The whirlwind trip is finally settling into a slow breeze. We rolled into Grants Pass, Oregon and met up with a biker welcoming committee.

It was a good time being with Bro. and Sis. Dansby and church family. We really enjoyed “churchin” with them and thank them for their invitation and hospitality.

We headed back to Btown, but not before taking the “you gotta do this before you go” trip up to Hellsgate canyon on the Hellsgate Jet Boat tour. Beautiful river and country…and a lot of water.

…I’ve heard there’s no breakfast or water in Hell. Hmmmm.

We’ve spent the last three nights and two days in the Medford, Oregon area with Bro. Ballestero and the Murphy’s (Noel, Leslie…and a lot of other Murphy’s) for their annual “Going Beyond” youth conference. Great family, great hospitality, great church, great fellowship…and great moves of God to propel us forward.

I was also surprised to see Bro. Causey. Bro. Causey goes back to the days of growing up in Oregon (age 2-13). We travelled to his house many times and my uncle married his daughter. Also pictured below is the Rucker family and they also have a special place in the past, as they attended the church in Douglas, Wyoming where my uncle pastored for a time (I lived with my uncle in Wyoming for about a year and a half).

It was a real treat to visit with Bro. Ballestero, and the last night he preached his classic message, “How to tell when you’re Drunk.”

However, I shall never forget the way he opened up the first night. He talked about miracles and in very serious tones asked the congregation if they would like to see God perform a miracle. Of course, everyone did, and then he instructed everyone to close their eyes and envision the miracle they would like to see. So, we all closed our eyes…..he then said, “open your eyes and see the miracle!” Lo….this is what we all saw. Truly, a great miracle.

Hilarious. Thanks Bro. and Sis. Leslie Murphy, Bro. Sis. Noel Murphy, and church family for letting us be a part of your conference…and thanks to Bro. and Sis. Shannon Murphy for making sure after great church we had the chance to sample local Chinese, BBQ, Mexican, and Thai food.

…travelled to Texarkana and had the privelege of being in Bro. and Sis. Calhoun’s church.

We had a great time at a great church. The funny part of the story; however, was the trip from Little Rock to Texarkana and back. I made a reservation for the cheapest car, and knowing I could make an upgrade, which Peyton wanted, I stubbornly refused. I figured, “hey, people drive these cars all the time so who am I to think I need more than compact compact…after all some people don’t even have cars!” To be honest, it was stubbornness more than (false) humility that made my decision. A Hyundai with no features. Come on. No electric locks so you had perform a yoga move to reach into the back seat to unlock the door. The engine at 60 mph sounded like it was going to blow up. The brakes were super touchy. No cruise control and if you let off the gas your speed decelerated like a space ship reentering the atmosphere. We couldn’t get both our suitcases in the trunk without some major manipulation. Crazy.

But what really got to me was this ECO message that would pop up on the dashboard. I’m assuming the message was to tell help the driver drive in what would be considered a green manner so as not to use too much fuel. It would disappear immediately if you accelerated. I ignored it at first, but then just got frustrated and decided to try to drive as if someone would actually follow the thing. Puuuhhhhlease. 0-60 took about 20 minutes out of Little Rock. Whose insane (working definition of insanity is a mental illness of such a severe nature that a person cannot distinguish fantasy from reality) idea was this? It was like an on board conscious detector…you’re going to fast now…uh oh slow down…you’re wasting natural resources…YEAH! your coasting and doing real fine, just don’t get run over by the semi blaring his truck horn. Peyton thought I’d lost it, especially when I asked him to get out and push.

I can see the devil at work, telling you to operate in some realm of being he considers “normal”. And any attempt to step out to a greater realm of God’s calling, or pressing down the Spirit in one’s life to take advantage of the power God has richly given, is met with a maniacal ECO flashing sign. Why is this kind of sign in a car you can motorcycle park have something like this anyway? You buy that kind of car because it is fuel efficient. A flashing sign to tell you how to drive what you know you’ve purchased is simply beyond normalcy. See any luxury cars with this sign? Motorcycles? Speed cars? Mopeds?

…don’t let the devil monitor your walk with God. It “ain’t” right, and it will lead to a dissatisfied life.

Ps 40:3
And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.
Ps 33:3 3 Sing unto him a new song ; play skilfully with a loud noise.
(See also Psalms 96:1, 98:1, 144:9, 149:1; Isaiah 42:10; Rev. 5:9)

The Biblical approach to worshipping God is to continually focus on a new song. That is not to say those songs written in the past are of no value, and MANY songs from yesterday are powerful; nevertheless, the above verses are clear. Paul noted that God’s ways and judgements are way past finding out (Romans 1:33), meaning it will take this life and will continue into eternity as we search the vast frontier of GOD. You will never close the book and put the finishing touches on the songbook. You might like to form your own book tied to a time frame, but each successive generation is commanded to sing a new song. You may even like to point to a generation of songs you think are better than others, but that only reinforces the need to move forward…if in fact the songs are that bad! You could even argue the best songs are those in the Psalms, after all they are in the written canon, but you would be very surprised to hear how they sang those songs. It doesn’t work out that way because written in the Psalms themselves is the Biblical directive…sing a new song.

For that reason, we dropped in on Shawn and Randy in Little Rock, Arkansas. They were attending the music conference Converge.

Saturday night was the first service of the Rock Solid Preaching camp meeting and we were able to attend…quite a facility. (presently in Texarkana, Texas)

…”what is the will of God?”. Or, “it’s so hard trying to find out the will of God, how can I know what the will of God is?” I can say I’ve heard that question many times, and it seems a rather daunting question, ensconced in some mysterious shroud of perpetual haze, linked to a sense of anxiety, fear, and trepidation. And if that is what it is, IT is NOT the will of God! There are two forms in which the word will, or transliterated thelo and thelema, are used. Thelo is used often to denote a general sense of willing or desire, but thelema is rarely used in a general sense. Thelema is grounded in the ultimate source of salvation in Christ and his act of self sacrifice, as it is revealed through his election of Israel to the whole world, and his will is now and not yet as he is moving us toward a point of redemption of all things (Gal. 1:4, Eph. 1:5, 9, 11, Col. 1:27, 1 Tim 2:4). The will of God then, is more about God and his purpose for the world more than it is about me and mine. Circle around God and his Kingdom instead of thinking God circles around you. Once you understand the grand scheme of God’s purpose/will, then how your life fits into that will is much easier to adjudicate. God and His Kingdom to us should be the trajectory, yet often we look at it as us then God and His Kingdom. Certainly, this could go too long, but the gist of where one starts is there.

It was a pleasure to be involved in Richard and Katherine’s wedding.

Richard came to the men’s home at GBFPC and God has done a transforming work. Katherine came to support Richard’s effort to get things on track, and well, they both went through a metamorphosis. We have enjoyed watching the will of God for their lives. For their honeymoon, they decided to experience a variety of the central coast by horseback riding and camping. Set the tent up…then blew up the air mattress..uh oh.

There is a proper way(you can figure out what it is by looking at the pictures). There is a will in which things work and mesh together, but it starts with pursuing the will of God and understanding it before moving to the particulars of my life, decisions, choices, actions, behavior…and if those decisions, choices, actions, behavior don’t reflect God’s will, …might need to go back to more study. Once you do…

BTW, they also moved from the tent to the resort.