual abuse has been a nasty plot to “steal, kill and destroy” an entire generation of world changers.

Everyone one of us has a wake behind us.  Not just fathers.  Not just mothers.  You too.  All of us.  And what happens at the top, violently affects the norms at the bottom.  Every abuse (and that can even be attitudes and rotten demeanor), every loveless and self-centered reprobate indulgence has the potential for linear destruction well beyond the moment.  Think about this!  Of course we know these principles work with abused individuals, but it also applies to ministries, churches, organizations, etc.  Because you are free to do something doesn’t mean that it is the best expression of your freedom.  What are you responsible for?  What is going on underneath you?  Who pays the cost when you indulge?  What kind of fruit do you expect?  Then pay attention to the seed.

-MDP-

Have you ever noticed that there are people in this world that have a really difficult time saying the words “I am sorry”?  It’s like their tongue just got hammered with Novocain.

Patti and I have been really close to people in our past, who absolutely would not say those words.  If we asked them for forgiveness, repented, apologized or said “I’m sorry”, they would always be very accommodating and extend grace.  But, we would never hear them chime-in to own their own offense if we had gotten clobbered in an altercation.  We have known them for what seems like a really long time and never once did we hear those weighted and healing words:  “I am sorry”.  In fact, we totally gave up on the expectation all together.

What is that?  We know this is elementary and foundational RED LETTER verbiage from the Lord: “Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother (or sister) has something against you…” Shinola!  Wish that wasn’t in there, but it is.  Anyone who wounds another knows that they have to go get it right or they set a course aflame that isn’t good for anyone, mostly themselves.  As Michael Hindes taught at the last TWR training camp and I have since treated the topic two times in my church in Texas, an un-dealt-with offense or internal wound has horrible DNA in them.  Simply put, forgiveness is my responsibility once I’ve been wounded.  But what we often fail to recognize, there is a really good chance that while we were being offended, we were like-wise offending in the process.  As much as we would like to think that we are the innocent victim, the reality of that might be our own wounded illusion.  Hmmmmm.   Few of us can take stinging feedback or a rebuke without hitting back with some kind of lethal counter-punch of our own.  Once the dust settles, that means that I have more work  to do than just offer forgiveness when I am asked for it.  I must also ask for forgiveness and say “I am sorry!”  And it really helps us if we can say the words “I am sorry” without offering the traditional “BUT” at the end of it.  That is our attempt to justify why we held on to the offense or wound in the first place.  When we add the “but”, it removes some of the healing balm in the equation and we move back to a more self-centered focus again.  Usually, it pitches the boat towards the suggestion that you do not mean what you say in the first place.

What are the key components on why is it so hard for us to say “I am sorry”?

The big winner is usually PRIDE.  (ewwww!) If you hang out in Proverbs and allow Lady Wisdom to have her say about it, you’ll shudder with chilling awareness that God absolutely despises pride and He deals with it harshly.  Another is a spirit of REJECTION (it also deserves a big round of:  ewwwww!) We get so consumed with our own hurt, our pain, our sting, our offense, our self…that we really do not even process the fact that we probably have a dog in the fight.  Maybe you offered another person  honest and helpful truth, trying to do the right thing, but you mishandled the delivery and your passion got the better of you.  Then, you pretty much jacked up the whole situation because  you brought a word out of a bad spirit.  It happens more often than not!  Yip, the one you confronted deserves an apology, plain and simple.  In the insurance business we called that the  “proximate cause”. Claims are paid on the basis of who or what started the chain reaction that resulted in a loss.  In cases where a feud has been brewing for long periods of time, it might be best to assume that you were the “official offender or proximate cause” and just suck it up and repent. STUBBORN. (Ugly, ugly, ugly!) That is like a bad monopoly card: “Get out of freedom…do not collect righteous peace”.  That kind of stiffness in our heart usually gets dealt with by God in unique and creative fashion.  Highly efficient, effective and it is quite possible it will become publicly awkward for you!

With all that being said, we have to get to the place of considering  ALL that happens in our encounters.  Surely we are not right all the time…every time…are we?

Go ahead.  Say the hardest words ever.  Right what is wrong.  It’s elemental living.

-MDP-

Hey!  If you are enjoying the blogs, be sure to sign-up on the left side of the blog-site for automatic updates sent to your email when the blog is updated!  Sign-up is located right under the ETI logo!  Thanks!   -MDP-

I’m writing this specifically to my sons and daughters (all of you).

So, you don’t like your circumstance? You’re are not seeing what you want? You have cried out, but there are delays and you think that maybe you are invisible to God or He is deaf? The reports are bad and you have to fight to keep a nostril above the water in order to breath?

What are your choices?

You could come into agreement with you plight and just voice out-loud your personal rejection. Bad ideal. You could speak more death on yourself, your dreams, your hopes. Or, maybe you could try harder. Yeah, that will fix it. Try harder. *sigh* Maybe rebellion? Oh, wait…rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. Good little Christian kids don’t do witchcraft. Scratch that one. Self-pity? That one gets us in really big trouble with the Lord, so…no. How about a temper tantrum? Like a 3 year old whose momma won’t buy the bubbles at the grocery store? Uhh, that one makes it too obvious, probably not. Well crap! What the buzzard fudge are we supposed to do?

OR…or…you could heal yourself. Yeah! You could PROPHECY what is true about you. David said, “I WILL bless the LORD!”

Doubt he always felt like it. I suspect that there were times that circumstance did not equate to a cheerful “thanks Lord!” But, David is prophesying to his own spirit that he doesn’t govern his life by his eyes, surroundings or soggy emotions!

Come on man of God! Come on daughter of Zion! Scream in tongues, prophecy with fire, tell the truth! Change it in the spirit and then you’ll not be so wound up in the struggle of our natural surroundings! God gets timing. God knows timing. It’s all about timing! You asked to live by faith. So…have faith!

Heal thyself! Speak life! Speak life! SPEAK LIFE!

-MDP-

Sitting with my devotional earlier this morning, I was reminded again of some simple stuff that we sophisticated and institutionalized Christ followers forget from time to time.   Rohr:  “Thomas the Apostle symbolizes our temptation towards heady faith, so Jesus asks him to touch the wounds (John 20:27). Undoubtedly we have lived far too long in our heads.  We think we have to tell the gospel just right and systematically explain that our way is the way to “The Way”.   Again, the consumption is with our way…not His way.

The Sunday after Easter, Patti and I attended a big ole church where our son (in-law) Jon is on staff and leads worship from time to time.  It’s a monstrous place, lots of people, quality effects for every person’s appetite.  There was so much going on, so much to see and the music filled the place with such precision that I actually had the thought:  How does anyone ever get to Jesus in here?  It wasn’t a judgment, but more like a split-second ramble that just popped in my mind.  I mean, I’ve worshiped in some crazy atmospheres and been totally at ease in almost any situation, but on that day, in that moment, I questioned.  Immediately, I sensed myself walking down a quiet hallway in the midst of the worship center.  The music was fading and the special effects lighting was all moving behind me.  When I got the the end, I saw Him.  I cannot describe Him, but it was Him.  As quickly as the question came it was answered:  “You press through until you find Me.  Once you find me, reach out and touch Me.” Then in a moment, I was back in the room.  I was a slobbering mess.

I mention this little encounter because something happened to me that day.  I had been battling with a skin rash (hives) for months.  I had ask for prayer multiple times, gotten prayer more than once but was still clawing myself into bleeding scabs and was pretty much miserable most of my waking hours.  No kidding, the hives disappeared and have not reappeared since that day.  In fact, I didn’t realize they were gone until later that week when Patti and I were in Nigeria.  That is when it dawned on me that He was doing stuff “in” me while I was looking “at” Him.

There is probably a sermon in there somewhere and I fight the religious temptation to explain it all and put it in another formula for mass production, so I’ll stop while it is still simple.

-MDP-

I was recently ask by one of my spiritual sons, who was it that has most influenced my life?  I have all the general responses like you do:  God, parents, spouse, friends, children, people.  But, in the late 1980’s, Patti and I became friends with Dave and Lawanna Busby and their beautiful daughter Dava.  The passion that drove that man was unlike anything we had ever encountered.  It was our first taste of the Spirit and an up close and personal tutelage in what victory wrapped in hardship really looked like.  Dave invested countless hours in Patti and myself.  It is the kind of debt that you really can’t ever pay back, but you can try to honor and make the same investment of yourself to others.

Since those early days of ministry, Dave elected and agreed to his final homecoming with the Lord.  I think of him often.  Especially when I’m around one of his best friends who is a Sr Pastor in Minnesota.  Busby’s name comes up and the laughter begins.  He was a man’s man, a great friend, a passionate husband and a dialed-in dad.  He served like a wild-man with unbridled passion and energy.  We are all richer because of Busby’s deposits.

Check out Dave Busby’s website:  CLICK HERE

WATCH THE VIDEO…IT’S A GREAT TASTE OF BUSBY AT HIS BEST!

Love and miss you friend,

-MDP-

Another Training Camp, another 130 kids ready to launch out on THE WORLD RACE.  Training Camp marks the initial assault on a kid’s religious bondage.  The battle is intense and the hunger for freedom and the real stuff of God will manifest itself and enter into hand-to-hand combat within the confines of old soups of traditions, church backgrounds, limited understanding, theological pride, fear of man and plain ole religious bondage.  Most kids desperately want to get free, but they have to get over themselves, conquer fear and go for it (been there, done that and it’s easier said than done).

There is usually a breaking point where they stop with all the debating in their mind.  They feel the Wind for the first time and they begin to not give a crap about what it looks like anymore.  It happened again at this camp on Monday night.  Leadership had its plan, but the Spirit had other plans.  The worship team hit the first cords and the Wind began to blow.  There is no other way to say this:  WE DANCED OURSELVES FREE. Chains broke everywhere.  The fact that it was so spontaneous only confirmed the force of God’s desire for the release of liberty.

It is a scriptural principle:  PSALM 149 tells us that we can actually take back ground from the enemy by our dance.  We can enter into the prophetic warfare in the heavenlies by moving our feet, clapping our hands, twirling, dancing!!!  Some of us have never even given God a rousing “Amen” at church.  Maybe a golf-clap, but never real activity.  Oh, our team can score a goal, punch it into the end-zone or blast one over the fence and we absolutely loose it.  Maybe we hear Keith Urban or some nasty funk-horn break loose and we just HAVE TO DANCE!   But when it comes to God, we act like we’re attending a viewing at the funeral home or  sliding in and out of ICU with stealthy quiet.   God is not asleep or sick.  It is OK to be a little rowdy.  Monday night was normal business or it should be normal.  Not camp hype or just youthful emotion, but the expected expression of a generation sold out in devotion and passion for the King of all kings.  On that magical night, the Spirit directed the whole thing and it was frikk’n AWESOME!

CHECK OUT THE DANCING (yes, that is me dancing my butt off.  Had to do it, no choice, it was frikk’n amazing!)

-MDP-

I’m enjoying a new book that gives me detailed descriptions of specialized SEAL training for the US Navy.  The writer is furnishing explicit  narration and colorful images of this process.  These SEALS are some bad boys who are doing  jobs all over the world that no one else can handle or would want, except for maybe Arnold, back in his movie prime, before he got the cushy desk job.

One of the thoughts that has captured me is the explanation from the writer, on why the training is so brutal.  Yes, the right word is brutal.  He reflects on a conversation that he had with his C.O. after he had completed the training.  I won’t use exact wording, but here is the main ideal conveyed:  THE TRAINING IS BRUTAL AND UNJUST.  IT HAS TO BE THAT WAY.  IT IS THE ONLY WAY WE CAN FIND OUT IF A MAN JUST LIKES THE IDEAL OF BEING A SEAL OR IF IT IN HIS HEART AND EVERY FIBER OF HIS BEING TO BE A SEAL. One other ideal stuck with me:  IF A MAN EVER ENTERTAINS THE IDEAL OF QUITTING…HE IS DONE FOR.  WHAT WE DO EXTERNALLY TO THE CANDIDATE EXPOSES WHAT HE THINKS INTERNALLY.  WAIVER FOR A MOMENT AND THE PAIN WILL MAKE THE CALL FOR YOU. We ought to simmer on that one for a while.

So Patti and I are at another Training Camp for THE WORLD RACE. We know what these 135 kids are in for, they do not, not yet anyway.  These racers will get the opportunity to learn the difference between real honor as compared to only patronizing.  Patronizing means that you go through the motions of honor, but it isn’t what is really in your heart.  Motivations and attitudes are still too self-focused and the bottom-line still hovers around “what about me?”  Honor means that the heart has already decided.  THINK ABOUT THIS! “Come hell or high water, just or unjust, happy or sad, easy or hard, black or white, taste great or less filling…I’ve already made the choice to choose-in, commit, serve, prefer others and go the distance!” The development of true spiritual sons and spiritual daughters weighs in the balance as these potential racers figure out what they are going to commit too; whether or not they really heard God.  And, if they choose to run the course and endure the test, their life will be changed…FOREVER!  Of course it IS hard and that is what makes it great!  YES, this is a word and lesson for every one of us…ESPECIALLY the church.

-MDP-

Have you figured out that most of the things we fear never occur?  Alfred Hitchcock knew this and made millions  of dollars off of the concept.  The spooky old filmmaker knew that a shadowy suggestion with some creepy music would send your mind reeling into great depths of terror.  His modern protege, M. Night Shyamalan, uses the same technique.  The suggestion ignites our imagination and our “fear” drives the rest.  In other words, we do it to ourselves.  Think about all of the things we deny ourselves, our friends, our family, our kids because of our fearful speculations that will never happen!  How many relationships have been circumvented because we are afraid of being vulnerable again.  How many couples have defaulted into just sharing space and ignore the marriage covenant because one or both are afraid of being wounded?  If we give-in to every fear that the enemy suggest, we might as well lock the doors, have our food delivered through the mail slot and experience the world through the eyes of virtual technology.  It is stinkin’ ridiculous!  If you breath  air on this planet, you are going to get hurt (maybe even often), rejected, ignored, overlooked and most-likely stepped on.  BUT, you can also risk the profound possibility of love and friendship, experience divinely orchestrated union and likely know the holy joys of real covenant.  But, it is going to require you to  risk some head shots, trust again, be vulnerable, ask for forgiveness on a regular basis and be willing to forgive and move on!  What a horrible way to live, when we allow the nasty suggestions about our future to come only from the pits of our past hurt.  Significant relationship prove there worth and depth not in calm seas, but when the storms roll in.  How else would you ever know if the boat has leaks?  I guess you could live in your comfort cave and never experience anything that is real, but that feels more like prison.  Assuredly, that is prison.

The more I watch and the closer I listen, the more I am convinced that in our culture (Christians may be worse than non-Christians) we are absolutely immersed and inundated in fear.  You would think that we would have a better grip on this, but we do not.  Much like Saul and Israel when they heard the words of Goliath, fear is rampant and spreads like a bad rash with every negative report.  I am not totally sure how the devil has convinced the church that he is more powerful than God, but we seem to have swallowed the bait whole.  Yes, satan is a formidable opponent, but he is also destined to the depths and ultimately defeated and he knows this better than we do!  He roars a lot, we listen a lot and it is about time for the Body to remember who it is that has its back and to take captive the thoughts that have us scampering for cover like a cockroach on cake once the light gets flipped on.

Where is our faith?  Where is our trust?  Where is our God?

We need to develop some serious spiritual spine or get some major deliverance.

-MDP-

Love breaks out in the most peculiar places.  When it is real and not expected it can WRECK you!  Patti and I were at Michael and Kathy’s back in January.  Crazy time to visit Michigan, but that is besides the point.  When we were not doing stuff with the staff or around the church, we were usually chilling out, enjoying the HBO produced 50th Anniversary Rock N Roll Hall of Fame concerts.  Say what you will, some of the old boys and girls can still light it up!  I’m just saying…

One of the superstar performances was by Stevie Wonder.  He was joined on stage by John Legend for a tribute to Michael Jackson.  They sang “The Way You Make Me Feel”.  Of course, that is one of MJ’s best and Stevie was busting out some major grooves with his version.  Incredible!  Then, in the second stanza, (you can see for yourself by going to the link at the end of this post) LOVE hits Stevie.  Whether it was a thought about his friend, or he saw an image of MJ, or whatever happened, love melted Stevie in that moment.  For about 30 seconds he lost his composure…right in the middle of the song!  It was one of the most spiritual moments I have seen in a long time!  I cried like a baby.

I know MJ had issues.  Lots and lots of issues.  But, I never walked in MJ’s shoes, so I cannot really relate to all the stuff he dealt with.  I do not know one thing about MJ and Stevie Wonder’s relationship and I really don’t care.  It was all too evident that Stevie Wonder loved that man.  It felt like I was witnessing something that was holy and not of this earth.  It dawned on me that God makes sure that someone loves us.  No matter how we see ourselves or how dysfunctional we are; or whatever we are going through, somebody out there loves us.  That concert became “church”.  The real “church”.  Thanks Stevie, for the way you made me feel!

*** S E E   V I D E O   H E R E  ***

-MDP-

Patti and I spend a lot of our life juice on people we absolutely adore.  Working with THE WORLD RACE affords us the opportunity to see the world and walk through the transitional process that changes young men and women forever.  It is exciting and glorious.  A fabulous experience!

The tougher part is when a kid comes off of the race.  Some make decisions quickly and move on to another aspect of training.  Most go home.  So, they’ve been living on top and under 50 something other individuals, sharing everything, serving everything that moves, living in tight community, dialing into covenant, preferring everyone over themselves, praying at any hint of a need, worshiping like crazy people and basically killing their well developed narcissism.  Then, they go home…to family…to old jobs…to old friends…to the way things used to be.  Only, the ex-racer is now different, sees differently, thinks differently… it’s all different.  Because it is different doesn’t excuse the need to honor at home in the same manner one honored in the field.

If you are 20+ years of age, still living at home, driving your dad’s car (he’s buying the gas and paying for the insurance), eating your mom’s cooking, sleeping in a bed in your parents home, one might want to consider that they are a GUEST in that home and act accordingly.  Most parents are more than willing to accommodate their kids transitions and development.  But, adults living with other adults requires that the “guest” in that home honor and respect all levels of interaction.  Because it is the household where you grew up, makes this MORE important, not less  important.  If there are rules and those rules seem over-bearing or unreasonable, I’m sure you can find a nearby apartment complex that would love to have your business!  Or, you can apply all that you  have learned, all that is right and deserved, in that place where you stay.

You changed on TWR.  Is it obvious to everyone but your parents?  The honor is necessary.

-MDP-